Press Releases

Mis en ligne 24-11-27

Notice from Terres en vues, Society for the Development of Indigenous Cultures, filed on August 15, 2024, with the Commission on Culture, Heritage and Sports of the City of Montreal, regarding the 2025–2030 Cultural Policy

By André Dudemaine, Director of Cultural Activities

The modification of the city’s coat of arms, bringing the Indigenous symbol of the Great White Pine—the Tree of Peace—into the center of the escutcheon, marked a sharp correction of historical perspectives. This heraldic symbolism finally accredited the founding role of Indigenous nations, which had been conspicuously absent. It was a gesture of recognition and reconciliation, but also a commitment to turn the page on a period of ignorance and exclusion.

And today, in 2024, we can say that a major turning point has been reached, already initiated under the Bourque administration with the creation of the First Nations Garden in 2001 as part of the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Great Peace of Montreal of 1701.

This continued with a transformation of the cultural landscape that has accelerated in recent years. Some of the most notable examples include: the expansion of the International First Peoples Festival (Présence autochtone) onto the Place des Festivals, followed by the City’s recognition of it as a major event; several toponymic changes, notably the naming of Atateken Street; significant presentations of works by contemporary Indigenous artists in Montreal’s cultural institutions—museums, theaters, publishing houses, festivals, and performance venues; the opening of Daphné, a self-managed Indigenous art center; and many more initiatives that have brought about a true shift in perspective and an explosion of new expressions, powerfully carried by Indigenous artists energized by this long-awaited openness.

The City has supported, encouraged, and accompanied this effervescence.

Our submission is a call for this well-launched movement—which we welcome—to continue in line with the promises it has raised.

The Great Peace, Again and Always

Speaking of the Great Peace of Montreal of 1701, we wish to recall that in 2026 it will be the 325th anniversary. With more modest ambitions than the grand commemorations of 2001, it would, in our view, be useful to mark the moment. Montreal remains a human environment where harmonious coexistence of diversities is part of our way of life.

Around the Great White Pine, which “shines on the highest mountain of the Earth” (to quote Kondiaronk), in these troubled times, Montreal is a place from which words of peace and reconciliation can resonate throughout the world—the historical depth of the Great Peace of 1701 conferring upon them a singular authenticity. Locally, a commemorative reminder will also allow us to measure the distance traveled, to salute the pioneers who opened the way, and to strengthen our steps toward true reconciliation—a process far from complete despite the many advances of the last three decades.

First recommendation, then: that the City support a series of events in 2026 to mark the commemoration of the Great Peace of Montreal—already jointly carried out in 2001 by Terres en vues and Pointe-à-Callière—and to recall the historical importance of Indigenous diplomacy in this founding event, whose profound meaning remains relevant more than three centuries later.

We also wish to take note of two fortunate but unfinished initiatives—the Fête de l’amitié Nuestroamericana and DestiNations—and to highlight the lessons that must be learned from these experiences and the follow-up that should ensue with a forward-looking perspective.

Unity and Diversity

Women from Montreal’s immigrant communities voluntarily organized a major celebration of diversity, honoring the city, its hospitable territory, and the heritage of the First Nations: the Fête de l’Amitié NuestroAmericana.

In the July 2024 press release announcing, after thirteen editions, the cancellation of the event, Gladys Navarro, president of L’Amitié nuestroamericana, wrote: “We remain hopeful that the institutions whose role is to promote cultural diversity will provide new opportunities to collectively celebrate the cultures of the world present in the metropolis.” (we underline the word collectively). [See: https://defiledelamitie.wordpress.com/]

Terres en vues today wishes to echo this call. This sentence, as written, constitutes our second recommendation: we wish its exact wording to be included in the Cultural Policy.

The highlight of the celebration was a parade through the streets of Montreal, ending at the Place des Festivals at the very moment when Présence autochtone deploys its annual grand scenography there. While at first the City’s Culture department had shown cooperation, more recently, with a negative attitude, it managed to discourage those who had, for 15 years, built a unique event: nearly 1,500 dancers in traditional attire, representing the world’s traditions as they remain alive within Montreal’s cultural communities, participated voluntarily in order to celebrate, in the organizers’ own words, “the fraternity that unites the First Nations, the peoples of Our America, and those of other regions and continents of the world.”

Diversity as a value of inclusion is not a series of cultures isolated in their respective ghettos, but rather a genuine will to live collectively with the wealth of heritages that Montreal holds. And the most evident factor of unity in this case is the Indigenous traditions—always present and always alive. This is, moreover, precisely what the City’s new coat of arms express in their powerful allegory.

Indigenous Architectonics

The City of Montreal strongly supported the major project of establishing in Montreal a space dedicated to the dissemination, transmission, and development of Indigenous cultures. The reversals and hesitations of successive provincial governments—perpetually avoiding the momentum from Montreal—have not allowed this promise to materialize.

Today, in a much-evolved context, we believe that the concept behind the project entitled DestiNations remains valid. If, in the City, toponymy, the programming of artistic and museum institutions, university programs, the sustainability of the International First Peoples Festival recognized as a major event, the opening of the self-managed art center Daphné, and many other initiatives, now provide unprecedented visibility and possibilities for First Peoples’ cultures—there is an openness and a momentum no one could have foreseen in their current magnitude. Yet, a major installation with architectural signature—a marker of the belonging of this territory to the heritage of First Peoples, which would anchor in the collective imagination the various advances just mentioned—is still missing from Montreal’s urban landscape.

Our third recommendation for the Cultural Policy: that the City commit to reviving the project of a major space dedicated to Indigenous cultures, with strong symbolism marking the urban landscape, calling upon—and primarily involving—interested Indigenous organizations.

Festival Reminder

Finally, we wish to recall that Terres en vues, as producer of the International First Peoples Festival, supports the recommendations that may have been formulated elsewhere concerning the role, sustainability, and development of festivals as cultural and artistic engines of the metropolis.