Oldal 191 [191]
MAITRES CHEZ QUI?
THE PARTI QUEBECOIS’ CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
AND ITS IMPACT ON THE IDEA OF INDIGENOUS
TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY FOLLOWING THE QUIET
REVOLUTION
—t1o>
MARIE-CLAUDE GILL-LACROIX?
ABSTRACT
René Lévesque and his Parti Québécois (PQ) fervently believed that the
province of Québec met the requirements for territorial sovereignty — so
much so in fact that a referendum meant to ascertain the people of Québec’s
willingness to separate from the rest of Canada was organized by the PQ in
1980. As evidenced by the raids endured by Mi’kmagq people of the Listuguj
community during the summer of 1981, Lévesque’s beliefs regarding territorial
sovereignty did not extend to Québec’s Indigenous populations, however. Why
is that? The answer lies in the ‘new’ cultural geography wrought by the Quiet
Revolution (1960-1980). In helping shape Québécois identity during the 1960s
and 1970s, Lévesque and the PQ created a cultural geography which diverged
from notions of Indigenous territorial sovereignty in the 1980s. These findings
exhibit how the cultural development of French-Québécois emerged to the
detriment of Indigenous self-determination.
INTRODUCTION
In Incident at Restigouche (1984), Indigenous documentarian Alanis
Obomsawin recounts raids endured by the Mi’kmaq people of Québec’s
Listuguj community during the summer of 1981.? Provincial police forcibly
seized fishing equipment from the Mi’kmaq inan attempt to limit their access to
salmon in the Restigouche River — salmon which the community’s inhabitants
relied upon for both food and income.’ The then Minister of Fisheries for the
1 Ludwig-Maximilians Universität.
2 Alanis Obomsawin, Incident at Restigouche, National Film Board of Canada (1984), https://
www.nfb.ca/film/incident_at_restigouche/ (accessed 8 April 2020). It is important to note
is that the Listuguj community was previously called the Restigouche Reserve after the
area’s eponymous river. Thus, Obomsawin’s film is titled Incident at Restigouche rather than
Incident at Listuguj.
The raids are described from 10:23 to 18:03 in Obomsawin, Incident at Restigouche.
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