You've seen them: the black and white image of ironworkers eating lunch on a beam in the skies above New York City. Meet the Kahnawá:ke Mohawks who, over the past century, have helped build America’s most iconic skyline. In this episode, we learn about their storied home across the bridge from Montreal in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a place that could not be more different than the city they helped build.

Every July, the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory comes alive with an exciting annual event: the Echoes of a Proud Nation Powwow. For more than three decades, this powwow has been held to honour the Oka Crisis, a land dispute that shone light on Indigenous sovereignty and social justice. Today, this powwow is a lively, colourful weekend-long celebration drawing in thousands of tourists as the biggest influx of visitors Kahnawake sees all year.

But during a quieter time and you will be rewarded because there’s another story in Kahnawake — one that’s touched virtually every local family in one way or another. And once you know that story, you’ll begin to find evidence of it all over town. It’s a story that has allowed the people of Kahnawake to reach far beyond the borders of their nation and shape worlds far, far away.

Thanks to James Gray for our theme song music.

Useful links

• Watch the NFB documentary High Steel 
• Skywalkers: A Portrait of Mohawk Ironworkers at the World Trade Center 
• Watch a thirteen-part documentary series about the Mohawks of Quebec
• Kahnawà:ke Tourism
• Indigenous Tourism Quebec