As long as the River flows: River stories from a Kanien’kehá:ka perspective

Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde is a Kanienke’haka woman from Kahnawake. For the past 14 years she has been a grateful, active and contributing guest on Lekwungen territory, Victoria (BC). She holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in the Indigenous Communities Counseling Psychology Program from the University of Victoria. She is currently enrolled in a PhD in Applied Theatre at University of Victoria. Her areas of research are Contemporary and Traditional First Nations visual art, Indigenous performance practices, and expressive arts therapy examining decolonial methodologies in art. Her artistic practice focuses on Indigenous theatre, land-based/site-specific performance art, collaborative practice, cultural resurgence and social/political activism through the arts and healing. Her artistic media include land-based photography, performance/theatre, movement/dance and visual studio arts. She is the first Indigenous Artist in Residence for the City of Victoria (2017-2019).

Her recent documentary Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again (2021, produced by the National Film Board of Canada), shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.

Courtney Montour directed, wrote and co-produced Flat Rocks (2017), a short documentary revealing how the development of Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway forever changed the landscape and the livelihood of the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk community. Her first documentary Sex Spirit Strength won Best of Festival and the Emerging Filmmaker award at the 2016 Yorkton Film Festival. She has directed episodes for several documentary series including Mohawk Ironworkers (2016) and Skindigenous (2021). Courtney co-created and coordinated McGill University’s Indigenous Field Studies course, held in Kahnawà:ke, for 8 years. Passionate about educating, the course surfaces the intergenerational effects of colonization and Canadian policies on contemporary Indigenous society.

She made her directorial debut in 2014 and is represented by Vanguarde Artists Management LTD. as a writer, director and producer. Her work can be seen on the CBC, Paramount +, CBS, APTN, TVO Kids, PBS and film festivals worldwide.

She is a National Screen Institute, Women In View and Whistler Film Festival Alumni. She won the International Indigenous Filmmaker Award at the Montréal First Peoples Film Festival and is a recipient of the REVAL Indigenous Arts Award.

Her work has been nominated for Canadian Screen awards and Hot Docs’ Lindalee Tracey Award. She was profiled in the 2017, fall issue, of Playback Magazine and was selected in the ‘Top 25,” category for the Diversity of Voices initiative, hosted by the BANFF World Media Festival.

Her upcoming releases as a writer and director include Rose, Pulse (doc) & Two Horn (doc). Her work as a writer in drama is a brand new TV Series (CBS, CBC, Paramount+) that will be released in 2023.