Kisikew Forum

Montreal First People’s Festival 2009
June 12, 2009 by MarijkeD
Filed under Family Fun, Festivals, General, Music, Outdoors, Shows

Festivals abound in Montreal during the summer. From June 11 to June 21, 2009, Montreal celebrates North America’s First Nations people.

Badge with official program is 5.00

Here is a list of films, events, videos and readings. Cost is 5.00 per movie if it’s an NFB movie (2.00 with badge). If the showing is at the Cinémathèque Québécoise, the cost is 7.00 for adults, 6.00 for students from 13 to 30 years and seniors over 65. Children are admitted for 4.00 and children up to 5 years old are free. Taxes are included.

At Émilie-Gamelin Park, from June 19 to 21, (Berri Metro, Sainte-Catherine East/Berri /De Maisonneuve/Saint-Hubert) you can see an exhibit of giant photos, a demonstration of the know-how of sculptors and print-makers from many horizons (including a group of Ma’ohis from French Polynesia); artistic beadwork by Mohawk and Abenaki craftswomen; flintstone cutting by archaeologists who have recaptured the stonecutting skills of ancient Amerindians; afternoons of happiness taking part in traditional songs and dances, including the famous Boréades de la danse Loto-Québec. A range of cultural, museum and community organizations will set up stands. Some new ones in 2009 will be a literature stand from the publishing house Cornac and a display of Sequoia beauty products, from a Kahnawake company. There will be an encounter with Innu culture under the great Shaputuan hosted by ICEM (The Montagnais Cultural and Educational Institute). The Rythmes nomades show will weld First Nations rhythms with young voices emerging from Montreal’s cultural diversity. The Rez White and Blues show brings Forestare together with Élisapie Isaac and Samian (rumour has it that Richard Séguin will jump on the Loto-Québec stage that evening). On Friday and Saturday, the day will wind up with evening film screenings.

Among many other things, you can see Michel Cadieux and Martin Lominy:

A unique opportunity to attend demonstrations of stonecutting and other techniques once used by the First Nations of Quebec.

JUNE 19, 20, AND 21, from noon to 5 pm

There is so much more so check out their website to see everything there is to offer.

http://montrealonthecheap.com/general/m ... ival-2009/

Gathering worldwide
The annual First Peoples’ Festival offers a wide and international variety of events
but problems in Canada aren’t ignored

MOVING TO RES SCHOOL MEMORIES:
From Lara Kramer’s Fragments

by ROXANE HUDON

Way before the French met the English and squabbled over tea and baguettes, Montreal was an important trading and meeting place for First Nations people. For 10 days in June, the 19th annual First Peoples’ Festival gives them back a piece of the city.

“People say there is no aboriginal presence in Montreal, but Montreal is a trace of aboriginal culture through its origin and through its history,” says festival director André Dudemaine.

From traditional arts and crafts to mind-blowing documentaries, the festival highlights the cultural diversity of First Nations’ people, not only from Canada, but from all over the world, from Brazil to French Polynesia.

“It’s a way to actualize the tradition of the gathering in Montreal. Before, the means of transportation made it regional. But now, sorry Mr. Harper, the question of First Nations is an international one,” quips Dudemaine, referring to the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not sign the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It’s not the only reason Dudemaine rags on l’il Stevie. This year, the federal government cut $50,000 from the festival’s budget. “The First Peoples’ Festival is starting to be known abroad and it bothers the Conservatives that Canada’s First Nations are presented on an international market,” says Dudemaine.

The festival begins on a symbolic day. Thursday, June 11 marks the first anniversary of Canada’s “day of apology,” when Parliament apologized for the system of residential schools that meant to assimilate native children.

In honour of this day, Ojibway-Cree choreographer Lara Kramer presents her contemporary dance creation, Fragments, at the GESÙ (June 11–13, 1202 Bleury, 8:30 p.m., $15, $10 students). The piece is based on her mother’s stories of her experience at a residential school in Manitoba.

“It’s for me a way of creating room for a story, or a part of history to be heard,” says Kramer. “It’s trying to touch on a taboo subject in a way that’s poetic and I think there’s a softness to my work, but also a tone of trying to expose harsher issues around that.”

The festival also presents an impressive selection of over 70 fiction and documentary films, thanks to a strong partnership with the National Film Board.

One of the most hard-hitting documentaries presented is Vincent Carelli’s Corumbiara: They Shoot Indians Don’t They?, from Brazil. The film follows Carelli as he tries to find Indigenous people in the Rondônia state of Brazil in order to prove that they were pushed out of their land by major landowners who wished to extinguish them.

Renowned aboriginal filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin premieres her new documentary, Professeur Norman Cornett: Depuis quand ressent-on l’obligation de répondre correctement au lieu de répondre honnêtement? about the passion of a McGill teacher.

Other noteworthy films include L’éveil du pouvoir, about the political awakening of future Canadian aboriginal leaders like Chief Ghislain Picard, and El Juicio de Pascual Pichún, about the dark side of a Chilean justice system that accuses an Indigenous man of being a terrorist for demanding land rights.

No land claims necessary as the festival occupies Park Émilie-Gamelin (Berri Square) from Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 21 for a series of outdoor activities including concerts, demonstrations of traditional beadwork, flintstone cutting, dances, drums and chants. It all ends on June 21 with a ceremony celebrating National Aboriginal People’s Day at the Botanical Garden.

FOR THE FULL PROGRAM, SEE
NATIVELYNX.QC.CA

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/061109/news3.html