A snapshot of Montreal’s largest Indigenous festival
As children ran through the fountains at Montreal’s Place des Festival, gleefully dancing around a sacred turtle sculpture beneath a sky-high artistic representation of a teepee, A Tribe Called Red mix pulsed the speakers and local Native artisans flogged their wares. This was the scene at the First Peoples Festival in the middle of a bright, beautiful and breezy August 1 as the masses began to pour into the festival centre and gear up for the NuestroAmericana Friendship Parade.
A recent addition to this 25-year-old festival, the parade brought out more than 700 people from many ethnic groups from across the city and the world in the spirit of togetherness and unity.
Running down Sainte-Catherine Street, the event culminated in a major celebration at the festival site where more artists took to the stage to perform Indigenous dance and songs. The likes of DJ Madeskimo, throat singer Sylvia Cloutier, Richard Desjardins and Florent Vollant made it to the outdoor stage for free shows. Hundreds of films from around the globe were screened and art of all kinds, from street theatre to soft stone carvings, was exhibited. Adding to the sights and sounds were the succulent scents of game sausage and corn grilling over special pits.
Marie-Christine Dufour, the executive producer of an upcoming installation piece in the Old Port, was recruiting people to participate in a photography exhibit called “One Hundred Face.”
“We are working on a project with Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, who are two of Montreal’s best known visual artists, to do a project throughout Old Montreal,” said Dufour. “For part of this project we will have one area that will project the faces of Montrealers, with 100 faces that will be projected through an alley.”
She had met all sorts of people from as far afield as Chicoutimi and San Diego.
Providing their own route to healing, two members of the Mayan Nation were showcasing traditional healing through ancient rites in one of the canvas teepees set up for more private activities at the festival.
“What we do is a purification ceremony for people who need it,” said 12 Owls (the translation of his name). Having also been a fire keeper for 28 years, he said that his whole life has been about helping those in need.
“There are people who need this because they feel bad and so with a little bit of cleaning they can feel a bit better when they leave the teepee. There are all kinds of people who have come in here for this,” said 12 Owls.
Vicki Okpik, the designer behind Nunavik Creations (a Makivik Corporation endeavour), offered a sampling of exquisite Inuk designs.
“We were invited to come to this festival and have been in the fashion design business since 2000, making sealskin and fabric coats along with other accessories and fine leather goods. We have two workshops – one in the north and one in Montreal – and we have five full-time seamstresses,” said Okpik.
Showcasing mitts, purses, bags and coats that ran from the hundreds into the thousands, the kiosk drew a crowd looking to lap up the lavishness of their creations.
At another table that featured local goods, a woman from Kahnawake named Rita was displaying her handicrafts for sale alongside Cree artisan Robie Nicholls.
Rita said that she had been coming to the festival for the past eight years and enjoyed it very much.
“A lot of people will come up to me and ask me what my handicrafts mean. What does this doll mean or what does this bird mean? And, I tell them, nothing, it is a bird,” said Rita.
For his part, Nicholls had been invited to bring his work from Mistissini. “This is a really fun festival. I love the people and the drumming and that people come here from all over the world to see what Native people do. Plus there are some really cute ladies here,” he said with a smile.