| ABORIGINAL
WORDS AND ARTS PRACTICES
IN QUEBEC TODAY
by France Trépanier
An
event organized by
the First Nations Circle at UQAM
November 20-22, 2008
Translated from the
French by Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier.
Click HERE
for French version
Wôlinak, Kitcisakik, Kitigan Zibi, Manawan, Wemotaci,
Ouje-Bougoumou, Wendake, Mashteuiatsh, Listuguj, Kahnawake,
Kawawachi Kamach, Inukjuak, Salluit are words carrying
the sounds of ancestral languages – Innu, Inuit,
Algonkins, Attikamekw, Micmac, Cree, Huron-Wendat, Abénaki,
Mohawk.
These are names of places, of
territories inhabited by First Peoples, by their descendants
and by artists who tenuously keep afloat cultural practices
which are essential to the expresssion of Aboriginal
realities and to the transmision of knowledge to future
generations.
The conference Aboriginal Words
and Arts Practices in Quebec Today was held to bring
these realities into focus. The event was presented
by the First Nations Circle at University of Quebec
in Montreal (UQAM), the Inter-University Centre for
the Study of Arts, Literature and Traditions (CELAT-UQAM),
in collaboration with Lands InSight.
1
Over three days, this conference
offered an academic colloquium as well as public meetings
during which francophone Aboriginal artists from Quebec
were invited to talk about their creative process, their
art works and the meaning of their art practices.
When I first received the conference
program, I was impressed by the line-up of speakers.
From the perspective of Vancouver Island, where I live,
I dreamt about the trip that would allow me, for a few
days, to be in the company of friends, collegues and
artists whose work and tenacity I admire. I thought
about the Quebecois and Canadian cultural landscape
and the space occupied by senior visual artists such
as Rita Letendre and Pierre Sioui. I tought about the
powerful works of Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin,
of Innu musicien Florent Vollant, of Huron-Wendat playwright
Yves Sioui-Durand. And I thought of emerging artists
such as Algonquin rapper Samian.
I realize that despite the vitality
and the relevance of the work of these artists, the
opportunities for discussion, conferences, colloquia,
round tables are scarce. Even more rare is when the
opportunity to speak is given to Aboriginal creators
themselves.
Who speaks in whose name? That
is a topical question. In Quebec, it is often non-natives
who express themselves about the Aboriginal world. Of
course, this phenomen is not unique to Quebec. But it
seems that in Quebec, more than in English Canada, Aboriginal
voices are completely absent from the public discourse,
the media, the institutions and even from consultation
commissions.2
Yet, when it comes to the question
of speaking, one has to be very careful. The dividing
line between appropriation of Aboriginal voice and strategic
alliances can be very tenuous.
Certainly we can reflect on the
efforts of public figures such as Serge Bouchard, Richard
Desjardins, Chloée Ste-Marie or Richard Séguin
who contribute to making the Aboriginal realities better
understood by Quebecers. Efforts to bring people together
are welcomed and Laure Morali, through a collection
of texts, is building bridges between Aboriginal and
Quebecois authors.
“We
could lay down a few words, carefully chosen, at each
others’ doors to signify our mutual respect, and
to counter the silence that solicits the dark shadows
of our imagination “ 3
Still through all these evocations,
all these encounters, we have to ensure that this mutual
respect is based on honouring history, by taking into
account the social and economic realities of Aboriginal
communities and, more importantly, by understanding
that power relationships continue to exist.
So I was delighted by the fact
that the UQAMs’ academic colloquium encourage
Aboriginal voices to be heard. As well, it was an ideal
stage for PhD students and professors to present the
results of their research on topics as diverse as the
hyper-media writing practices of the Inuit in Nunavut;
the Manitou College and its influence on contemporary
Aboriginal artists; or the symbolism of collective links
among Aboriginal artists in Quebec.
Imbued with an academic aura given
the university context, nevertheless, the event brought
together important Aboriginal artists from Quebec at
a series of thematic roundtables.
‘Hidden in Plain Sight’4
is the title of a book about the contributions of Aboriginal
peoples to Canadian identity and culture. And this title
also describes quite accurately a phenomenon in the
francophone Aboriginal world which manifests itself
in various forms.
In the past years, I have had
the privilege to work with Aboriginal artists from many
nations. I have observed that too often Aboriginal artists
from Quebec find themselves in the margin of the margins.
•
They are absent from Canadian
artistic life. You just have to open any Canadian art
history book, past or contemporary, to observe these
omissions.
•
They are invisible in mainstream
Quebecois culture. But there is no correlation between
this invisibility and the excellence of their practices.
•
Francophone Aboriginal
artists are still seriously under-represented within
the Aboriginal arts community in Canada as a whole.
The two ‘great solitudes’
of Canada exist in the Aboriginal world. Huron-Wendat
curator Guy Sioui-Durand also speaks of, “…the
need to better link Aboriginal imagination, from East
to South, in all its complexity“.
5 I would
add the importance of links between North and South
to recreate, with its four directions, the powerful
healing of the medicine wheel as metaphor.
In the past decades, for historical,
political, cult ural and economic reasons, Aboriginal
artists in Quebec were not always pemitted to assume
their rightful place in the many affirmations and recognitions
that have influenced the retaking of voice by Aboriginal
artists in English Canada.
I have often astonished my colleagues,
both Anglophones as well as Francophones, by mentioning
that there are 11 Aboriginal nations in which the French
language is spoken. They are located in Quebec, Manitoba,
New-Brunswick, Ontario, Nnavut and Labrador.
6
Still struggling with the detrimental
impact of anthropological perspectives, Aboriginal francophone
artists demand the respect and the promotion of traditional
knowledge along with theIr contemporary art practices.
In Quebec, Aboriginal arts are often more considered
for their economic, touristic potential than for their
intrinsic aesthetic values within the Canadian and international
art worlds.
Those who appreciate Aboriginal
arts know that it is the contemporary artists who, by
their art works, allow us to collectively deconstruct
biaises and stereotypes. They reveal the strenghth of
ancestral traditions while locating their practices
in the current art world.
It is precisely this kind of work
that Yves Sioui-Durand, Catherine Joncas and John Blondin
undertook in 1985 when they created Ondinnok, the only
professional Aboriginal theatre company in Quebec. The
mission of the company is to create ‘an Aboriginal
mythological theatre’ which integrates Indegenous
tradition with contemporary theatricality.
A public discussion, facilitated
by Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui, focussed on the theatre
of Ondinnok in the presence of Sioui-Durand and Joncas.
I found the audio-visual retrospective which presented
the work of the company over the past two decades, particularly
revealing. First, there was the strenghth and the rigour
of the pieces. Then, as extracts of past productions
were shown, from Le Porteur des Peines du Monde (1985-1995)
to Hamlet le Malécite (2004), it was like witnessing,
in fast motion, the over-the-passage-of-time creation
of a powerful and singular dramaturgy.
Next we talked about language,
literature and poetry. Gathered around the table were
Joséphine Bacon, Innu filmmaker and author from
Betsiamites; Rita Mestokosho, Innu poet from Ekusnitshit;
and Jean Sioui, Huron-Wendat poet and teacher from Wendake.
Together they discussed the state of Aboriginal literature
in Quebec. References were made to the publishing house
Le Loup de Gouttière and to the first francophone
Forum on Aboriginal litterature that brought together,
in Wendake last September, senior authors such as George
Sioui, Michel Noël, Tomson Highway and Sylvie-Anne
Sioui-Trudel.
A third round-table was composed
of filmmakers Alanis Obomsawin, André Dudemaine
and Rachel Alouki-Labbé. They explored specific
aspects of Aboriginal filmmmaking in Quebec and the
impact on communities. For example, André Dudemaine
spoke about the ‘coureur des bois’ (runner
of the woods) as an allegorical figure in Aboriginal
cinema. 7 As was refered
to in Coureurs de nuit , a film by Shanouk Newashish,
“Our ancestors were runners of the woods, we are
runners of the night. “
Using her legendary story-telling
skills, Alanis Obomsawin gave a vibrant testimony that
recounted some of the difficult moments during the shooting
of ‘Kanehsatake - 270 Years of Resistance’.
This film was made during the Oka crisis of 1990. The
panelists spoke about the negative impact that the Oka
crisis has had on the development and funding of Aboriginal
arts in Quebec. In the late eighties, Aboriginal arts
organizations were just starting to gain recognition
and support from the Ministry of Culture. However, after
Oka, funding became scarce and in some cases nonexistant.
To this day, there are no dedicated
funding programs for Aboriginal arts at the Conseil
des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec.
Furthermore, even though the Aboriginal
Arts Office at the Canada Council for the Arts has been
in existance since the ‘90s with Aboriginal officers
present in every disciplinary section, the Council still
does not have even one Francophone Aboriginal officer.
In another round-table about cinema,
Quebecois film director Manon Barbeau, Attikamekw director
and cameraman Shanouk Newashish and two Anishnabe filmmakers
from Kitcisakik, Evelyne and Kevin Papatie, discussed
the Wapikoni mobile. 8
The Wapikoni mobile is a travelling
video and music studio for youth in Aboriginal communities
within Quebec. With the support of the National Film
Board and many other partners, the Wapikoni mobile is
equipped with three cameras, two editing suites and
one music recording studio. It also has a projector
which allows for screenings in the communities at every
stop. In 2008, the Wapikoni mobile made 17 of these
stops.
The young creators from the Wapikoni
mobile have received 24 prizes at national and international
festivals. Recently, the film L’amendement by
director Kevin Papatie won two awards. The first was
at the ImagineNative Festival in Toronto and the second
at Festival Filmer à Tout Prix, in Brussels.
The participants explored the
future possible developments of the Wapikoni mobile,
but they also stressed the importance of permanent production
infrastructures in communities.
This absence of infrastructure
is also noticeable in other artistic disciplines. 9
The creation, production, presentation and appreciation
of art rely on infrastructure, both tangible and intangible.
This infrastructure functions as a complex system which
supports the continuum of activity in the arts: training,
creation, production, curation, administration, distribution
and arts appreciation. Yet, in the Aboriginal francophone
communities, there are no art service organizations,
no artist-run centres, no theatre halls, no publishing
houses and no touring networks. It is also difficult
to find publications, prizes, critical discourse or
an Aboriginal presence in the media, in collections,
in archives, in research. All of these elements validate
artistic practices in the mainstream.
The roundtable on the visual arts
focused on the work of Sylvie Paré and Sonia
Robertson, as well as on a recent project of curator
Guy-Sioui-Durand. Mohawk dancer and choreographer Gaétan
Gingras also took part to the conversation.
The work of Sylvie Paré
moves me. Metis/Huron-Wendat artist and museographer
of the First Nations Garden at the Montreal Botanical
Garden, she creates installations that breathe new life
into her Huron heritage. She provides a new context
for historical objects that have been symbols of dispossession.
Her installation La fête des morts
10 and Conservation
des espèces 11
are particularly representational of this approach.
Looking at Sonia Robertson’s
work is like lifting the corner of a veil to catch a
glimpse of - in the space of an instant - the light
of other worlds. I like the movement, the traces that
she leaves as signs inviting us to construct, or reconstruct,
history. Coming to installation and performance art
through photography, Ilnue 12
artist Robertson favors in situ and ephermral work.
Aboriginal spirituality and nature is at the heart of
her creations.
In collaboration with Domingo
Cisnéros, she recently created Wampum, an outdoor
installation, for the 400th anniversary celebrations
of Quebec city. In this piece, the wampum takes the
shape of an ephemeral garden “to symbolize the
reservations where we have been exiled, the place where
we have been smothered, like ‘species’,
driven to extinction and ‘weeds’, ineradicable,
always springing back up.” 13
Last summer, at the 400th anniversary
of Quebec, art critic and curator Guy Sioui-Durand was
the artistic director of one of the cultural components
- Meetings with First Nations. With his usual verve
and flight of fancy, Sioui-Durand presented a synopsis
of the many artistic projects undertaken for the occasion.
He noted the many artworks, especially the exhibition
Tehariolin: Zacharie Vincent and friends, that punctuated
the multidisciplinary program, which was seen by thousand
of visitors.
The organizers of the conference
Aboriginal Words and Arts Practices in Quebec Today
promised, “to nurture a critical reflection on
Aboriginal arts and the issues that connect to them”.
In my mind, they rose to the challenge. Their event
created an opportunity to witness the vitality and blossoming
of Aboriginal artists.
I left Montreal, my head filled
with conversations, images, ideas and delighted with
both reuniting and encountering for the first time.
In my opinion, it is essential
that this experience be repeated and developed. We need
more opportunities that give a Francophone voice to
Aboriginal artists. The circle must widen to insure
that these artists can occupy their rightful place in
the Aboriginal cultural landscape here at home, as well
as in the national and international contemporary art
world.
And I continue to hope that the
time of invisibility is almost over.
France
Trépanier is a visual artist, researcher and
consultant of Mohawk and French ancestry. Born in the
Outaouais, she currently lives on Vancouver Island,
British-Columbia.
1
See http://cpn.uqam.ca/
& http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/
& http://www.celat.ulaval.ca/
2
A remarkebly small
number of Aboriginal people took part in the Consultation
Commision on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural
Differences that took place in Quebec last year. For
more on this topic, see : http://www.accommodements.qc.ca/index-en.html
3 Free translation of an
excerpt from the book Aimititau! Parlons-nous by Laure
Morali, Éditions Mémoire d’encrier,
2008.
4 Beavon, Dave, Newhouse,
David R., Voyageur, Cora J. Hidden in Plain Sight :
Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity
and Culture, University of Toronto Press, 2005
5 Sioui-Durand, Guy, AK8A
– ENTON8HI of Saliva and Quill, tranlated par
Jane C. Lamb-Ruiz in Making a Noise! under the direction
of Lee-Ann Martin, Banff Press, 2004.
6 These communities are
characterized by a great linguistic, cultural, social
and economic diversity. Their connection to the French
language and the ‘Francophonie’ is also
quite diversified. In some communities, like the Huron-Wendat
or the Abenakis, French has become a first language.
For the Micmacs, the Malecites, the Attikamekw and the
Innus, French is spoken as a second language, although
the transmission of ancestral languages sometimes represents
a challenge. In other communities, like the Mohawk,
the Inuit and the Crees, French is a third language
after ancestral languages and English.
For
more information on Aboriginal nation in French Canada,
see the Report of the Conference Diversité Francophonie
by France Trépanier at: www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/lo-ol/pubs/francophonie-2005/
7 It is the topic of his
next article to be published in 24 Images, a quebécois
magazine.
8 For more information
on the Wapikoni mobile see
www.onf.ca/wapikonimobile
9 The question of infrastructure
for Aboriginal arts is discussed in Report from consultations,
Aboriginal Arts Research Initiative, by France Trépanier,
Canada Council for the Arts, 2008 www.canadacouncil.ca
10 The Celebration of
the Deads
11 Conservation of species
12 The term ‘Ilnu’
refers to the community sometimes still called ‘Montagnais’.
The term ‘Innu’ is used on the North shore
of Quebec while ‘Ilnu’ designates more precisely
the community of Mashteuiatsh (St-Jean’s Lake).
13 See the text of Domingo
Cisnéroa and Sonia Robertson at http://monquebec2008.sympatico.msn.ca/MonQuebec2008/
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