Reconnaissance territoriale – Toronto

_{Murale Reconnaissance territoriale par Quentin “Que Rock” Commanda, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E, Toronto.}

Après plusieurs années de recherche, j’ai enfin trouvé un texte de Reconnaissance territoriale qui exprime mes sentiments en tant que descendante de colons Français en Nouvelle-France au Canada. Comme d’autres Reconnaissances territoriales, ce texte dit ce que tous les colons devraient savoir à propos des autochtones déplacés des territoires qui les soutenaient par les occupations successives de la France et de la Grande Bretagne aux 17^e et 18^e siècles.

Cette Reconnaissance territoriale exprime ensuite ce qui manque dans plusieurs de ses semblables : comment aller de l’avant ensemble dans la paix, le respect et la bonté.

Je souhaite reconnaitre Tkaronto, terme Mohawk signifiant « place dans l’eau où les arbres se dressent ». Je vis et je travaille sur le territoire traditionnel des nations parlant l’Haudenosaunee, incluant les Hurons-Wendats, les Senecas et les Mohawk. Les nations qui parlent l’Haudenosaunee sont ici depuis des temps immémoriaux et ont été rejointes plus récemment par les Mississaugas du Crédit.

Cette reconnaissance territoriale signifie qu’en vivant et travaillant ici, nous avons tous une responsabilité envers l’environnement, et envers chacun de nous, de nous traiter mutuellement, et de traiter l’environnement, avec paix et respect. Ceci signifie que nous sommes responsables d’honorer, de renouveler, et de maintenir continuellement les valeurs et les liens élaborés dans les anciennes ententes faites par les peuples venus d’ailleurs avec les peuples autochtones.

Aujourd’hui, Toronto abrite de nombreux autochtones ainsi que des gens venus s’y établir de partout au monde. Agissons ensemble dans une atmosphère de respect et de paix pour accomplir conjointement du bon travail avec de bons esprits. Commençons à bâtir des liens plus sains entre nous tous et les espaces que nous habitons à Tkaronto, Ontari:io, Kanata. Gardons nos esprits unis par la bonté.

Nia:wen. Merci.
© Dawn Maracle, version anglaise

Adapté du texte composé par la talentueuse Dawn Maracle – mère Mohawk, consultante, écrivaine, orateur, maître de cérémonie, voyageuse, photographe, danseuse, muse, et survivante du cancer – pour l’organisme TO Live.

Tous les commentaires respectueux sont bienvenus

Land Acknowledegment – Toronto

_{Land Acknowledegment mural by Quentin “Que Rock” Commanda, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E, Toronto.}

After years of searching, I have finally found a Land Acknowledgement text that resonates with my feelings as a descendant of French settlers to Nouvelle-France in Canada. Like other land acknowledegments, it lays out the truth all settlers should know about the indigenous peoples displaced from the lands that sustained them by successive French and British occupations in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

It then lays out what is missing from many such texts: how to move forward, together, in peace, respect, and kindness.

I would like to acknowledge Tkaronto, which is a Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.” I live and work on the traditional territory of Haudenosaunee-speaking nations, including the Huron-Wendat, Seneca, and Mohawk. Haudenosaunee-speaking nations have been here since time immemorial, and were more recently joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.
What this means is that by living and working here, we all have a responsibility to the environment and to each other, to treat each other and the environment with peace and respect. This means we have responsibilities to honour, renew, and consistently uphold the values and relationships outlined in the ancient agreements.
Today, Toronto is home to Indigenous peoples and settlers from around the world. Let us all come together in an atmosphere of respect and peace to do good work together with good minds. Let’s start building stronger and healthier relationships with each other and the spaces we inhabit in Tkaronto, Ontari:io, Kanata. Let’s hold our minds together in kindness.

Nia:wen. Thank you.
© Dawn Maracle

Adapted from TO Live’s text, composed by multi-talented Dawn Maracle, Mohawk mother, consultant, writer, speaker, MC, traveller, photographer, dancer & muse. Cancer survivor.

All respectful comments are welcome

Of Clotheslines and Loglines

In an earlier post, I wrote about the writers’ residency I attended from November 15^th to 21^st, 2022 in Srimangal, the tea capital of Bangladesh.

Each day offered a lecture by a mentor, an immersive excursion to inspire us to incorporate sensory details in our writing, free writing time, and four opportunities to exchange informally around the delicious food prepared by kind host, Sultana Nahar, and the friendly staff at Hermitage Srimangal. At the start of the residency, participants met with their mentors to discuss their novel-in-progress based on a submission they provided ahead of time. On the last day, participants met again with their mentors to discuss any new direction they wished to pursue following their residency experience. All those present also had a chance to read out loud a short excerpt from their work-in-progress or recent publications.

The first lecture, given by Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth, shortlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction, encouraged us to articulate “What is my Story About” in a succinct premise sentence, or logline, for our projects. It should address:

Who?

Fighting whom?

Over what?

To make this exercise even more interesting, I’d like to compare loglines to clotheslines using pictures I took in Bangladesh to record the beauty of clotheslines and celebrate the work of everyone involved in doing laundry:

A

B

C

D

E

What should an ideal logline look like, A, B, C, D, or E? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Here are the premise sentences for my two manuscripts, crafted using Julia’s method:

Our Fifth Season – manuscript completed in 2021 after six major drafts; not yet sold to a publisher:

South Korean screen star, Adam, faces a baffling murder charge at home while Joanne, the American woman he loves, desperately tries to help him even though he has severed all ties between them.

Firefly – my current novel project, now in its 2^nd draft; this is the project I sought to improve at the writers’ residency with the help of my mentor, Omar El Akkad:

Firefly, a courtesan in 17^th-century Korea, finds that she must destroy the man she loves if she wants to avenge her family, executed by his father in a political purge.

In my view, a logline should look like clothesline D and give focused information rather than too much, too little, or too diffuse.

Do you have a logline for your narrative project? Does it answer the three key questions listed above? Please share!