“We’re all related”: Remembering Elder Dan Smoke
Published in Antler River Media Co-op
(*artwork: Relatedness by Incé Husain)
“‘Asayenes’ is my spirit name. It’s a name that was given to me in the Onondaga Longhouse on the Six Nations reserve, which is our place of worship, our place of faith,” said Elder Dan Smoke on a 2001 segment of radio program Smoke Signals.
He shared that he was named after his great-great-uncle, a gifted leader well-versed in Indigenous knowledge systems and herbal medicines. One of Elder Dan’s teachers told him that carrying the name of a great leader will inherently guide him to serving his community — that a name carries responsibility, is a “gift” that will “guide you to the greatness of that name”. In the Seneca language, the name means “shooting star in flight”. Elder Dan said he always acknowledges his spirit name in public events because it opens him to the spirit world.
“The world of spirit around me, the relatives all around me, the rocks, the trees, the flowers, the plants, the medicines, they all have spirit, and I’m related to that spirit. They know me as Asayenes. They don’t know me as Dan Smoke.”
A member of Kildeer Clan from the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Elder Dan was a committed social justice advocate until his passing on November 4th, 2024.
Since 1990, he pioneered and managed the Indigenous radio program Smoke Signals with his wife, Elder Mary Lou Smoke, striving to share stories about Indigenous communities with all. Smoke Signals airs on CHRW Western Radio 94.9 FM and is the longest-running Indigenous radio program in Canada, with transcribed and recorded segments accessible online.
“You’re going to hear us telling those stories,” Elder Dan introduced Smoke Signals. “We had listened to many, many Elders, Knowledge Carriers, Ceremonial Leaders, and Traditional Teachers. We went to many conferences, we interviewed many resource people, many of our artists, many of our Elders, and we got them to tell our story. And they allowed us to record them. And so, you’re going to benefit from that and from that relationship.”
Elder Dan’s entry into radio began during the Kanehsatake resistance - or Oka Crisis - in 1990, when the mayor of Oka, Québec, sought to construct a golf course and townhouses on sacred Indigenous burial grounds.
Mohawk protestors from Oka and beyond resisted with barricades and rallies. The federal government deployed the army to aid municipal and provincial police in crushing the resistance. Indigenous journalist Dan David wrote that Canada sent more soldiers to Québec than to the first Gulf War in Kuwait.
The protests ended after 78 days, leaving memories of tear gas, flash bombs, charred trees, deaths and injuries, and an international impact that advanced the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The golf course did not expand, but neither was the land federally recognized as Indigenous territory. Since the 1700s, the Mohawks in Oka had sought legal recognition of their property rights.
“Oka is the old Mohawk village of Kanehsatake until it wasn't anymore, until the [French] forced out Mohawk families and sold their farms out from under them,” wrote David in 2020 and 2015, respectively. “Even if people knew nothing about the protesters, even if they knew nothing about the deep historical roots of this land dispute, they understood that the mayor of Oka was going to bulldoze the graves of their ancestors.”
Elders Dan and Mary Lou appeared on Western’s radio channel as guests that discussed the Kanehsatake resistance in a fifteen minute segment. They were offered their own slot on the station within a year, giving rise to Smoke Signals.
Elder Dan also commemorated the Kanehsatake resistance by supporting the planting of a white pine — a traditional symbol of union and healing — in Ivey Park, London, in 1971. Called “the great tree of peace”, the white pine’s needles grow in clusters of five that represent unity between the five nations - the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas - that originally formed the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (the Tuscarora were accepted as the sixth nation in 1722).
“We planted it because it was a symbol of the great law of peace and how we are peaceful people still living according to the precepts of peace, power and righteousness," said Elder Dan in 2021. “In our belief system as Indigenous people, the harm of one is the harm of all of us. So if one of us gets harmed and gets hurt, then we're all getting harmed and we're all getting hurt. So we have to stand to protect them. That's our responsibility.”
Each year on July 11th - the anniversary of the Oka Crisis - Elders from the community unite by the tree in a ceremony honouring the resistance and give speeches to educate the public.
“I think that it's time for us to pass on to our young people this knowledge and wisdom so that they will benefit from it in a good way, so they don't have to go through what we went through and what my ancestors went through,” Elder Dan said.
In 2023, Elder Dan shared that he considers the planting of the tree an example of reconciliation.
“Reconciliation, to me, is a form of an apology to express the profound regret of what happened in our history, and it should be accompanied, preferably, by some form of reparations,” said Elder Dan. “And if the apology and reparations come across in a way that benefits some of the hurt and pain and trauma that we were subjected to, I think that it is the kind of reparations we would like to see.”
Among other forms of connection within the community, Elder Dan created an Indigeneity-centred 12-step Medicine Wheel Program at Atlohsa’s Family Healing Services to help Indigenous people with addictions; served on Elder Councils at Western University to create and implement the university’s first Indigenous Strategic Plan and to open the Wampum Learning Lodge; taught as a professor in Western University’s Indigenous Studies Program alongside Elder Mary Lou; and led traditional ceremonies, songs, and teachings on campus with Elder Mary Lou. The couple received honorary doctorates of Law from Western University for their activism and teaching work.
A feast and sacred fire in honour of Elder Dan was held at King’s University College on November 14th. Open to all, community members congregated and shared memories of Elder Dan. They remember him as compassionate, wise, fun, and earnest in uniting people. He is terribly missed and deeply respected.
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“Twenty-one years ago I met Dan and Mary Lou,” says Lisa Cloutier, who worked at the Atlohsa Family Healing Centre. “I also met Dan and Mary Lou through the medicine wheel, which is an open AA 12-step group at the Atlohsa center. I would often go there.”
Cloutier describes the Elders as “wonderful teachers”.
“[They were] really the bridge between settlers and First Nations, and bridges between all nations, helping us to create environments — and a world — of everybody, all colours.”
Cloutier remembers Elder Dan as “one of a kind”. He had a “beautiful heart” filled with a “rare intellect” that opened him to all.
“He just treated everybody as if they were the best person standing in front of you. And so wise, very wise. And fun, he had a fun side too,” said Cloutier. “It's hard to see Mary Lou without him. They are an amazing couple.”
For Cloutier, Elder Dan’s memory can be honoured by embodying the wisdom he shared - to lead “with knowledge and understanding.”
“I think for anyone that’s connecting with him, whatever they’ve instilled in their heart, any knowledge, wisdom, love, connection - to lead wherever you can with the knowledge and understanding each one of us have, and have the courage to pay it forward.”
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Elder Gloria Thonson, a Métis Elder with roots in the northwest, was immediately drawn to Elders Dan and Mary Lou at a full moon ceremony.
“You know when you know that you have to get to know somebody? That’s how I felt about Dan and Mary Lou. I just knew,” says Thonson. “So I followed them, and they took me on, because at that time I was really not in touch with my Métis roots.”
Thonson recalls spending a lot of time with Elders Dan and Mary Lou, driving them places and taking Mary Lou shopping.
“They mean a great deal to me,” Thonson said as the Travelling Song, filled with deep drumbeats and communal chants, began at the sacred fire.
“That’s [us] saying goodbye to Dan and him saying goodbye to us,” Thonson explained the Travelling Song. “We sing it at the end of something, wishing people a safe journey home. I imagine a safe trip for Dan. He’ll be travelling to his ancestors.”
Thonson cherishes Elder Dan’s vision for sharing Indigenous ways of knowing and all that “Indigenous people have to contribute to society”.
“We’re in the seventh fire,” says Thonson, referencing the Seven Fire Prophecy of Anishinaabe tradition. “This is the time when Indigenous people take a part in leading us to a more just and healthier society. If we don’t do it, we perish in the eighth fire.”
The Seven Fire Prophecy of Anishinaabe tradition recounts the arrival of seven prophets. They explain how Indigenous ways of life will oscillate between harmony and destruction with the arrival of “the light-skinned race”. The prophecies speak of immense loss, migration, the poisoning of the Earth, and potential renewal. The Seventh Fire is the last prophecy, a time when “the light-skinned race will be given a choice between two roads.” The Prophecy reads:
If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and Final Fire - an eternal Fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light-skinned race makes the wrong choice of roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back to them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earth's people.
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“When I started to engage in my own learning journey again, I came across their ceremonies,” says Anishnaabe artist Melissa Deleary of meeting Elders Dan and Mary Lou Smoke. “I also was engaged with them when I was younger, you know, seeing them on TV.”
Deleary remembers Elder Dan as a “kind soul” who was always open to listening and sharing his life lessons.
“Him and Mary Lou took me under their wing as a protégé and they were my mentors.”
Deleary honours Smoke by sharing his teachings and memories, which envisioned a world of connectedness between all beings.
“His vision was that everyone would be included in the circle and that all were related,” says Deleary. “And he doesn’t mean just me and you. It means the birds, the grass, the trees, the sky. We’re all related, and to have that is important, and to remember that is important, so when we walk through this physical world, we know and respect that we are all related.”
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Deborah Canales, a settler from El Salvador with Mayalencan roots, met Elders Dan and Mary Lou in classes at King’s College taught by sociology professor Jess Notwell. The couple became “like parents” to Canales, offering forms of reconnection with Indigenous roots that El Salvadoran society did not allow.
“I am a newcomer settler here in Turtle Island, but I am also coming from a place that has been colonized. The original name is Cuscatlàn, and it is the land of my Mayalenca people,” said Canales. “Unfortunately, because of how the structure is in El Salvador — very colonized — I was not able to connect with my Indigenous background. It was by connecting with the teachings of Dan and Mary Lou that I was able to find, again, those connections. They are really special people for me.”
Canales calls Smoke’s passing a “big loss”, and remembers him as someone who loved to share knowledge with all.
“He was always there for us, the community, when we needed him,” says Smoke. “He loved to teach people, to share his knowledge and experience. We are trying to stay strong for Mary Lou, but it is definitely a big loss in the community.”
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Tammy Cadue, whose spirit name means “gentle wind”, met Elders Dan and Mary Lou through professor Jess Notwell. The two had a common “grandmother group” where they learned traditional Indigenous teachings. Three years ago, Cadue was invited to a ceremony organized by Elder Dan and people from the Oneida nation. Elder Dan was immediately welcoming.
“[Elder Dan] just handed me this mic and said ‘you’re gonna go around and…’” Cadue trailed off. “It didn’t matter where I showed up, he would include me in whatever was going on.”
Cadue remembers him as someone who was “always teaching”. Road trips to Six Nations reserve with Notwell and the couple would be full of storytelling and free-flowing conversations.
“He did that with everyone,” Cadue said of Elder Dan’s constant openness. “But that’s what I am most going to miss.”
Cadue adds that Smoke lifted the unease of “not being Indigenous enough”, giving Cadue a sense of peace with the meaning of Indigenous identity.
“He made me realize that I am Indigenous enough. I had this fear of not being Indigenous enough and being colonized like we all are,” said Cadue. “I didn’t have that confidence in my own Indigeneity and he really helped me come along.”
For Cadue, Smoke can be honoured by both sharing and living by his teachings.
“I think probably that’s what he would like the most - is for us to live with the teachings, educate each other, come together. Especially now.” ♦
Written using files recieved from Emmanuel Akanbi.
This article appeared in The Antler River Media Co-op on January 31st, 2025:
https://antlerrivermedia.ca/were-all-related-remembering-elder-dan-smoke/