ARTS2U Diversity and Inclusion Discussion:

Becoming and Staying Visible in the Digital Universe

ARTS2U spoke to a range of arts representatives from organizations who work with diversity and inclusion issues on a daily basis. We were looking to discover what are the best practices to ensure that marginalised communities are included in event listings, for now and for the future. We can do this by sharing this discussion with Canadian arts producers and technology developers working with the arts.

ARTS2U produced a discussion questionnaire in consultation with ELAN’s Inclusion Committee. Discussions were held with groups that represent women, LGBTQ communities, persons of colour, Indigenous communities, and linguistic minorities. ARTS2U has created a summary based on the responses to this questionnaire.

[gview file=”https://www.quebec-elan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ARTS2U-Diversity-Inclusion-Discussion-final.pdf”]

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.