15 minute read
Editorial
from 2022 April 6
by Milan Lukes
Church must tear up papal bulls, return stolen material
Church’s role in genocide was institutional, despite what Pope says EDITORIAL
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Last week, First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegates — including representatives from Manitoba — were sent to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. The meetings were organized to start a conversation about reconciliation for the Catholic Church’s role in centuries of colonialism and genocide and made progress toward a public apology from the Pope — one of the 94 calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report. For years, the Pope refused to recognize the church’s role in genocide, but delegates had success this time around.
Conveniently, the Pope’s apology blamed a couple bad apples while avoiding confronting the church’s institutional responsibility. “For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry,” the Pope said. Many claim that the apology on its own does more for the church than it does for victims and argue an apology must be backed by political and material reparations.
Most Canadians assume the separation of church and state is an inherent part of Canada’s liberal constitution. Although it is generally inferred, neither state neutrality nor state separation from the church is demarcated in the constitution. This is likely because Canada’s claim to sovereignty as a settler state depends on two papal bulls passed in 1455 and 1493, respectively. The papal bulls deemed people Indigenous to Africa
and the Americas undeserving of protection from European law or the church, therefore giving settlers the right to claim the land as their own under God. Together, the papal bulls are popularly known as the Doctrine of Discovery and they continue to influence Canadian policy and land claims.
Given that the papal bulls effectively gave Europeans the right — under their own Eurocentric laws — to claim and settle foreign lands and eventually form self-defined sovereignties, the bulls form the legal foundation that policies like the Indian Act have rested on throughout Canada’s short history. As many are hopefully aware, it was the Indian Act that informed Canada’s genocidal approach to Indigenous nations: banning their cultural practices, sending Indigenous children to residential schools and establishing Canada’s reserve system.
Why is this significant? As award-winning Indigenous journalist Tahieròn:iohte Dan David claims, “Without [the papal bulls], the ideological house of cards collapses.” While it would take far more than
scrapping two outdated edicts to challenge Canada’s sovereignty, it nonetheless sets the stage for change and opens up a world of political possibilities for Indigenous nations.
From the sovereignty established by the papal bulls and the subsequent drafting of the Indian Act, Indigenous practices were banned and cultural material was seized. Initially, Canada outlawed potlatches — a redistributive ceremony integral to many West Coast First Nations’ governing systems — in 1884 with an amendment to the Indian Act, but this law cascaded into yet another amendment which banned all Indigenous dance and cultural material off-reserve after 1927. Refusal to abide by this law often resulted in imprisonment and fines.
Cultural material seized from this ban has ended up in museums across Canada and throughout the world — including the Vatican — as trophies of colonialism. Most of the Vatican’s collection of Indigenous cultural material was sent to Pope Pius XI in 1925 from missionaries for a global exposition which displayed over 100,000 pieces of cultural material.
The narratives that accompanied these items were of the realization of the settler-colonial project — a project that is prefaced upon the erasure of Indigenous populations. However, this triumphalist myth that Canada has been permanently settled — as if settler colonialism is a historical occurrence and not a system of governance and oppression — goes in direct contradiction of Indigenous activists fighting for their sovereignty, political institutions and self-determination. This damaging myth is being challenged by delegates at the Vatican who are asking for this important cultural material to be repatriated.
The fact that the Vatican is in possession of these items is directly correlated with the very violence that the Pope apologized for.
However, progress toward this end has not yet been elaborated and it is not clear the church is interested in co-operating. Archbishop Donald J. Bolen of Regina, Sask. went so far as to say that the artifacts were gifts bestowed to the church. “There is a spiritual dimension to gift-giving, and that can’t be lost,” Bolen claimed. While they may have been gifts from missionaries, experts say many of the artifacts were stolen. Despite this, the church continues to treat this stolen cultural material as their own. On a visit to the Ethnological Museum Anima Mundi, Anishinaabe-kwe journalist Tanya Talaga attempted to photograph a stolen pipe stove and was asked to leave. Beyond this, the delegates were not granted access to the Vatican’s private collection.
All Indigenous people have a right to see and control how their cultural material is managed. Being asked to leave upon trying to spread this important knowledge displays an attitude of ownership over stolen material the same way Canada assumes ownership over stolen land.
The church supposedly feels remorse for its actions, yet it continues to act and uphold colonial institutions and practices. Unlike the Pope’s apology makes it seem, it was not simply a few misguided Christians that contributed to residential schools — it was and continues to be an institutional effort that began with two racist papal bulls. The continuity of this institutional colonialism lives on in the Vatican’s private collection of cultural material. If the church truly wants to take its first steps toward reconciliation, it should return what was stolen and tear up the papal bulls that made this theft possible.
graphic / Dallin Chicoine /
staff
words / Lucas Edmond /
staff
The wait was worth it for North Graffiti
Local band set to rock the Park Theatre
ARTS & CULTURE
Grace Paizen, staff As winter is finally melting into spring and our familiar feathery friends return, live music is also slowly returning to music venues across the city.
Not only has it been a long winter, it has been a long two years for local Winnipeg band North Graffiti.
To celebrate this return of somewhat normalcy, the band is set to release its album Modern Relics at the Park Theatre on April 9 with opening acts the 12/21 and Mobina Galore.
In fact, lead singer and guitarist Johannes Lodewyks said the band has been waiting the entire pandemic to share their music.
“We actually had this album ready to go right when COVID hit and so we kind of had many debates about whether we should put it out throughout COVID,” Lodewyks said.
“But, you know, [we] just didn’t want to be somebody’s soundtrack to another lockdown.”
“We didn’t want to do it as a livestream and we wanted that real, kind of, in-person [event],” Lodewyks said.
“What makes North Graffiti stand out is that we pride ourselves on being just a really good live band.”
Composed of four local veterans of the Winnipeg music scene, with Kyle Monkman on guitar, Marty LaFreniere on bass and Joel Leonhardt on drums, North Graffiti was a band long in the making.
“We’ve all been playing in bands in Winnipeg for years,” Lodewyks said. “We all found each other and decided, you know, we’re going to form this band.”
“About eight years ago, Marty, myself and Joel started jamming and writing these songs [...] we pretty quickly found ourselves with an album’s worth of material, so we went into the studio.”
Monkman joined the band by being an amazing engineer of the album, always picking “up the guitar and go[ing] ‘Well, how about something like this?’”
“And [we’d] say, ‘Oh, that sounds good, why don’t you lay that down’ [...] and eventually Kyle had played enough guitar on the album that we just decided, ‘Do you want to join the band?’”
All primarily from the punk rock scene, North Graffiti embraces its “garage-rock feel” in Modern Relics.
“With this album, you’re going to find a middle ground between Rancid and Bruce Springsteen,” Lodewyks said, “trying to tie the two points together.”
North Graffiti chose the Park Theatre as the venue for its big release party because the theatre has made renovations to expand the space for those still tentative to come out to live shows. “The people who are coming to the show know that they won’t be crammed shoulder to shoulder,” Lodewyks said.
“They’ll have some space to move around and feel comfortable.”
The show is sure to be a cathartic moment for not just the audience rejoining the world of live music, but for the band themselves after such a long sabbatical over the pandemic.
Lodewyks said musicians felt “pretty disenfranchised by two years of COVID,” so having their album release to look forward to was a good way to keep them going throughout the pandemic.
Tickets are only $12 each, set low on purpose by the band as they “wanted to make sure that price is not a reason that people aren’t coming out to the
provided / North Graffiti image /
show.”
In fact, the band hopes people will come out to the show as they truly focus on “trying to be a great live band.”
“Lots of bands can sound fantastic on the album, but when it comes to live, that’s when you really got to prove yourselves,” Lodewyks said.
With a “punk rock DIY ethic” and a fun event to look forward to, North Graffiti is sure to be rocking the Winnipeg music scene for years to come.
Tickets to North Graffiti’s album release party can be purchased on eventbrite.ca.
arts@themanitoban.com
’Toban turntable
North Graffiti, ‘Modern Relics’ — 4.5/5 stars
ARTS & CULTURE
Grace Paizen, staff
4.5/5 stars
Self-described as adding “modern flare to a vintage aesthetic,” North Graffiti’s album Modern Relics successfully reflects its musical tagline. Just like the album’s cover, the “punk & roll” local group pulls together the fragments of vintage punk and rock past with present instrumentals.
There are recognizable hints of notable bands’ tonal styles sprinkled throughout the album. “Any Other Way” harmonizes into the style of the Cure, but with the frantic beat and vocal stylings of the White Stripes and Jack White à la “Fell in Love with a Girl.” The track “Fancy Screaming You Here” opens like a song of the Sex Pistols before blending a fresh punkrock take on Mötley Crüe-like chords and vocals.
However, where there is homage or nostalgia, there is creativity. Third track “The Entertainer” has lead guitarist and vocalist Johannes Lodewyks crooning like Bruce Springsteen, but the band pairs the sound with selfaware lyrics dissecting a musician’s role.
Set to a lively exhibit of ’90s-rock feel, North Graffiti reflects specifically on the prairie band experience of touring the expansiveness of Canada. Lyrics “16 hours across these prairies to Edmonton” followed by “a pair of shows and 16 hours home [...] that’s why they call me the entertainer” lend a satirical examination of the weariness of prairie road travel purely for the joy of entertaining fans two provinces over.
A well-deserved mention of the album is song length. In an era of bloated singles, most tracks on the album average under three minutes, which is a refreshing take on the industry norm of four-plus minutes.
What is most exciting about the nostalgic twists of Modern Relics is not just the homage to bands of the past, but the homage to sounds of the past. “I Was a Lone Wolf” is a textbook example of this. Though the instrumentals and even vocals bring the Strokes to mind, the overall sound is a nostalgic hit of 2000s pop-punk. While listening to the track, you can almost see the opening credits of a film starring the likes of Brittany Murphy or Alicia Silverstone.
Overloaded with nostalgic feel, North Graffiti concocts a timeless-sounding
provided
North Graffiti / image / album by injecting a blend of familiar but bygone instrumentals. Modern Relics stands as a time capsule of how the genres of past powerhouses are remixed and remembered in the current music scene.
North Graffiti’s album Modern Relics will be available April 8.
Lunch B.H.A.G.G. performances coming this April
UM Theatre presents its last two shows of the season
ARTS & CULTURE
Zoë LeBrun, staff This month, you can catch two new online productions from the University of Manitoba’s theatre program. The first show is Antigone Now by Melissa Cooper and the second is The Theory of Everything by Prince Gomolvilas. Caguioa’s directorial choice of the play was rooted in a desire for representation.
“I knew going into this project that I wanted to do a play by an AsianCanadian playwright,” Caguioa said.
“Being Filipino-Canadian myself, it was something that was extremely important for me to do. […] It was a long process, but by some miracle I found The Theory of Everything, which has an Asian-American playwright […] and an all-Asian […] cast. It was also the perfect mix of funny and serious.”
Caguioa believes the play will resonate with audience members in its universality.
“I think everyone has gone through a period in their lives, however long or short, where they start to wonder about their place in the world and where they really belong,” they said.
“It can be hard sometimes to reconcile two parts of your identity that can be so different but still, somehow, are both you. While the characters are southeast and east Asian, a lot of their arcs are really resonant regardless of race: looking for love, looking for identity, looking for happiness. Each person on Earth is their own individual universe, and this play really explores that notion of feeling alienated from the greater universe and feeling lost in your own.”
Although Maranan and Caguioa have both directed in the past, these Lunch B.H.A.G.G. productions mark their first full-length directorial debuts with in-person performances.
Auditions for their upcoming Lunch B.H.A.G.G. productions were conducted virtually, as were a portion of the rehearsals.
Regarding the auditions, Maranan said her “directing experience has all been virtual, so I didn’t really have much to gauge from. Film actors send in self tapes all the time and that works, so why not? […] [I knew] the disconnect between myself and the actors […] would dissipate once we got to be with each other physically.”
Maranan’s instinct was correct, and both directors spoke highly of the capabilities of their cast to adapt to this online-to-in-person experience with flying colours and of their acting abilities as well.
Other challenges that Caguioa and Maranan have faced throughout this experience are learning how to direct people wearing masks, figuring out the administrative side of directing and balancing schoolwork and directing duties. wouldn’t be very fun if it were too easy,” said Maranan.
“It really helps having such a great support system through it all and to have Keanna go through this entire experience with me.”
Despite the challenges they faced, both Caguioa and Maranan enjoyed the process of directing.
“I’m extremely excited,” said Caguioa.
“Being a director is like the perfect mix of [stage management and creative agency]. I love being able to work with the cast and their instincts to let the script come to life.”
The plays are being presented as part of the theatre program’s Lunch B.H.A.G.G. series: “short, one-act shows” that are directed by students and meant to be held during lunch hours, hence the play on the word “lunch bag.”
Antigone Now is directed by Nadine Maranan, a fourth-year science student pursuing an honours degree in psychology with a minor in theatre, and The Theory of Everything is directed by Keanna Caguioa, who is in their fifth year of an advanced degree, with a double major in English and theatre.
“Antigone Now is a modern adaptation of [Sophocles’s] Antigone,” said Maranan.
Set in the aftermath of a war, the play explores themes such as justice, democracy and gender roles as Antigone challenges the systems around her.
“It was quite a process choosing this show in particular,” Maranan said.
“I came into directing a Lunch B.H.A.G.G. knowing I wanted to direct, but not necessarily knowing what show I wanted to direct. Based on plays that I liked, Katrina Dunn, my advisor, put together a bunch of plays for me to read and possibly choose from. And among them was Antigone Now.”
Maranan said that part of the story’s charm is that it is universal and transcendental. “The story of the play transcends time. This show reaches audiences from time period after time period because it has everything, it shows what it means to be human,” she said.
“The play shows us the beauty of the human experience, such [as] being able to love and hope and feel and see the world ever-changing around us. But the play also exposes the ugliness and horrors of what people are capable of doing, such as war and corruption of power.”
Maranan also has a personal connection to the original play, having studied it before in high school.
“Antigone’s story has always had a special place in [my] heart and it’s super cool that I get to explore it in this capacity,” she said.
The second Lunch B.H.A.G.G. production, The Theory of Everything, explores race, faith and identity politics through a comedic lens.
images / Nadine Maranan and Keanna Caguioa / provided
the rehearsal space with my actors and feed off of each other’s energy and just play,” Maranan said.
“I am so […] excited to share this show with everyone! I am so grateful for this opportunity.”
