Pakuneu: Intimate journey and search for meaning

Produced by Production AUEN, and an NAC French Theatre & NAC Indigenous Theatre coproduction in association with Centre du Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui, with support from the Cole Foundation.

Pakuneu tells the story of a child born behind bars while her mother was serving time. Three paths lie before her: growing up in prison, being placed for adoption or being raised by her grandmother. Despite a common starting point, the journeys diverge.

Multidisciplinary artist Soleil Launière draws on Innu cosmology to explore questions of stigma and the resilience of Indigenous ancestry, the pursuit of identity and intergenerational bonds. In this new production weaving together theatre, krumping, song and video, the body becomes language, and silence can mend what words cannot express.

Guided by the figure of the bison—a symbol of belonging, survival and an enduring relationship with the land for First Nations—Pakuneu is also a reminder of the systemic violence that continues to this day, with Indigenous women making up half of all incarcerated women in Canada.