Minetta McNaughton

Development Administrator

Minetta McNaughton (she/her) is Onondaga, from Six Nations of the Grand River. She has family, friends and relations across Haudenosaunee Territory. 

Involved in grassroots and volunteering since a child, in 2020 she began working at the Six Nations Public Library and has become an advocate for libraries in indigenous communities as important sources of decolonization and healing. She found that Indigenous libraries, besides offering physical books, are unmatched in many ways because they not only provide access to knowledge and information (books, tools and connecting people to community resources) but because they provide safe spaces for sharing and preserving community knowledge and support indigenous languages and cultural revitalization - even when underfunded. And all Indigenous libraries are underfunded but with equitable funding they could help kick decolonization and healing into high gear. Minetta hopes more people will see how libraries help reduce the human footprint on our planet and will utilize them as tools to not only find & share knowledge but to help us walk lightly on the faces yet to come (because libraries also loan THINGS and other STUFF that are NOT books - libraries help us take turns and share).

She is a member of the Onondaga Language Collective which is working to revitalize the Onondaga language in both Six Nations and Onondaga (near Syracuse, NY). Right now, this includes documenting and recording the language with first language speakers, creating and sharing Onondaga language resources and working towards advanced fluency in the Onondaga language. Other interests include: art, farming/gardening… and reading of course!