Harvey Longboat

Harvey Longboat (Deskaheh)
Mind and heart for his people

Reprinted with permission from The Hamilton Spectator

Harvey Longboat served as a chief in the Iroquois Confederacy for 20 years.

The day Harvey Longboat (Deskaheh) was laid to rest there was a deluge as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.

It was a fitting omen for a respected chief of the Iroquois Confederacy.

"In native teaching, we're grateful if rain falls during a funeral," says Norman Jacobs, Keeper of the Wampum and a close friend of Longboat's. "We say rain washes away any sins."

More than 1,000 mourners from both sides of the Canada-United States border attended the traditional funeral rites, held recently at the Sour Springs Longhouse. Longboat, a Cayuga chief of the Bear clan and a leader of the Iroquois Confederacy for 20 years, died May 19 after a heart attack at his home. He was 65.

"He's going to be missed," said Onondaga Chief Arnold General.

"His mind and his heart were with his people."

Longboat, who was born and raised on Six Nations, graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University. When he began his teaching career at a school in the community, his grandmother first approached him about becoming one of the 50 chiefs that make up the Iroquois Confederacy. In a recent interview, Longboat recalled that he at first refused because he could not then speak his language and didn't believe he was up to the responsibility. But his grandmother was persistent and eventually Longboat accepted.

"He made a commitment and he really took that commitment to heart," says Jacobs, who often vacationed with Longboat and his family. "His heart belonged to the Confederacy, the longhouse and the people."

(Longboat's title Deskaheh is legendary in Iroquois history. In the 1920s a previous holder of the title travelled on a Six Nations passport to England and Geneva in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for Six Nations sovereignty. Seventy years later, Longboat would represent the Confederacy at the United Nations as part of a presentation on the need for member states to recognize indigenous people.)

Non-native lawyer Paul Williams, who worked with Longboat for many years on the return of sacred wampum to the Confederacy, say his humility shows how well-qualified he was for the responsibility. "It is people who have that modesty who are the right people for the job," he says. "The Great Law of Peace requires a Confederacy chief to be deeply thoughtful and deeply compassionate and to maintain an absolutely good mind. Harvey was all these things."

Jacobs says Longboat worked tirelessly to open doors for his people, even if that meant taking a difficult path, such as working for Indian Affairs as a school superintendent in the 1970s and '80s while a Confederacy chief. Many felt a chief should have nothing to do with the federal government which had forcibly ousted the Confederacy in favour of an elected council and pursued policies of assimilation for native people.

"He always said that somebody had to do it for the people," said Jacobs.

Longboat was a founder of Six Nations Polytechnic, an aboriginal education and training program that prepares aboriginal people for university and college. He was also instrumental in setting up the indigenous studies program at McMaster University. "He was the bridge between the university and the Six Nations community," says anthropology professor Harvey Feit. "He was a very thoughtful person, very respectful of people and in many ways a model to many of his colleagues and faculty ... he affected not only Mac but the six universities in the region that worked in indigenous education." When the Oka crisis broke in 1990, leading to a 78-day standoff between the Canadian government and the Mohawks of Kanasatake, Longboat was sent by the Confederacy to represent its interests.

Seneca John Mohawk, now director of Indigenous studies at the Centre for the Americas at the State University of Buffalo, was with Longboat the night the two braved the searchlights and two opposing factions to walk down the hill from the Kanasatake treatment centre after spending the day talking with the Mohawk warriors.

"It was a moment of challenge," the professor recalled. Mohawk pays tribute to Longboat's moderation during those difficult days. "It takes a lot of courage for people like Harvey to step between the Canadian government and warring Indians. Not many people are willing to put themselves in that position and we just lost one."

Longboat leaves his wife Ruth, six children and 15 grandchildren.