M
y first name, Kawennáhere, was
given to me by my Tóta—my
grandmother—when I was
born. It translates to “Her word
is above,” meaning that what I have to say
is important. In our culture, we believe
that we must live up to our names, and so I
aspire to live up to mine—by telling stories
of my culture through film and by using my
platform to uplift Indigenous voices.
I grew up in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Terri-
tory on the south shore of the St. Lawrence
River, across from Montreal. The second
oldest of four sisters in my close-knit fam-
ily, I was incredibly sensitive and pretty
creative as a kid, and I formed a deep-seat-
ed passion for film very early in life. I
watched VHS tapes religiously and joined
a community theatre on my “rez.” My de-
but acting role was as a seven-year old
munchkin in the Turtle Island Theatre
Company’s production of The Wizard of
Oz. My mom witnessed how much I loved
acting and submitted my name to a talent
agency in Montreal when I was ten.
Through my teen years, I only worked spo-
radically, as most projects shooting in
Montreal were French and there wereminimal roles for Indigenous actors.
Everyone expected that I’d attend
theatre school after graduating from high
school, but I decided that acting was too
unreliable and that I wouldn’t ever be able
to make a career out of it. I discovered that
my second passion was wanting to help In-
digenous people. So, I co-founded the
Kahnawà:ke Youth Forum, and I studied
correctional intervention at John Abbott
College with the intention of becoming a
social worker. I was working at the Native
Women’s Shelter of Montreal and had
nearly given up on acting when I was cast
in my very first leading role in the feature
film Rhymes for Young Ghouls.
It was the first time I’d recognized my
own history, with characters that resem-
bled my own family, in a film. I knew that I
couldn’t be happier doing anything else in
my life. My role as Aila landed me a best
actress nomination at the Canadian
Screen Awards, and the film was named
one of the top ten films at the Toronto In-
ternational Film Festival. Most impor-
tantly, it helped me prove to myself that I
could actually pursue film for a living.
But the industry hadn’t caught up yet to
the push for diversity. On multiple occa-
sions, I’d come in second for potentially
life-changing roles, many of which were
“whitewashed”—with white actors playing
roles that were specifically written for In-
digenous actresses. I had spent nearly two
years trying to make ends meet without
much success, and I yearned for another
opportunity in which some filmmaker
would feel compelled to tell the storiesKANATACREATIVE
& COMMITTED
Staying true to her Native culture is a driving
force for this filmmaker, actor and activist
by Devery Jacobs, Kahnawà:ke, Que.From the family
album: Devery
was outgoing
and imaginative
as a child. That’s
her dad, Clint,
in the photo
at centre.
26 More of Our Canada JULY 2019