CONTRIBUTORS
We honour the contributions of our collaborators and the support that led to where we stand today.
Their dedication has been instrumental in transforming ideas into meaningful projects.
FRANCIS Ateroniahtakon BOOTS
Ateroniahtakon – Francis Boots, Snipe Clan, 73, Ayonwaehs, Roskenrakehtehkowa of the Hodenonsonni Mohawk Nation/Kanienkehaka Kaianehrehkowa Kanonsesneh
Ateronhiatakon peacefully passed into the spiritual world on July 5, 2023. Francis was my dear friend and I will forever miss him. As an immigrant it is difficult not to feel terribly lonely sometimes, but Francis told me I wasn’t alone. I had Grandmother Moon looking over me. Francis Boots was my true welcoming to this native land.
Today I miss my beloved friend who truly knew about inclusion.
I hope that anyone who has been part of my cultural mediation projects knows that my inspirations came mostly from him. Francis was a knowledge keeper and he told us about the concept of TAIETEWATATENONHWERA:TON: "the duty we have to love one another as family." I hope his spirit gets us all to see such an obligation to fulfill this duty.
Ateroniata:kon Francis Boots was the kindest and wisest person I ever met, he shared his condolence ceremony with my loved ones and brightened up my day anytime I saw his lavender eyes.
SHA’TETIONKWATTE’ means “in nature we are all the same height.” This non hierarchical worldview is progressive as it is ancient. Francis lived by this principle and I’m so privileged to have been able to learn from him. I love you Francis. May your journey back home be a glorious one. I’ll see you in the stars at night.
- Carolina Echeverría
In 2014, Carolina asked me to do a condolence for the family of Myriam, so that her Jewish and Muslim relatives could share a common ceremony of grief. This was beyond my ability to do, so I asked my friend Francis Boots.
He agreed under the condition that the ceremony be filmed so that others could "know what we do". The recording of the ceremony properly belongs to the ritualist. Francis has freely shared his knowledge with the world. That is the spirit of Native Immigrant. Love for one another belongs not only to the collective, but to the world.
It may or may not have been the first time Francis did this ceremony for non-natives. Twentieth-century policies of assimilation had made this a rare event. The first recorded condolence for non-natives was in the 1650s at the treaty session in Three Rivers. In the 18th century, it was commonplace for French, English, and Mohawk spokespersons to condole one another at treaty sessions across Quebec, New York, and Ontario. What Francis did was a major stroke for 21st-century decolonization.
- Philip
I would like to thank all those who accepted the invitation to build bridges and co-create culture, adding our own precious cultural gifts, acknowledging that we not only live on indigenous land, but that we all carry our own indigenous origins, let's honour them. This project would have never worked without the incredible people that at some point or another were part of this native-immigrant journey.
My gratitude to
Jack Miller
Scott MacLeod
Pilar Sáez
Ivan Atehortua
Anne Pilon
Fabio Villalba
Nadia Hajji
Julia Ovando
Lôdvi Bongers
Francois Lemoine
Julia Pomeroy
Cristian Zaelzer
Nico Williams
Diego Ugalde
Kalynn Sinnamon
Martin Loft
Hasma Benaziz
Hanieh Ziaei
Lelia Sfeir
Colin Earp-Laverne
Yves Falardeau
Janelle Gauthier
Alec Angle
Marg Boyle
Akawui
Denise Olivares
D.A.M.
Canada Council for the Arts
Ville de Montréal
CAM
YES Montreal
and all those who shared an object and a story to make the Native Immigrant dresses.
Michael McGrath
Xavier Kataquapit
Nadine Saint Louis
Judith Brisson
Amaia Orbe
Habiba Nathoo
Jessica Bleuer
Stephanie Rae Davies
Willma Lahache
Roy Wright
Kakwirakeron R. Montour
Jason Vallieres
Tehatsitsahkwa Lahache
Onahsakaren (Montour)
Barbara Diabo
Isabella Blu Ptito-Echeverria
Paolo Benzi
Rufo Valencia
Caroline Nelson
Jeanette Kelly
Saulo Cruz de Oliveira
Marion Desnoyer
Dino Emilio Giancola
Yanick Thibault
Lea Stillinger
Cedric Jamet
Lorenzo Terzoli
Roxana Miranda Rupailaf
Adrian Silva Pino
Felipe Bravo
Francisca Paillaleo
Gabriel Antilao
Roberto Paillaleo
Victor Labelle
Janet Lumb
Philip Deering
Julia Miltz
Kyla Winter
Marci Babineau
Adriana Engert
Nathalie Howard
Josée Malouin
Rania Arabi
Dan Laxer
Eden Abramowitz
Ciaran Winter
Loni Cornax
Naira Santana
Olympic Frames
Lana Belber
Joelle Bernier
Alain Ptito
Ana Maria Tomassini
Ian Ferrier
Lesley Winter
Jerome Holmes
Louise Pelletier
Agata Kozanecka
Eric Wrazen
Ariella Freedman
Odaya Singers: Emilie Monnet, Nahka Bertrand, Anik Sioui
Tais da Costa
Susan L. Scott
Ron Grimes
Cailleah Scott-Grimes
Randal Wark
Kevin Jenne