BY JOE YOUNG AND BOB CANTRICK
MONTREAL, Quebec - On August 17, Micmac people in the
community of Listuguj took down barricades, the first of which
went up in mid-July when they blocked access to the GDS saw
mill. On August 6 they set up barricades along Highway 132,
cutting off traffic. Listuguj is a community of Native people
on the Gaspé Peninsula in eastern Quebec. The Micmacs on the
barricades, who were demanding the right to cut wood on crown
land, won cutting rights to 30,000 cubic meters of wood per
year from the Quebec government As part of an agreement, no
charges will be laid against those who defended the barricades.
The Micmacs had been demanding 160,000 cubic meters. Gary Metallic, a hereditary Chief and leader of the protest, said, "I stand by the principle that we are the owners of this land. This is short term and the negotiations will continue. For the sake of not bringing confrontation or bloodshed, this was the best way to go."
Jobs and access to natural resources are among the underlying issues in this fight. Unemployment among Natives on the reserve is 70 percent. Many residents must seek employment outside the reserve, where they encounter discrimination. Susan Isaac-Metallic, who works at the Listuguj Arts and Cultural Center and has been on the barricades, described her effort to find work across the Restigouche river in the town of Campbellton. When a prospective employer saw her name and where she lives, he threw her application in the garbage.
The owner of the GDS sawmill, Guildo Deschenes, openly told the Montreal daily La Presse, "We don't hire Micmacs because that would create tensions."
Micmacs began protest actions on July 16 when the provincial Quebec government of premier Lucien Bouchard ordered sawmills in the area to stop accepting wood cut by Micmac loggers, claiming such timber was being harvested "illegally." On August 6, when the Micmacs blocked Highway 132, the struggle became daily front-page news in Quebec and the lead story on news broadcasts. The major news media refer to the protesters as "dissidents" with little support.
But Metallic pointed out that since this struggle began, those supporting the fight have held democratic decision-making meetings almost every night. On August 9, a parade through the reserve supporting the demands of those on the barricades drew 127 cars and as many as 300 people, according to several activists who spoke to Militant correspondents the next morning. Listuguj has about 2,800 residents.
The media also made much of the fact that sawmill workers were being inconvenienced by the closing of their workplace. There was one demonstration August 7 in the nearby town of Pointe-a-la Croix against the barricades. Lyta Isaac, the director of the Arts and Cultural Center at Listuguj told these reporters, "They were stopping traffic and swearing at people who appeared Native." On August 12, the Quebec government agreed to compensate sawmill workers and area businesses for their losses.
The fight of the Micmacs has begun to attract support elsewhere. About 75 people rallied August 16 in downtown Montreal in front of the Hydro Quebec office building, where Bouchard has an office, to demand that the provincial government meet the Micmacs' demands and that no SQ [provincial police] or army be sent against them.
Joe Young is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 7625.