En savoir plus / Find out more

Fenn Lounge, Residence Commons, Carleton University (parking, lot P6)Le colloque « Champlain dans l’ Anishinabe Aki : histoire et mémoire d’une rencontre » , qui se tiendra sur deux jours, le 19 & 20 septembre, réunira des chercheurs, des intervenants patrimoniaux et des gestionnaires de politique culturelle. En ce 400^e anniversaire du premier voyage de Champlain dans la Région de la Capitale nationale, ils réfléchiront à la place de Champlain dans la mémoire collective et aux célébrations soulignant cet anniversaire, tout en replaçant celles-ci dans l’histoire des représentations de Champlain. La remontée de la rivière des Outaouais (Kichi Sibi) par Champlain en 1613 constitue à la fois un tournant majeur dans les relations entre Européens et Anishhinabeg ou Algonquins (histoire) et une porte d’entrée dans l’univers fascinant de la mémoire collective. En effet, les historiens de la mémoire sont depuis longtemps fascinés par la façon dont différents groupes sociaux qui ont des perpectives différentes sur le passé, négocient la signification des événements commémoratifs. Le 400^e anniversaire de Champlain en Ontario en offre un exemple dramatique, les perspectives des autochtones et des Euro-canadiens étant à l’opposé l’une de l’autre. Pour les premiers, l’arrivée de Champlain dans l’Outaouais représente le début de conflits culturels, économiques et politiques multiséculaires pour leur survie, alors que les derniers veulent célébrer le « père de la Nouvelle-France ». Toutefois, l’anniversaire de Champlain est une occasion de faire prendre conscience à la population de l’impact de son passage dans l’Outaouais sur les autochtones et de faire connaître leurs perspectives sur l’événement. C’est pour cette raison que la participation d’intervenants autochtones au colloque est fondamentale.Le colloque va boucler une série d’activités soulignant le 400^e anniversaire du passage de Champlain dans la Région de la Capitale nationale. Il donnera la parole aux représentants de diverses organisations communautaires et gouvernementales qui auront depuis dix-huit mois travaillé à la commémoration de la rencontre entre Champlain et les Algonquins. Le colloque est unique en ce qu’il leur permettra de réfléchir à leurs pratiques commémoratives. Le colloque incluera aussi des universitaires de la région ainsi que des spécialistes de l’extérieur. L’interaction entre des personnes ayant pris part aux commémorations locales et des personnes qui ont analysé des phénomènes semblables ailleurs constitue une promesse d’une discussion productive

The Champlain in the Anishinabe Aki : History and Memory of an Encounter Colloquium – September 19 & 20
Fenn Lounge, Residence Commons, Carleton University (parking, lot P6)This two-day colloquium will bring together scholars, community heritage activists, and cultural policy makers to consider the place of Samuel de Champlain in collective memory. The 400^th anniversary of Champlain’s arrival in the Ottawa-Gatineau area provides the occasion for this gathering. It will provide an opportunity to reflect on the local celebrations attending this anniversary while placing them in the context of representations of Champlain in Canadian collective consciousness more generally. As Champlain’s journey up the Ottawa (Outaouais/Kichi Sibi) River in 1613 marked an early milestone in the relationship between European and Anishinabeg or Algonquin peoples, this gathering will also problematize the use of the French explorer as a point of entry into questions of early contact between First Nations and European cultures in the Americas.Historians of memory have long been fascinated by how disparate social groups with different perspectives on the past negotiate the meaning of commemorative events. The Champlain anniversary offers a dramatic case study of this phenomenon stemming from the fundamental disparity between Aboriginal perspectives on the event and those of Euro-Canadian communities. While the latter groups have by and large initiated this commemoration because they saw the arrival of a famous European explorer and the Father of New France as something to celebrate, Aboriginal peoples have tended to view this historical moment as the beginning of centuries of cultural, economic and political conflict that would threaten their very survival as a people. Yet the anniversary of Champlain’s visit offered at the same time an opportunity to raise awareness in the broader community of its impact on First Nations and to make known the aboriginal perspective. For this reason, Aboriginal participation is fundamental to the purpose of the colloquium and a prerequisite for its success.The colloquium will serve as part of the wrap-up of festivities that will take place in the Ottawa-Gatineau region over the spring and summer of 2013 to mark the anniversary of Champlain’s passage up the Ottawa River. It will include representatives of voluntary and government organizations from the national capital region who, by this time, will have been working together on the Champlain commemoration for the previous eighteen months. The participation of these drivers of commemoration in this after-the-fact reflection and analysis represents a unique feature of this event. Participants will also include local academics who have been involved in the process from the start, as well as scholars from further afield with a special expertise on Champlain, his time, and how he is remembered elsewhere. The interaction of those with direct and intense experience of a recent local commemoration with others knowledgeable about similar phenomena elsewhere promises to yield fruitful and productive discussion. By capturing information and generating knowledge about Aboriginal-European contact in the region and the contemporary politics of its commemoration, this event will inform pedagogy, research, and future collaborative projects in the region, ensuring that the public resources and community efforts invested in the Champlain 400^th have an enduring legacy.The keynote event will be a round table on the legacy of Champlain, between an Aboriginal expert, a French and a Canadian historian of New France, held at the Museum of Civilization at the end of the first day. This will be followed by the inauguration of a sound and light installation at the statue of Champlain at Point Nepean.This website will serve as a platform for preliminary exchanges, and the collection and the preparation of didactic material, exhibitions and creations. A collection of the best scholarly papers will be prepared for publication by a university press.