Director's Message: August 2017

We are halfway through summer and at the mid-point of Arts Alive! Québec 2017. Festivities at Knowlton and Quebec City were not dampened by the ubiquitous rain of June, and the sun shone on Hudson for their lively July weekend. If you missed the first three festivals, check out some photos here. Coming up next is Huntingdon on August 19, followed by Wakefield and Pointe-Claire in September. Plan a day trip! All programming and activity details are listed on the Arts Alive! website.

For ELAN members and friends in Montreal we have the August 8 Schmoozer at the St-Ambroise Terrasse, where some of ELAN’s first Schmoozers were held back when we had our office at the Lachine Canal Complexe. We’ve organized a bike convoy from Lionel-Groulx metro and a shuttle car service from St-Henri metro. See below to RSVP.

The most important ELAN event of the year is our Annual General Meeting. This year’s edition will take place on Tuesday, August 29 at Le Gesù (1200 Bleury, Montreal). Board members for 2017-18 will be confirmed, project managers will bring you up to speed on ELAN’s accomplishments, and staff will be on hand to answer your questions. Plus, we have some very important motions (link to documents on ELAN site) that need your voice—and your vote! After the business meeting, we will have a party to celebrate the best year in ELAN’s history. I hope to see you there.

Guy Rodgers
Executive Director

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.