As summer draws to a close and the busy Fall semester looms, I am taking advantage of my short weeks off to visit my ancestral homeland in Canada. I have long been on the elusive trail of my ancestors, and in the pursuit of my Mi’gmaq1 roots, I have been blessed to be invited to the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation Mawi’omi (powwow). In preparation, I started researching this seemingly small band of Mi’gmaq and discovered, as in the 1959 Peter Sellers film The Mouse That Roared, that they are a small nation that declares war on a superpower and ends up defeating and rehabilitating it.
The Listuguj First Nation’s struggles in 1981 and the decades that followed are a story of cultural revitalization, resilience, and self-determination that would shape Canadian law and reconciliation in the 21st century.
It began with a surprise law enforcement raid on the community. On the morning of June 11, 1981, newly elected council member Allison Metallic was on the wharf, cleaning his nets and recounts: “We were stormed by 500 provincial police officers and fishery officers who wanted us to stop fishing.” (Larose, 2021, para. 6) Sûreté du Québec police officers blockaded the town, searched homes, destroyed equipment, and arrested a dozen people that day. The Premier of Quebec, René Lévesque, contacted Band Chief Alphonse Metallic and issued an ultimatum to stop fishing altogether. The First Nation was again raided on June 20th, seeing police beat and arrest more Listuguj Community members.
Despite the raids, warnings, and brutality, many Mi’gmaq fishermen remained defiant and continued fishing. “The raid drew national and international attention. Images of police marching down the streets, beating Listuguj community members with batons, seizing boats and other property, and ripping fishing nets to pieces were seen on news networks across Canada.” (McDonald, 2020, para. 4) The day after the raid, the National Indian Brotherhood and All-Chiefs Conference, in solidarity, decided to move their meeting from Victoria, British Columbia, to the Listuguj First Nation. Hundreds of First Nation people from Canada and the United States arrived to offer support. The then Minister of Indian Affairs, on the Federal level, John Munroe, was contacted about the incident. Mr. Monroe stated that the Listuguj treaty right to regulate their own fisheries overrides any provincial regulations.
It was decided that the way to move forward was to establish a fisheries management plan. On May 19, 1993, the Listuguj Mi’gmaq passed and implemented their own, reclaiming control of the local salmon fishery. This act of sovereignty was a historic step in recognizing their rights to self-govern. After many years of legal battles, the issue was finally decided in the Canadian Supreme Court’s Marshall Decision of 1999, affirming Mi’gmaq fishing rights by virtue of the 1760-61 Peace and Friendship Treaties. While this does not provide unlimited fishing rights, it ensures the community a place at the table and a fair share of quotas.
The Marshall decision did not bring an end to conflict. In the decades that followed, disputes over treaty fishing rights have erupted into confrontations and violence against Migmaq fishers by non-indigenous commercial fishers. Boats, traps and facilities have been burned or vandalized, as well as physical threats and violence. Overall, there is a general sense of resentment and tension. As a person of mixed Acadian and Mi’gmaq descent, this makes me incredibly sad, as we had enjoyed a relationship of friendship and cooperation for centuries. I am beginning to understand that this is rooted in a drastically and recently changed economy of the region. For nearly two centuries, much of the Maritime fishery operated within systems dominated by powerful merchant companies, most notably the Charles Robin Company. Through the truck system, many Acadian, Mi’gmaq, and other coastal fishing families became dependent upon company-owned stores, credit, and export markets, leaving generations trapped in cycles of debt and limited economic opportunity. Although this system is gone, economic insecurity is heavy on people’s minds, and these foundational populations now find themselves in fierce, individualistic competition for resources, on the same waters with very deep family and historical ties.
The Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government is tasked with the responsible and sustainable management of fisheries, alongside and on equal footing with other communities that rely on fishing. According to their 2022 impact report, the community engages in commercial and subsistence fishing of lobster, shrimp, crab, herring, cod, Atlantic salmon, and eel. Lobster fishing is, by far, the cornerstone of the commercial fishery. Individual community members make up the great bulk of their fishing industry. The Listuguj Government itself owns and operates a fleet of 5 commercial lobster boats and two shrimp trawlers. The average landed value of their lobster fisheries is estimated at CA$12–18 million per year. Each dollar typically generates 2-3 dollars of broader economic activity, boosting the regional economy as a whole. A cornerstone of Listuguj fisheries law is sustainability and environmental stewardship. In 2023, they parked their shrimp trawlers and called for a moratorium on shrimp fishing in the Estuary and Gulf of Saint Lawrence, due to dwindling shrimp stocks. “As Mi’gmaq, we are guided by the principle of ango’tmu’q : taking care of something in a careful manner. It would be a violation of ango’tmu’q for us to continue fishing shrimp,” said Scott Martin, Chief of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government. “We will not fish our quota next year, and we call on the Minister to impose a moratorium.” (Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government, 2023, para. 2)
Listuguj is located geographically on the Restigouche River, on the border of Quebec and New Brunswick. They are also located on the west end of the Chaleur Bay, at a crossroads between the people and cultures of the Gaspe and Acadian peninsulas. Unlike other nearby French-speaking communities in Quebec and Acadian New Brunswick, Listuguj is primarily English-speaking in daily life. The community’s resurgence has not been limited to fisheries. Cultural revitalization has accompanied political and economic renewal. Mi’gmawisimk, one of several regional dialects of the Mi’gmaq language, is spoken by elders and, increasingly, by younger people due to significant investment in language revitalization, adult language classes, and school immersion programs.
The Listuguj First Nation’s struggles in 1981 and the decades that followed are a story of cultural revitalization, resilience, and self-determination that would shape Canadian law and reconciliation in the 21st century. What began as a small act of resistance from a small, historically marginalized band blossomed into a way forward for many First Nations to assert their rights and thrive in the 21st century! The community officially changed its recorded band name from the Restigouche Band to the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation in the late 1990s, reflecting their traditional Mi’gmaq name and a renewed sense of pride and community. I am very grateful for the opportunity to attend their powwow this coming weekend and possibly make some friends or find family.
References
Cornell, S., et al. (2010). Making First Nation law: The Listuguj Mi’Gmaq fishery. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy. National Centre for First Nations Governance.
https://live-azs-nni.pantheonsite.io/sites/default/files/2022-09/Cornell_making_first_nation_law.pdf
Larose, I. (2021). 40 years after Listuguj salmon raids, Mi’kmaw community is asserting control over ancestral fishing rights. CBC News https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/40-years-listuguj-salmon-raids-leads-to-fishing-agreements-1.6062729
Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government. (2023). Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government Calls for Moratorium on Shrimp Fishery in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence.
https://listuguj.ca/listuguj-migmaq-government-calls-for-moratorium-on-shrimp-fishery-in-the-estuary-and-gulf-of-st-lawrence/
McDonald, M. (2020). Listuguj Fisheries, the Driving Force behind Economic Development. Atlantic Policy Congress. https://www.apcfnc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Listiguj_Fisheries_Article.pdf
1 The spellings Mi’gmaq, Mi’kmaq, and Micmac refer to the same Indigenous Nation and language. This paper uses Mi’gmaq to reflect the Pacifique orthography used by the Listuguj Mi’gmaq
