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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. + 189 +
