Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation

Last updated April 20, 2019

Entrance to the Reserve. Listuguj.jpg — Entrance to the Reserve.

The Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation (in Francis-Smith orthography Listukuj Míkmaq) is a Mi'gmaq First Nations band government with a registered population (2003) of 3152 members, most of whom are of Mi'kmaq ancestry. The name Listuguj, is the origin for the name of the Restigouche River, as well as other nearby places also carrying the name Restigouche. Listuguj is also used as a name for one of the Míkmaq orthographies. Its southern border is adjacent to Pointe-a-la-Croix, Quebec.

In Canada, the First Nations are the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle. Those in the Arctic area are distinct and known as Inuit. The Métis, another distinct ethnicity, developed after European contact and relations primarily between First Nations people and Europeans. There are 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all Status Indians are members of a band.

Government

Of the 3152 members of the Listuguj, 1879 persons reside on the federal Indian reserve that was set aside by the legislature of Lower Canada in 1853, for the exclusive use of the majority of Mi'gmaq in this region. The remaining Mi'kmaq live off-reserve in the eastern United States and across Canada, but stay connected to the community through modern communications and travel to Listuguj for annual events such as the salmon harvest in June, St. Ann's Day in July, or the traditional powwow in August. All community members, regardless of residence, participate in democratic elections held every two years to elect one Chief and twelve Councillors in accordance with Canada's Indian Act Election Regulations, however only community members with residence in Listuguj could participate in the Ratification Vote for the Settlement Agreement which took place on December 13, 2014.^[1] The community is also allied to other Mi'gmaq communities in the Gaspé region of Quebec and in northern New Brunswick. Together, their elected Chiefs advance ancestral claims to self-government and to the traditional territory called Gespe'gewa'gi ('Kespékewáki), the last land.

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current-day Province of Quebec, Canada, and the Labrador region of the modern-day Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Gespe'gewa'gi is the Mi'gmaq Nation District that extends from the Miramichi River to the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, a land area that straddles the modern day Quebec/New Brunswick border. The First Nation is a strong advocate of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and Aboriginal and treaty rights. Its main resource is the Atlantic salmon and other fruits of the waters and forests, including modern harvest of timber. Political representatives of the Mi'gmaq of Listuguj and the greater district of Gespe'gewa'gi continue talks with the Government of Quebec over access to traditional lands.

Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay; to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and to the south by the province of New Brunswick and the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is historically and politically considered to be part of Central Canada.

New Brunswick is one of four Atlantic provinces on the east coast of Canada. According to the Constitution of Canada, New Brunswick is the only bilingual province. About two thirds of the population declare themselves anglophones and a third francophones. One third of the population describes themselves as bilingual. Atypically for Canada, only about half of the population lives in urban areas, mostly in Greater Moncton, Greater Saint John and the capital Fredericton.

The Atlantic salmon is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean, in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and, due to human introduction, in the north Pacific Ocean. Atlantic salmon have long been the target of recreational and commercial fishing, and this, as well as habitat destruction, has reduced their numbers significantly; the species is the subject of conservation efforts in several countries.

Battle of Listuguj (1759)

The Battle of Listuguj, also called "Battle of Restigouche", was the last naval battle between the British and the French during the Seven Years' War. In 1759, after the fall of Quebec, the French hurried to send reinforcements across the Atlantic. 400 troops were sent in merchant ships from Bordeaux. However, when they reached the Saint Lawrence River, the fleet commander discovered that the area was already occupied by a strong British fleet. He decided to sail south to the bottom of the baie des Chaleurs, and established gun batteries on the shore of the Restigouche river, near Listuguj. Eventually, they were spotted by British Captain John Byron, who engaged battle there. The battle opposed 3 French ships and ground batteries and a coalition of Mi'gmaq, French and Acadian irregular troops, against a 70-gun British ship and 2 frigates. The French and their allies lost this battle, ending the hopes of reconquering Quebec.

The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought in 1760 during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militias. The loss of the French vessels, which had been sent to support and resupply the troops in New France after the fall of Quebec, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America. The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi'kmaq and the British.

The Seven Years' War was a global conflict fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, and the Swedish Empire on the other. Meanwhile, in India, some regional polities within the increasingly fragmented Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, tried to crush a British attempt to conquer Bengal.

The Saint Lawrence River is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. The Saint Lawrence River flows in a roughly north-easterly direction, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. It traverses the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is part of the international boundary between Ontario, Canada, and the U.S. state of New York. This river provides the basis for the commercial Saint Lawrence Seaway.

1981 Restigouche raid

On June 11 and 20, 1981, the Quebec Provincial Police conducted controversial raids on the reserve to stop the Mi'gmaq from asserting their control over their native fishery. Federal Indian Affairs Minister John Munro was among those critical of the manner in which the Quebec government and provincial minister Lucien Lessard had acted. All convictions resulting from the arrests were eventually overturned.^[2]

The Sûreté du Québec, abbreviated SQ, is the provincial police force for the Canadian province of Quebec. No official English name exists, but the agency's name is sometimes translated to Quebec Provincial Police in English-language sources. The headquarters of the Sûreté du Québec are located on Parthenais street in Montreal and the force employs roughly 5,200 officers. SQ is the second largest provincial force and fourth largest force in Canada.

John Carr Munro, was a Canadian politician. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1962 election, and served continuously as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton, Ontario in the electoral riding of Hamilton East until his resignation in 1984, following his defeat for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada which was eventually won by John Turner.

Lucien Lessard was a politician in Quebec, Canada.

The raids and their aftermath were documented by Alanis Obomsawin in her 1984 film Incident at Restigouche .^[3]

Alanis Obomsawin, is an American Canadian Abenaki filmmaker, singer, artist and activist primarily known for her documentaries. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues.

Incident at Restigouche is a 1984 documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling a series of two raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation (Restigouche) by the Sûreté du Québec in 1981, as part of the efforts of the Quebec government to impose new restrictions on Native salmon fishermen.

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References

↑ listuguj.ca: "Listuguj – Canada Settlement Agreement"
↑ Notzke, Claudia (1994). Aboriginal Peoples and Natural Resources in Canada. Toronto: Captus Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-895712-03-3.
↑ Obomsawin, Alanis (1984). "Incident at Restigouche". NFB.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 2009-04-08.

External links

Coordinates: 48°0′57.6″N66°42′20.9″W / 48.016000°N 66.705806°W / 48.016000; -66.705806

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[1] stuguj.ca: "Listuguj – Canada Settlement Agreement"

[Notzke-2] Notzke, Claudia (1994). Aboriginal Peoples and Natural Resources in Canada. Toronto: Captus Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-895712-03-3.

[NFB-3] Obomsawin, Alanis (1984). "Incident at Restigouche". NFB.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 2009-04-08.