Kris Demeanor

Kris Demeanor, who plays Baron de Lahontan, was part of a collective of Indigenous and settler actors and musicians who staged The Making of Treaty 7 in Banff, Alberta. This experience of collaborating across Indigenous and settler perspectives on related political and historical issues led to his involvement in Dialogues with the Future.

Kris had never heard of the historical figures Kondiaronk and Baron de Lahontan before participating in the project. In this section, he reflects on the educational and cultural divide between Eastern and Western Canada, as well as the limited attention given to Indigenous–settler relations in the school curriculum during his youth.

To what extent were Kondiaronk and Baron de Lahontan truly friends? Was their relationship one of genuine mutual respect, or was it primarily a strategic alliance shaped by the demands of negotiation and political advantage? In this clip, Kris reflects on the nature of their relationship and the ambiguities surrounding it.

As a work  of literature, was Lahontan—when transcribing or recalling  these conversation for publication—envisioning himself in this work as a character that is playing devil’s advocate? To what degree did he embody the colonial sentiments of this time? Kris offers some speculations here.