MEMORY

Memory is a process by which knowledge can be constructed. Explaining the reality around us has been possible by sharing memories about our different understandings of the universe. The invisible forces that keep everything together in the cosmos are tangible to us thanks to collective knowledge built on the basis of the worldviews and contributions of diverse civilizations. The expansion of human frontiers in the universe has only been possible by keeping track of the processes and events that allow them to answer the most fundamental questions about human existence. However, extending the human frontiers beyond interstellar space does not come without the responsibility of questioning how they intend to go to new worlds and with what purpose. The idea that everything is connected in the universe might be the closest statement to capturing the complex realities of what exists within us, on our planet, and beyond. In a more immediate sense, this interconnectedness allows us to imagine possible solutions to the economic, social, and environmental crises of our contemporary times.

Although memory allows us to see only fragments of our past existence, it is an important vehicle of knowledge that can teach us valuable lessons as we project ourselves into the future. Based on the history of human explorations across continents and oceans, we are aware that knowledge is built through encounters between different cultures. Yet, we cannot forget the cultural, environmental, and human genocides that human greed and imperialistic interests can cause as a result of this pursuit of knowledge. There is no ownership tied to discovery; to explore and learn enriches the human spirit, but it does not give a right of entitlement. It is a metaphysical experience that makes us human, as it is a process through which we broaden the knowledge that will be shared with the next generations to come.

For this reason, memory is intended to be shared and transmitted. It is a repository of humanity, and an archive of what came before us. It tells us who we are as people. It is a compass that connects us to the past, to the present, and to imaginations of the future. Memory also connects us to the spaces we inhabit. Sometimes, it is all we have left, as the land we once inhabited has been transformed to the point of no return, or has been rendered unaffordable or unsafe to inhabit due to pollution or contamination. When the building, the space, or the neighborhood that once existed can no longer be recovered, memory serves as a way to re-presence them, and re-create that lost sense of belonging through art, gatherings, and storytelling. Space is given form and life through individual and collective imagination. When the gathering space is gone, the story and the image become the new spaces where communities that were once dispersed can come together, beyond their materiality.

The expropriation of the village of Sainte-Scholastique in Québec, intended for the construction of the Mirabel airport in the 1960s, left a scar in the psyche of the village’s people, who were displaced from their farms. The Quebec government’s intention of creating a new modern national identity through large-scale construction projects has cost the villagers of Sainte-Scholastique their homes, as well as the memory of an entire community. The story of the displacement of the Goose village’s inhabitants in Montreal was no different; a few years apart from the expropriation at Mirabel, this neighborhood of mainly newly-landed Italian immigrants near the Victoria bridge in the city was demolished as part of the Expo 67 world fair. As the adage of progress goes, old memories need to be erased in order to create new ones. In the case of Goose village, even if there is no trace left of the neighborhood today, the memory of the community survives in the family stories carried by its previous inhabitants and their descendants. Not having access to the physical space where the village once stood does not prevent the memory of the community to be celebrated and transmitted.

This is where the role of memory transmission comes in. According to Québec-based poet Pierre Nepveu, “memory…serves to comfort us and helps us to do a work of internal reparation” - a reparation that comes from the desire to mend the wounds of the past in order to walk into a space of healing. It is the immaterial space that fills the void of removal and dispossession, and the space of paying respect to what came before you. Sometimes, the memory of a community can also be re-enacted in spaces left unoccupied in the city. Empty buildings and sites can be used to hold gatherings, and are opportunities for forgotten communities to reappropriate the front stage of societal life and perform memory, and give it form and shape.

Vacant sites are also opportunities to reclaim space that has been denied to or taken away from people. Memory has the ability to materialize in these spaces physically, in the form of a monument, like the Black Rock near the Victoria Bridge in Montreal, that is commemorating the history of the Irish Montrealers and World War II survivors, or in the form of old architectures that are preserved as collective urban heritage, such as La Cité des Hospitalières and the remaining Expo 67 pavilions in Parc Jean Drapeau. In these sites, memory informs the present and future use of spaces by enhancing their history and highlighting newer ways in which they can be utilized.

Furthermore, memory is a performance of heritage and local communities’ history. The abandoned Notre Dame library in the Saint Henri neighborhood is an example of such a heritage site that is praised not only for its historical architecture but also for its immaterial value to local working-class communities. The library building is recognized as a space for re-enacting the struggle of working-class communities that marked Saint-Henri for decades. In a way, it commemorates an entire community. Ultimately, these buildings and sites become the front stage where different values, identities, and narratives attached to them are ‘re-presenced’.

Finally, memory is a gift for future generations. It hails from the past, happens in the present, and is capable of influencing the future. Memory’s impact on our perceptions of reality are activated in the form of historical memory. The Indians of Canada Pavilion at the world fair of 1967 is recognized as an important legacy of Indigenous cultural resilience in the face of Canadian settler colonialism. According to John Moses, whose late father was the Deputy Commissioner General of the IOCP in 1967, “Indigenous peoples and Indigenous issues continue to define Canada, whether it is in terms of land, spirit, or power”. He argues that Indigenous artists, land defenders, and cultural ambassadors rewrite the past by actively planning the present and thinking about future generations”. In this sense, Indigenous spirituality that is focused on the seven generation stewardship is a means to consider the importance of preserving memory. Therefore, memory is not only a tool to understand where we come from, but it is also a responsibility towards the future; Memory prompts us to question what kind of memories we want to create for the people that are yet to come. Though memories are and ought to be anchored in history, they should also seek rooting points in the future. This way, there is hopefully some room left for change and transformation.