Taking inspiration from Philip Akin's piece Utopia, Christine Quintana riffs on his idea of Utopia - what is it, and who gets to decide? A photo essay love letter to East Vancouver. Christine is a playwright, actor, and co-artistic director of Delinquent Theatre.
The territory that Young People’s Theatre stands upon is that of the Dish With One Spoon Covenant made amongst Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Nations, which covers how to share the resources the land and water provide. At the centre of the agreement is the promise that everyone will take only what they need, always leaving something left for those who follow and ensuring the dish is always clean. The Dish With One Spoon agreement remains in effect to this day. All nations are invited to live by its terms. The area of northern Lake Ontario, where the City of Toronto is now and where YPT is located, has been the territory of many different nations, including the Wyandot Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Six Nations, which includes the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca and Tuscarora. More recently, after colonization, this is also the territory of Treaty 13 negotiated with the Mississaugas of the Credit, who are part of the Anishinaabe Nation. Other nations, both recorded and not recorded, also made this area their home. Today, Toronto is still home to Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people. Miigwetch, nya:weh, merci and thank you to the people on whose territory we are able to live and thrive. YPT pledges to be partners with them, turning our acknowledgement into actions that care for the land and water.
Commissioned by Young People’s Theatre. Photography and Editing by Christine Quintana.
English.