Thanksgiving address

Thanksgiving Address by Elder Otsi’tsakèn:ra (Charles Patton)

Learn more about the Ohenten Kariwatekwen or Haudenosaunee: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2018/11/22/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address/

He is a “Faithkeeper” of the Ronatha:te Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk Trail) Longhouse in Kahnawá:ke. Faithkeepers are people who have committed themselves (to the Creator) to ensuring the continuance of Kanien’kehá:ka tradition, language, spirituality, ceremony and culture.

Otsi’tsakèn:ra‎ , in his youth, was the winner of the Tom Longboat
Award, 3rd in the 1965 Canada Midget Cross Country Games and
travelled with the Quebec Team to France. He attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science, majoring in Physical Education with a minor in English.

He is a fluent Kanien’kéha speaker, and was the first teacher in the
Kahnawá:ke school system qualified to teach the Immersion Physical Education Program in the Kanien’kéha language, and one of the first volunteers to bring a Kanien’kéhá:ka Cultural Program into the elementary school system in the early 1980’s.

He has also been a past director of the Kahnawá:ke Youth Center, a Recreation Animator for the community and Museum Director for the Kanien’kehá:ka Cultural Center.

He worked with the Haudenosaunee Council of Chiefs for over 20 years, minding a Kanien’keha:ka Bear Clan position, helping to maintain the original traditional government of the Five Nations/Iroquois people and in dealing with the governments of Canada and the United States.

In his retirement, Otsi’tsakèn:ra‎ and his family now run Patton’s Glen Golf Club, a Par 3 Golf Course in Kahnawá:ke, that is open to people of all ages. His family started the club to give youth a chance to train in the sport at an early age and for families to play together because many golf courses do not allow children under 12 to learn or to play.

Otsi’tsakèn:ra‎, has been working with First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) students as an elder in a very unique program accessing Indigenous knowledge in the field of Social Work. Across the land, he has opened conferences, presented at workshops and taught traditional studies courses in Vermont, McGill, Dawson and Concordia Universities, and opened the award to Canada/US/Mexico joint hosting for the 2026 FIFA World Cup games. He has been instrumental in ceremonies over the years in Montreal, Ottawa and provinces in Canada and the United States and at the United Nations. He has travelled to Machu Pichu – working with medicine men and elders in ceremony at this sacred place. In 2018 March,
he was acknowledged by McGill University IHPP / Indigenous Health Professions Program, for his contributions in the development of this concept and in helping to identify it: Eniathi’nikonraiéntho (plant a seed in their minds).

Learn more about the Ohenten Kariwatekwen or Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

Otsi’tsakèn:ra
(Charles Patton)

EMAIL: niioieren@hotmail.com

450-632-6132
-or-
514-566-6132

PO Box 36, Kahnawa:ke J0L1B0