Archive for category: News

The lobster season opened on September 20. Those with tags can fish for three weeks until October 10th.

And those without tags can get cooked lobster at the Natural Resource building.

“A person can come everyday,” said Kirt Dedam, the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy Coordinator with Listuguj Fisheries. “That’s how the system has always been.”

The lobster fishery is considered a food fishery.

“The main objective for this fishery is to make sure the community is fed with lobster,” said Dedam.

One person can receive one tag, which allows him or her to fish one trap for the duration of the season. Anyone with a tag cannot receive cooked lobster.

The community has 500 tags. 100 are kept by the LMG and used to directly provide food for the community. Those who receive the other tags are asked to also consider donating some of their catch to the community as well.

Over $70,000 has been raised for the new community park, and Kangaroo playgrounds has been contracted. There should be people on site within four to six weeks.

This has been made possibly largely by a $60,000 donation from Invenergy – a company involved with the Mesgi’g Ugju’s’n Wind Farm.

“They’ve also committed $15,000 a year, starting in 2018 for the duration of the power purchase agreement,” said Sheila Swasson, one of the organizers of the project.

The additional money will be able to go to any community projects that need financial support.

To date, over 40 community members have contributed to the project.

Momentum built quickly, Swasson said. She remembers one friend donating, and then putting a call out on social media to encourage others. It ended up occupying most of Swasson’s night.

“I sat there for a good two to three hours, answering emails and accepting email transfers,” she said. “I thought, ‘wow, the community believes us. They really see it.’ You know, I had that same experience with the rink.”

The new park will actually be right beside the rink.

The plans have already been drawn, but there are still a lot of ideas floating around.

The organizers would like to plant trees, find ways to create a sense of ownership with the kids, and acknowledge the people who helped the park possible.

One way would be a sign with all the company’s logos. Another would be painting rocks with the names of the community members who donated, and permanently embedding them by getting a masonry to use them to create a border around the park.

The organizers hope the park will have a variety of impacts on the community – encouraging physical activity, encouraging pride and ownership over the community, and reminding people that anything can be done in Listuguj.

“We have the capacity to do it right here,” said Swasson. “I’m just lately feeling and seeing the revitalization of that.”

The official groundbreaking ceremony at the Mesgi’g Ugju’s’n Wind Farm was on June 22. Nearby Chiefs and councils were in attendance, along with members of Innergex Renewable Energy, nearby mayors and MLAs, the Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Ghislain Picard, elders, and the Quebec Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Geoffrey Kelley.

“We did it in an aboriginal way,” said Troy Jerome, the Executive Director of the Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat. “We wanted to make sure the Mi’gmaq were incorporated into it. We had a group of young drummers sing the honor song.”

Jerome reported between 150 and 200 people in attendance, with shuttles bringing people from Listuguj, Gesgapegiag, and Gespeg to the site in the Avignon Regional County Municipality.

There were lots of reasons to celebrate.

Technically, it’s the symbolic start of construction. The land has already been cleared, and 28 Mi’gmaq workers are already there daily. But construction of the actual towers are just about to begin.

By the end of the season, 47 bases will be constructed.

“We have to put about 40-50 cement trucks in each of those bases, full of cement,” said Jerome.

The plan is to also burying cables this year. Next year the towers will be erected, and turbines will be installed.

This year also marks the completion of training – a major priority for the team.

“Our guys are recognized to work in Quebec now,” said Jerome.

The Commission de la Construction du Québec prevented many Mi’gmaq works from working in the province, even if they were experienced.

“By the partnership with them, we’ve managed to get people to take the exams, and when they go and write the exams, they’re passing,” said Jerome. “They’re already experienced, they just didn’t have the certification in Quebec. Now they’re certified.”

Jerome said the lists have already been made for the different trades during the construction phase, and more people will be hired as time goes on. However, there is still some training for young people who wish to be involved with the maintenance of the windmills for the next 20 years.

Jerome is careful not to credit luck – because a lot of hard work has been put in – but a lot of elements of the project are lining up nicely.

“Things are coming along – the right time at the right place, good relationship with the region, with the government on this particular project,” said Jerome.

The next major milestone for the project will be September 2016, when the blades start spinning, and the two-month testing period begins. By December 2016, everything should be operational and feeding electricity to the main grid – enough to power 27,000 homes.

In the meantime however, there is a big job – finding consensus on how the profits will be distributed.

“The first thing we want to do is put a time line on the table,” said Jerome.

A consensus building team is being put together to work with the communities. The goal is to come up with a plan, spend three months making sure all the community members are aware, and then sign off – all before any profits are generated.

The process will begin right after the summer elections in Gesgapegiag, and Gespeg – both of which will result in governments serving four year terms.

Even though weather prevented people from marching this year, Migwite’tm’nej still brought people together to remember the 1981 raids.

“Today is a very sad and special day for our community,” said Madelien Germain, from the stage in the Bingo Hall. “Some of the men that were brutally abused, beaten … Some women were also abused, children were abused. And we’re remembering all of this today.”

Typically, there is a march from the wharf to the bingo hall, where a salmon meal is prepared. However, with threats of a large lightning storm, the decision was made to just gather at the hall.

Councillor, Derek Barnaby spoke.

“History has shown that Quebec and Canada have done everything in their power to eliminate us, to stop us from traditional harvesting of our food,” he said.

“They made it illegal for us to fish Salmon, they made it illegal for us to hunt and to provide for our families.”

The raid on June 11, 1981 was over an attempt to limit Listuguj salmon fishermen.

“At the end of the day, when people were going to jail, when people were abused, when people were hurt, our people here in Listuguj got together, and we said ‘enough is enough.’”

People gathered around the bridge in 1981, where the Quebec Provincial Police had set up a blockade, and were protecting game wardens as they destroyed fishing nets.

“From the process we learned that we need to stay together. Division does not help us in any way,” Barnaby said. “We’ve come to the understand that we are very strong, we’re very powerful. And we recognize our power in our existence today.”

Barnaby concluded by calling on everyone to “never forget 1981, and to be proud of who we are as Mi’gmaq people.”

Click here to see video of Barnaby’s speech.