Quebec admits its responsibility for the cuts in the maple grove of an Atikamekw family from Manawan in open conflict with a sawmill in Saint-Michel-des-Saints for nearly 100 days.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Dubé family denounces for its part a “scandalous” report in which the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) exempts the Scierie St-Michel, at the origin of the work, from any charge or compensation.
This is what emerges from a long-awaited report in which Quebec recognizes that the source of the conflict that has become emblematic in the struggle of the Atikamekw for the conservation of their ancestral territory, the Nitaskinan, is the “involuntary result of successive breaches on the part stakeholders involved”.
The Ministry itself admits its fault and also points to the Scierie St-Michel and, to a lesser extent, the Manawan Territorial Resource Center (CRF).
an omission
However, these shortcomings took place following numerous “harmonization” meetings – a mechanism provided for in the Sustainable Forest Development Act which obliges Quebec to consult the First Nations to establish the cutting zones on their territories – from 2016 to 2018, indicates the report of about twenty pages obtained by The Press.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Aerial view of a logging area between Saint-Michel-des-Saints and kilometer 60 of Chemin Manawan
It was during one of these meetings that the Dubés asked for “the withdrawal of harvest planning from the maple grove as well as the roads crossing it”, a “clear” request, recognizes the MFFP. A complex exchange of maps showing the logging to be carried out in the sector followed.
However, in the last of these versions, produced by the Scierie St-Michel and transmitted to the MFFP and the CRF, a forest road passed through the maple grove.
The MFFP would have […] had to ensure that this modified network did not conflict with the harmonization measures agreed for the site, but he failed to do so.
The Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks in its report
But “as the road construction work carried out by the Scierie St-Michel inc. in the maple stand have been previously authorized by the Ministère […]no issue of penalty or violation in connection with non-compliance with the planning can be considered […] concludes Quebec in its report.
A “scandalous” report
In a letter sent to the Minister of Forests, Pierre Dufour, and that The Press also obtained, the Dubé family describes the report as “perfectly symptomatic of practices favorable to the fait accompli”.
While acknowledging “black on white the ‘omission’ of the MFFP and the fault of the Scierie [St-Michel], […] one and the other [sont dispensés] of all charges and compensation with regard to our family”, lament two brothers and a sister of the Dubé family, Henri, Jean-Jacques and Annette.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Aerial view of the Scierie St-Michel, in Saint-Michel-des-Saints
“One way or another, our presence on the ancestral territories and our rights are seen within the framework of forestry activities as a formality to be eclipsed. This report is further evidence of this,” they continue.
According to them, the MFFP should have recognized “ostensibly and bluntly” its “full error”. They also regret being left “with damage that is not mentioned in any way”.
From a Western point of view, the loss of a few trees over a length of 500 meters, a width of 20 meters is an anomaly that spoils the landscape a little. From the perspective of an Atikamekw Nehirowisiw family, it is the loss of a cultural heritage that has nothing to do with mere heritage.
Excerpt from a letter addressed by the Dubé family of Manawan to Minister Pierre Dufour
The Atikamekw Council of Manawan recently decided to extend its moratorium on logging on the ancestral territory claimed by its community, the Nitaskinan, a message which means the extension of the blockade to kilometer 60, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Fears of clashes
For his part, the CEO of the Scierie St-Michel, Jean-François Champoux, is delighted with the conclusions of the MFFP report, which does not impose direct sanctions on him, while deploring the delay in the publication of the report.
It doesn’t make any sense. You can’t wait 70 days, as it’s a high-profile case. It’s not fun for us or for the families either.
Jean-François Champoux, CEO of the Scierie St-Michel
With more than 500 jobs at stake if his company does not resume the cuts, he reiterates that he intends to restart his activities in the sector from next June 6 after a break forced by the spring thaw.
Even if the territory beyond the blockade of kilometer 60 represents two thirds of its territory of activity, Jean-François Champoux estimates that he can limit for the moment the activities of his sawmill in the south until the middle of the summer.
Until then, he wants to give the Atikamekw of Manawan a chance to be heard by the government. “We, as long as the blockade will remain at kilometer 60, we will respect it and we will do everything so that they can be heard. But if the blockade changes places and goes further south, and I really don’t want that to happen, but with more than 500 jobs at stake in Matawinie, I’m really afraid that there will be clashes, “concludes -he.