POST-KANATA, HOW ABOUT THE FIRST PEOPLES FESTIVAL?
The dust has settled on the controversy surrounding Robert Lepage’s Kanata — an issue on which, much like the SLAV controversy that preceded it, seemingly everyone had an opinion. Now that things are dying down, what are we going to do about it?
One concrete thing that you could do, whatever your opinion about Lepage and Théatre du Soleil’s Ariane Mnouchkine’s staging of a show looking at Canadian Indigenous history without casting any Indigenous actors, is to make time in your calendar for a wide-ranging event that has been bringing authentic Indigenous culture to the heart of the city for nearly three decades.
The 28th Montreal First Peoples Festival (a.k.a. Présence autochtone) runs through Aug. 15, celebrating Aboriginal film, music, visual arts, crafts and food. And you would be most welcome.
“Indigenous cultures and their survival and development are the responsibility of all,” said co-founder André Dudemaine, Tuesday. “It’s something that belongs to our shared heritage, as Quebecers, Canadians, North and South Americans. We all, in a way, have a role to play, according to our origins, in revitalizing these cultures which have been marginalized for too long.”
Dudemaine was one of 19 Indigenous signatories of the open letter questioning the lack of First Nations involvement in Kanata, published July 14 in Le Devoir. He was also present at the meeting between Lepage, Mnouchkine and 35 Indigenous representatives on July 19. He looks back with mixed feelings at the uproar that ensued.
“The positive side is that we managed to have a public discussion on the necessary inclusion, in the cultural and artistic landscape, of First Nations peoples,” he said.
“Now by raising our voice … it created a dialogue that was very conflictual. All kinds of viewpoints emerged — big sermons, some quite out of line in my view. That makes for a more tense situation. Big words were used, like censorship and freedom of expression, with people saying that now we would have to burn all the libraries. That’s the less pleasant, less useful side of things.”
Back on the upside, all of the fuss has made for increased interest in the Montreal First Peoples Festival this year. Dudemaine has received more requests for interviews from the media, and he’ll take everything he can get as he goes about the thankless task of trying to shine a light on an event that has long struggled to compete for funding and visibility with the heavy hitters in our city of festivals.
“Certainly, the recent controversy dramatizes the arrival (of this year’s Montreal First Peoples
Festival),” he noted. “And to be optimistic, I think that, bit by bit, there is an awakening of consciousness and that First Peoples art in Canadian culture is making the festival ever more important.”
The Montreal First Peoples Festival has enjoyed increased visibility in recent years, particularly since moving to the fancy new Place des Festivals in 2010.
The site (which is also home to the jazz fest and Just For Laughs, among others) has brought the event into the big leagues, attracting more and more people to the grounds.
“A report from an independent firm showed that we had 176,000 visits to the Montreal First Peoples Festival last year, including 50,000 unique visitors,” Dudemaine said. “That means people are happy, and they’re coming back.”
Support from main sponsor Québecor as well as government funding agencies including Heritage Canada are a big help, but more is needed as the festival pushes its mandate to promote Indigenous art forms on all fronts.
“It’s part of the non-hierarchical concept in Indigenous culture,” Dudemaine said, “where someone who makes moccasins is as important as someone making avant-garde cinema.”
This year’s program includes 15 Indigenous feature films from around the world, including Australian director Warwick Thornton’s neo-western Sweet Country (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Monday at 8:30 p.m. at Concordia’s Hall Theatre), which won the Special Jury Prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival; and Ce silence qui tue (Monday at 8:30 p.m. at Cabot Square) a documentary on missing and murdered Indigenous women by Quebec director Kim O’Bomsawin, another signee of the Kanata open letter.
Musical performers at Place des Festivals include InukMohawk singer Beatrice Deer (Thursday at noon and 1 p.m. at Place Émilie- Gamelin, Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Place des Festivals) and Nunavut rockers The Jerry Cans (Thursday at 9 p.m. at Place des Festivals).
Dudemaine is quick to highlight the festival’s popular Indigenous creation myth performance with giant puppets, Friday and Sunday at 8:30 p.m. at Place des Festivals; and the Nuestroamericana Friendship Parade, departing Dorchester Square Saturday at 4 p.m. and arriving at Place des Festivals at 5 p.m., culminating in a performance by 64 dance troupes from all backgrounds.
All that and then some. In the words of Dudemaine, the 28th Montreal First Peoples Festival “is already shaping up to be the best of all our editions.”
So what are you going to do about it?