The beauty of the end of the world

I’ve wanted to come back here for a long time. I am there to inspire me for the next volume of my novel Nish. It took 22 years.

The first time was during a student exchange that I had organized between schools in my community, Wendake, Matimekush and Kawawachikmach. Kawawa-what? These names of indigenous communities are probably unknown to you and I reassure you, this is not abnormal. What if I told you that they are located on the outskirts of the town of Schefferville, does that help a little? But admit that even this mining town, made famous by a song of the same name worn by Michel Rivard, a town that is nevertheless very much in Quebec, wants to be difficult to locate on a map.

So we are very close to 55^e parallel to the gates of Nunavik to the north and Labrador to the east. I landed at the Auberge Guest House, the very one that saw Maurice Duplessis die in room number 2, following a stroke.

The place is definitely full of history. This week, Innu, Cree and Naskapi are also writing history, or at least, charting its course.

The places have changed little in two decades. There are new infrastructures, of course: an arena for the Naskapis of Kawawachikamach, a health center too, but overall, I know where I am. The local restaurant is always busy at lunchtime. Free dogs run through the streets. I’m a little afraid of dogs, here it’s not the same. Freedom is good.

I can’t wait to see my first fox or white hare – it all fits nature so high – and if I’m lucky maybe a few Northern Lights. A few days ago, someone took a picture of a black bear at the top of Caniapiscau Reservoir. Not normal at this time of year.

This morning it is -43°C. At last !

I’m arriving at the same time as a large delegation for a meeting that focuses mainly on caribou management and the sharing of the territory. A meaningful meeting for everyone, perhaps even more so for the Innu of Matimekush-Lac John, who had been waiting for this meeting with the Cree Eeyou for 47 years, a date that corresponds to the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement , of which they are not signatories. I did not know that such a meeting was held here this week, it is a coincidence. I’m often very lucky.

In 2017, the Cree Eeyou, Naskapis, Inuit and Innu adopted a caribou protection strategy. Caribou have been part of the way of life of these peoples for millennia.

As proof, yesterday, when I arrived, a large thigh was thawing on a table in the arena where I was, a place that also serves as a community hall. The village elders prepared the caribou for long hours, showing the younger ones good practices. They kept the legs, the fur, the bones. They know what to do with it. We don’t throw away anything of the animal that has given itself to us.

But the caribou is a free being. He knows no borders. It is sometimes found in Naskapi, Innu, Cree or Inuk territory. Be that as it may, everyone observes that the herds are declining year after year.

I won’t bore you with statistics, but just 15 years ago the herds were running up the mountain that I see from my room. Today, you have to travel long distances to see them. If there are still disagreements on the different territories between the nations, overlapping – a term introduced by the governments, specify certain chiefs –, everyone knows that it is necessary to protect the animal. They are, after all, the guardians of the territory.

A meeting lasting almost three days to better recognize each other, talk to each other, protect an animal and the associated traditional ways of life, that moves me. There is something of the order of nobility in all this. Humility, at the very least. The elders said: “It is the caribou that brings us together today. »

Some should take the seed. Living in harmony with the territory, that’s it. It is to respect the living beings who are there, to love them enough to make the efforts necessary for their survival. It is to understand the fragile balance of ecosystems, of what surrounds us and to act, even when this fragility is not caused by us. While I hoarse myself naming the causes with frowning eyebrows, an elder told me that the time is simply no longer to point the finger at. There is no respect in anger and if we don’t respect, we don’t listen and we don’t forgive. And everything must start from there.

I dream sometimes, often, even. I would like to bring all the deputies and other elected officials, the CEOs of mines, forestry and polluting companies, some hunters too, to do a one-month internship with seniors in the territory. I’m sure things would be different after that. A month to change the world.

Seen from here, the world is beautiful. Lakes, mountains, spruce trees and aspens, even scattered or small, the sound of wolves at times, the beauty of the starry sky, dancing auroras.

Wealth is here, on the other side of the world.