A Highly Emotional Debate

These are heated issues – and for good reason: any issue that deals with territory deals with collective identity and what makes a people, a nation or an ethnic group feel distinct and, especially, valued. And if ever there was a people that identifies with a territory, vast open spaces and natural resources and for whom these are the greatest source of pride, it is Quebecers. In short, everyone feels individually concerned and we shouldn’t be surprised that Aboriginal people feel exactly the same way.

To understand the issue, first we need to sort it out. Who owns the land and the territory? Wasn’t this question settled a long time ago? As we will see from a look at treaties, Québec, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories differ from the rest of Canada. Prior to the signing of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement in 1975, no land treaty in Québec, with one exception, provided for the relinquishing of Aboriginal “rights, titles and interests” in or to land. Surprising but true. So if Aboriginal land rights were not extinguished, is it possible that they still exist? Do Aboriginal peoples hold a mortgage on the land, so to speak?

In October 1998, two students at Polyvalente Chanoine-Armand-Racicot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu drafted a peace and friendship treaty similar to the ones between Europeans and Amerindians in the 17th and 18th centuries. Visiting First Nation members signed the document, which entreated the parties to establish a common future marked by mutual respect and harmony. Student representatives, school administrators and a representative of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse also signed.

Photo credit:  Rencontre Québécois-Autochtones, Pierre Lepage

In the second part of this chapter, we will endeavour to explain why existing land claims cover such vast territories. We will see that land claim negotiations must be approached from the perspective of sharing rather than taking. In short, we will see that recognizing Aboriginal communities’ right to exist does not mean that Quebecers must sacrifice something of themselves. In fact, the opposite is true, and that is reassuring. But let’s start from the beginning.

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