Aux confluents de l’Akiawenhrahk
Solstice Sharing Day
With members of Ahkwayaonhkeh and VU, accompanied by La Boîte Rouge vif
At Teharihulen’s Camp, Onyionhwentsïo
June 14, 2023
Present were: Ève Bastien, Alexandre Berthier, Julia Caron Guillemette, Jacynthe Carrier, Véronique Isabelle, Marie-Céleste Kennedy, Anne L’Heureux, Carl Morasse, Anne-Marie Proulx, Teharihulen Michel Savard, Manon Sioui, Guy Sioui Durand, Sarah Toung Ondo
The Alliance's first gathering took the form of a day of sharing on the land, on the Summer Solstice. The Kwatriho’tat committee invited several people involved in Ahkwayaonhkeh and VU activities, as well as some people who have followed Yahndawa’ and the Alliance project more generally. Two people from La Boîte rouge vif also helped us prepare for the day and attended the event.
The goal of this day was to ground ourselves in the land and discuss the Alliance project. The main questions that drove us were: Where are we? Where are we going? It was important for us to start by becoming aware of where we are (what do we see in our environment) to better understand where we want to go together (pool our visions and dreams and define what actions we can take to implement this vision).
To begin with, we lit a fire, which burned throughout the day. We made an offering of tobacco, and thanks were given.
“Important things are said around a fire.” – Guy Sioui Durand
After a word of welcome, we formed a talking circle. Everyone was invited to share a meaningful memory connected to the forest and/or the land. In this way, before anything else, we formed human bonds with each other and, more broadly, with all living things.
“It's the land that precedes the alliance. For The Talking Tent (tente parlante), there was a floor of fir branches from Wendake, and there had to be canvas from Pakuashipi. It's like a loop. The project started where we are, and we're back on the land. It allows us to realize that life is the most precious thing.” – Guy Sioui Durand.
Where are we?
We then shared our respective visions of the Alliance and reviewed what had been accomplished prior to and within this project. Next, we attempted to take stock of the artistic communities in Quebec City and Wendake.
“Is making art a form of caring?” – Anne-Marie Proulx
“Art is a tool of democracy that disturbs politics.” – Ève Bastien
“The colonial system is clumsy in its attempt to balance the organizational and the human, often sacrificing one for the other. From an Indigenous perspective, we can ask ourselves what kind of organization we want to become.” – Marie-Céleste Kennedy, Boîte Rouge Vif
“We must protect and pay attention to the human dimension. And it takes chaos for creation.” – Véronique Isabelle
Lunch
Sharing meals and food is a fundamental part of our gatherings. Special attention is paid to the choice of foods and how they are prepared, as if the consistency and values we wish to share within the framework of this project can be ingested and shared. Here, there was a generous spread of sagamité, smoked fish, cheese, bannock, salad, fruit, coffee, tea, and herbal infusions. We also favor potluck-style meals, which represent collective sharing.
Where are we going?
To move forward together in this project, we must learn to trust, even when we are venturing into uncharted territory with people with whom we are still learning to build relationships. We therefore proposed an exercise in which, in silence, a blindfolded person was guided by another person without a blindfold to walk through the territory. This exercise was also an invitation to be attentive, to listen, to be kind, and to trust in moving forward together in unknown territory.
Then, we formed small groups to reflect on the following questions: What values do we want for this alliance? What are our dreams for the Alliance? What can we do collectively to achieve this vision?
The end of the day allowed us to pool our visions, discuss, debate, and share. These ideas were gathered on a concept map, where each person then placed an item collected from the land, symbolic of the day spent there. To conclude the day, all these items were returned to the land as a token of gratitude, along with tobacco.
"I think that this idea of reciprocity remained very strong for me throughout the day, as I wondered how it would exist and what we would need to put in place to ensure it. And then, at the end of the day, I had a kind of revelation that we were all there in that place and that, through this act, the project existed in this real desire to share and in the power that simple presence can bring when it is wholehearted and sincere, without knowing where it will lead us.
Ultimately, a fruitful perspective emerged for me with the idea of breaking out of the walls, yes, by being physically together on the land and learning from this sensitivity to the world. But also, in the image that the walls convey (thinking inside the box): following guidelines, our institutionalized, directed, contained environment, distanced in our thinking about the environment and its ways of doing things. This is a path that seems full of possibilities to me, one that we could take to break free from certain perspectives or at least broaden them. Self-management as a rallying point, as a modus operandi, like a movement we have in common.” – Jacynthe Carrier