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The controversy surrounding the SLĀV show could also affect Kanata, another project by director Robert Lepage.

In a letter to Le Devoir, around 20 Indigenous personalities denounced the planned absence of actors from their nations among the 34 artists who will be featured in this production of “the history of Canada through the lens of the relationship between white and Indigenous people.”

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Most of the letter’s signatories are artists, but the group also includes communicators, academics and the artistic director of the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival, André Dudemaine. A dozen non-Indigenous “allies” also signed the document.

The letter was addressed to Ariane Mnouchkine of the well-known Théâtre du Soleil in Paris, where Kanata will first be presented. She had explained the show’s approach to Le Devoir, and in particular said that no North American actor would be in the production.

Indigenous people were consulted to document the show. Videos of testimony by First Nations people will also be integrated into the show, according to Ex Machina, Robert Lepage’s company.