With Boisbouscachefilmmaker Jean-Claude Coulbois examines the strange history of the Club Appalaches, a vestige of the old hunting clubs whose special status has deprived the population of the MRC des Basques of access to an immense natural territory for decades.
“I hope that the government will repair its mistakes because it is an injustice for the population”, pleads in an interview the filmmaker, to whom we owe in particular the portrait of Robert Gravel, Sudden death of a theater man (2012), and The actor’s territory (2000).
Coulbois took four years to document this little-known saga whose origins date back to the beginning of the 20th century.and century.
Thus, there are still many Quebecers who are unaware that a third of the MRC des Basques, whose capital is Trois-Pistoles, is made up of a public territory of nearly 150 km2 on which a private club holds exclusive hunting and fishing rights. This territory, which bears the name of Boisbouscache, is said to be unorganized (TNO) because it is not part of any municipality.
“I could take you to places, I’ll tell you something, you would find that impressive as a demon”, launches in a solemn tone one of the protagonists of the film with whom Jean-Claude Coulbois walks through the forest.
A “magnificent” and “uninhabited” territory on which his camera crossed many moose and birds whose songs line the soundtrack.
Exploited by logging companies since the turn of the century, it was sold in the early 1950s to a Quebec broker, Raymond Garneau, who, by reselling the lots in turn to logging companies, had kept the “perpetual” hunting and fishing rights. A few years later, he resold these hunting and fishing rights to the Club Appalaches, which still holds them today. “All this, in November 1955, for $11,000. They did a good deal “Summarizes a local notary met in the documentary.
A powerless government
During the 1970s, Quebec wanted to recover the rights of private hunting clubs to allow all Quebecers to enjoy nature. But the Club Appalaches survived.
On its website, the organization itself summarizes the matter as follows: “By a combination of circumstances, the Club finds itself in a situation almost unique in Quebec: the ownership of exclusive hunting and fishing rights on a portion (165, 6km2) of Québec public territory. »
The Club Appalaches is a special case because hunting and fishing rights have been separated from property rights, which the Civil Code does not provide for. Moreover, the courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of the Club of a hundred members, and this, until the Court of Appeal in 1999.
In the meantime, the governments have tried – without success – to change the rules of the game. The documentary notably allows us to attend discussions in the parliamentary committee in 2013 on this subject with the owners. “I am not a member, I am not invited [par un membre], I am a citizen of Trois-Pistoles, I cannot go hunting on a territory that is public. That’s what I understand? says MP Daniel Goyer, from Deux-Montagnes. President Denis Lepage replies that places to go hunting and fishing, “there are plenty of others”.
This will be the only moment of the film where we will hear the members of the Club, since they refused to grant an interview to the director without the right to look at the content of the documentary.
A bend in the river
This fascinating film also sheds light on two little-known aspects of this story. First, the role that this territory plays for the Maliseet nation, which is present in the region. They are also the only ones apart from the Club who can hunt and fish there thanks to their ancestral rights. “The first thing that stunned me was when I learned of the existence of the Maliseet. I had lived in the area for ten years during the 1970s and had never heard of it,” Coulbois points out. The word “Boisbouscache” is of Maliseet origin. A large lake located on the territory bears this name, which would describe a “bend in the river”, according to historian Édith Bélanger, who intervenes in the film.
Another discovery, and not the least: the obtaining by the Appalaches Club of income from the Nicolas-Riou wind farm, erected in 2017 on the territory by a consortium made up of the MRCs of the region, the French company EDF and the Maliseet nation.
“This is the biggest project in the region. There has never been a $500 million project in the MRC des Basques. It’s a pharaonic thing”, remarks the director in an interview.
It was by discovering the existence of this project that the idea of the documentary germinated, he explains. One of the neighboring towns of the territory, Saint-Mathieu-de-Rioux, had invited him to the celebrations of his 150and anniversary in 2016 so that he presents a film shot in the region during the 1970s. “I asked people what was going on with Boisbouscache”, he says. And people answer him that nothing was settled, but that there was a “new project” on the territory.
The filmmaker could not believe it. “It’s a public good [sur lequel] hunting and fishing rights are already held by a private club, forestry is operated by logging companies around and now there will be a wind farm. It meant “that a new partner was coming to take a ‘tip of the cake'”.
Secret deal
During hearings held by the BAPE in 2015, Club Appalaches strongly opposed the wind farm. However, we discover in the film that the Club and the Wind Farm subsequently entered into an amicable “commercial” agreement, the content of which has remained confidential.
In an interview, the prefect of the MRC des Basques, Bertin Denis, affirms that no one will convince him that it was a “fair deal”. Mr. Denis periodically intervenes in the media to demand government intervention in the matter, as in 2018, during the last provincial elections. In the past, the situation gave rise to local tensions, and demonstrations at the gates of the park even required the intervention of the police in 2010.
But over time, the population of the region has become accustomed to this state of affairs, laments the prefect Denis. Will the film revive the debate? Jean-Claude Coulbois hopes so, but he says above all that he observes “that there is no political will” at the moment.
The last time he was questioned on this subject, the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Pierre Dufour, said that he had no intention of intervening. Joined by The duty Wednesday, his firm said he would wait to see the film before commenting on it.
Boisbouscache premiered at Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma in Montreal, Saturday at 6 p.m.