Paprika’s activities and operations primarily take place in theatres, houses, apartments, bedrooms, kitchen tables, and offices on the ancestral lands and waterways of the Anishinaabe (including the treaty holders of this territory — the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Chippewa), Haudenosaunee Peoples from the Six Nations Confederacy of the Grand River, Wendat, and any other Nations who cared for the land now known as Tkaron:to (Toronto). Acknowledged and unacknowledged, recorded and unrecorded. Past, present and future. We are so grateful to contribute to the long history of storytelling on this land.
The staff, artists, and facilitators of Paprika are on this land for a variety of reasons—some of us are Indigenous to Turtle Island, while others have settled here for opportunity, or to escape war and colonialism in our home countries. Some of us have come here involuntarily, brought to this land as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. We want to recognize the often unacknowledged contributions of Black ancestors who came to this land without their consent.
Regardless of how you arrived here, this land is governed by the Dish With One Spoon wampum belt covenant which sees the land as a dish with one spoon, and no knives, that we must work together to share and care for. At Paprika, we aim to embody this through our processes and collaborations—from providing well-paid, well-supported training programs, to offering this entire festival for free or by donation to the public, we are inspired by the Indigenous nations that have shown such generosity and hospitality in welcoming us as settlers onto this land.
We understand that recognition and gratitude alone on the part of settlers is not enough when it comes to healing from and rectifying generations of injustice and violence against the Indigenous peoples of this land and worldwide. Now is a time for education, dialogue, and action. As part of this action, we joined 17 other performing arts organizations across Turtle Island in endorsing PACBI, the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. We are also in the midst of developing an ethical fundraising policy so that we be accountable for not accepting support from groups directly complicit in active genocide.
Want to take action with us? We have a resource table in the Festival Lobby as well as a digital resource table on our website. There, you can learn more about PACBI, as well as other organizations supporting Indigenous liberation and care here on Turtle Island and beyond. We have also included QR codes linking to organizations that we encourage settlers to make donations to.