She was the first Aboriginal slave to sue the colonial powers: The Avignon Theater Festival takes up the story of Marguerite Duplessis in a show that also aims to serve as a ‘mirror’ for more recent dramas that have affected Aboriginal people in Canada.
The piece Marguerite: le feu is the work of Émilie Monnet, a Canadian artist of Anishinaab origin who belongs to a group of indigenous peoples in North America. She had discovered the life of Native American Marguerite Duplessis while visiting L’Autre Montréal, a company that uncovers the city’s lesser-known stories.
“His story overwhelmed me, anchored me; I knew about slavery in New France, but not the extent of it,” she told AFP, referring to all French colonies in North America (1534-1763).
Originally from the Pawnee Nation, an indigenous tribe west of the Mississippi River, Marguerite was likely captured as a child in Iowa before being sold to several owners in New France.
When a new master decides to deport her to Martinique under the pretense that she is a thief and libertine (the resale of native slaves in the West Indies was a lucrative business), she rebels and becomes the first native in slavery to initiate a court case 1740 against the colonial power.
Marguerite yesterday and today
Émilie Monnet’s play, performed by her and three other actresses, traces part of this historical process, a transcription of which survives.
Marguerite will claim that she is the biological daughter of her first French lord, Duplessis, and therefore a free woman. She will lose her case and subsequently disappear without a trace.
“This process was a great success; It is thanks to other daisies that the rights of indigenous peoples have evolved,” says Émilie Monnet.
“The only information was the archives and his handwritten name, so you had to fill in the blanks,” she explains.
For an hour, the four actresses, dressed in colorful Aboriginal cardigans, tell of the fate of Marguerite Duplessis and at one point list the names of slave owners.
The performance is punctuated by indigenous songs and dances in front of abstract video projections.
“Never forget, the dead love to hear us sing,” they say towards the end of the show.
“I paint a portrait of yesterday’s reality to reflect today’s world,” says Émilie Monnet, who based her research on the works of Marcel Trudel, particularly L’slavery au French Canada.
The multidisciplinary artist regrets that “despite enormous efforts and initiatives, the history of slavery in Quebec,” which affected more indigenous populations than black slaves from the Atlantic slave trade, “little is known today.”
For her, “there are the daisies of today,” particularly in relation to the sadly famous cases of Aboriginal women who have disappeared and been murdered in Canada since the 1980s.
Émilie Monnet also mentions the “existing discrimination against indigenous peoples”, particularly when it comes to access to drinking water or hospital care, and recalls the case of Joyce Echaquan that shocked the country in 2020.
This Atikamekw woman, who died in a Quebec hospital, had recorded a video on Facebook before her death, in which we hear two hospital staff members racially insult her.
A report will highlight “the existence of systemic racism within Quebec’s institutions” in relation to Aboriginal people.