About the Regional Council
Historical/geographical
Conseil régional Nakonha:ka Regional Council incorporates communities of faith and outreach ministries from the former Consistoire Laurentien and Consistoire du Quebec Presbytery.
The western edge of the region curves to follow the Ontario border near Grenville, reaching out to the south along the Quebec-US border of New York/Vermont and stretching up both sides of the St. Lawrence River, northward and eastward past Quebec City and Sept-Iles to Harrington Harbour.
Language
The multilingual nature of our region is an integral part of our identity. In addition to English and French, the primary languages spoken in communities of faith across the region include Mohawk, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese (who also use Urdu in worship), Armenian, Hungarian, and Korean.
Identity/image
Choosing a name
Our Executive Minister, Rosemary Lambie, shared the following history of how we came to be known as Conseil régional Nakonha:ka Regional Council:
We asked for suggestions for the new name during the fall, with the decision to be made at the last presbytery meetings at which time everyone had a secret ballot vote. Four names were presented and Nakonha:ka was sent in by our Mohawk congregation in Kanesatake (Oka). Elder Satewas Gabriel has for many years welcomed us to the land as part of the opening worship for the Conference Annual General Meeting.
We have two Mohawk communities of faith in our new regional council, and although there are people from many other nations living in the area, none of them have churches. The United Church of Canada added the Mohawk words “all my relations” to the crest a number of years ago in recognition that they were the first Indigenous nation to join The United Church of Canada.
The word Nakonha:ka is reference to “the people of the east, the people of the rising sun”, and there are no Mohawk communities in Canada further east than Quebec.
Pronunciation
A phonetic approximation of the pronunciation would be nah-goohn-aah-ga (the ‘k’ is somewhere between a ‘k’ and a ‘g’ and the “:” represents a brief pause.)
Imagery/Symbolism
The Nakonha:ka logo illustrates the people of the land celebrating the rising sun of a new day in the Eastern sky. The image also represents hope and possibility, rooted in the age-old blessing of the land and the community, supporting each other.
