From September 18th, 2024 to June 2025
— Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m – 6:30 p.m
Online | Free
Language: French and English
Open to all
An activity organized by the artist Hubert Thériault
To join the circle, write to huberttheriault.13@gmail.com or register here.
CONTEXT
Building on our collective experience of reading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report last season, we are continuing our journey toward understanding and allyship by first reading the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, followed by the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
While reading the TRC report, we learned about the numerous calls to the Canadian government to adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). First adopted by the United Nations in 2007, Canada initially objected to the Declaration at the United Nations General Assembly, only formally endorsing it in 2016. It took until 2021 for Canada to enact the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIPA) and until 2023 to propose an action plan for its implementation.
OBJECTIVE
As a first step, this reading circle provides a space for collective, embodied engagement as we gather each week to read these texts aloud. For one hour each week, we will take turns reading for 40 minutes, followed by a time of discussion or quiet reflection on what we’ve read. By coming together as a community of artists, educators, and researchers, we aim to deepen our understanding of the systemic violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in Canada. Inspired by projects like the TRC Reading Challenge and Theatre Passe Muraille’s reading of the TRC report, we hope that the shared experience of reading aloud and reflecting on this knowledge will strengthen our ability to work respectfully and effectively together in the future.
CONTENT
The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), released in June 2019, contains 231 Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, and the Canadian public. These calls address the systemic violence and discrimination faced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals. Indigenous leaders, organizations, and families of victims have urged Canadian society to not only read the report but to take concrete actions based on its recommendations.
The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) is available online. You can view and download it directly from the official National Inquiry website. Here is the link to the report: Final Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG.
BIOGRAPHY
Hubert Thériault is a French-Canadian creature, performer, movement researcher and writer. Hubert’s interests revolve around mythologies, strategies of storytelling, anticolonialism, time traveling and somatics of social justice. Through their practices, Hubert attempts at creating spaces of representation and dissolution where haunting colonial narratives are confronted to their fears and sadnesses. Hubert’s recent work focuses on historical reenactments and the specificities of Quebec’s coloniality. Hubert believes in dancing. He has completed their MFA in Dance at Bennington College and worked alongside Thomas F. DeFranz, Donna Faye Burchfield, Ric Allsop, VK Preston, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Julie Burelle and Yuchen Chang. He also graduated from the BFA in Contemporary Dance at Concordia University and took part in danceWEB’s 2022 program in Vienna.