TERRITORIES
OF ENCOUNTERS
CAMP
In the spring of 2021, Ian Saganash and Éliane Grant participated in the Territoire de rencontres (Territories of Encounters) camp. In a formula particularly adapted to the current health situation, they received virtual training and support. They carried out intergenerational encounters independently with their family members or according to the health measures in effect. During these encounters, they made several video recordings that they then shared with elder Allan Saganash and artist Akienda Lainé. Here is a montage of some of the clips from these cultural camps.
Territory of Encounter
Eeyou Istchee
Images by Ian Saganash
Territory of Encounter
Mishigamish, Eeyou Istchee
Images by Eliane Grant
ART PIECE
Last Cree standing
This work is a co-production
Allan Saganash
Allan Saganash is an important cultural expert and transmitter well-known in his Waswanipi Eeyou community. Now 67 years of age, Allan has spent much of his life teaching the Cree way of life and practicing and transmitting knowledge associated with traditional activities on the land. Throughout his community, he is recognized as a significant contributor to sustaining cultural practices. He has always been able to establish a balance between his cultural practices as a hunter, fisherman and trapper and his professional commitments as a territorial agent, negotiator with governments and industries, as well as setting up cultural programs and projects for the benefit of his community. Allan has specialized training in management, negotiation, politics and cultural development as well as unique experience in Cree traditional knowledge, land use and management.
Akienda Lainé
Born to a Wendat father and an Innu mother, Akienda has been working in collaboration with La Boîte Rouge VIF since 2015 as a director, writer and editor. With a college degree from Capilano College (North Vancouver) and a university certificate in the First Nations Audiovisual Production Program (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Akienda has a long track record as a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist. Also an actor, a set technician, a production assistant and a playwright, he masters the art of transmission with excellence and sensitivity.
He has worked for several producers as a director, an assistant director and a cameraman, including several productions commissioned by the Indigenous channel APTN. For this same channel, Akienda directed his first feature film on the sensitive subject of the repatriation of remains of the Wendat Nation: "Ma Mémoire" (2013). In 2017, he directed a 9-minute film for La Boîte Rouge VIF on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, a sensitive, touching and disturbing production about the distress and resilience of this tragic situation. He is currently working on a feature-length production of this topic. In 2019, in partnership with La Boîte Rouge VIF, he co-directed a web-documentary series for the Ontario Ministry of Education. This series of 7 educational video clips focuses on the realities of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Ontario. It has been nominated for a 2020 Numix Award in the category Documentary – Video clip and Web Series.
