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MAITRES CHEZ QUI?... the Toronto International Film Festival, Obomsawin was asked to relate her experience interviewing PQ minister Lucien Lessard following his comments on Indigenous sovereignty.'* She explained that despite the pushback Lessard received from her, the minister told Obomsawin’s film crew that he understood her conviction as she was “defending her people.” This empathy led Obomsawin to subsequently “like him.”!°° She recounted: “I started thinking [of myself] in his role and I could almost understand what he was talking about [...] he is [also] honest to what he believes [so] I kind of respected him." The mutual sympathy between Obomsawin and Lessard is encouraging in that it demonstrates that Québec’s French and Indigenous inhabitants can respect each other even at times of disagreement. Whether or not Indigenous Peoples’ territorial sovereignty can be handled in a similar manner remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that the relationship between French-Quebecois and the province’s Indigenous communities is a subtle one, but one which has and will continue to evolve — hopefully for the better. BIBLIOGRAPHY ---, René Lévesque: Premier of Quebec, Encyclopedia Britannica (28 October 2019), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Levesque (accessed 8 April 2020). ---, Timeline: Colonization (2016), The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/colonization-andimmigration (accessed 26 July 2020). ANCTIL, Pierre, René Lévesque et les communautés culturelles, in Alexandre Stefanescu (ed.), René Lévesque: Mythes et réalités, Montréal, VLB éditeur, 2008, 178-201. BALTHAZAR, Louis, Les nombreux visages du nationalisme quebecois, in Alain-G. Gagnon (ed.), Quebec: Etat et Société Tome I, Montréal, Les Editions Québec — Amérique, 1994, 23-40. BEDARD, Mario, La géographie culturelle québécoise: Rôle et objet depuis la Révolution tranquille, Erudit, Vol. 51, No. 143 (Sept. 2007), 219-242. CARLSON, Hans M., A Watershed of Words: Litigating and Negotiating Nature in Eastern James Bay, 1971-1975, The Canadian Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 1 (March 2004), 63-84. 104 The quotes listed below have been taken from the following interview: Alanis Obomsawin — Jesse Wente, In Conversation With Indigenous Icon Alanis Obomsawin, TIFF 2018, TIFF Talks (17 January 2018), https://youtu.be/cUBmX9KDzuo (accessed 8 April 2020). 105 See 40:40-41:20 in Obomsawin — Wente, In Conversation With. 106 Tbid. 107 See 40:50—42:10 in Obomsawin — Wente, In Conversation With. + 205 +
