FR index
river index
We are reminded: “Water attracts us: rivers, ponds, rainstorms, coastlines– even puddles – have an undeniable sensual charisma.”
1
The element and forces of water itself hitting the shore becomes an invitation to join and listen. Tuning in captures “the intimacy between being and following: to be (anything, anyone) is always to be following (something, someone), always to be in response to call from something, however nonhuman it may be”
2
Where the two rivers meet: a call to gather at the river.
The poplar trees: a call to speak of the river.
The migrating salmon: a call to move with the river.
The collection of plastics: a call to observe the river.
The exposed shore of artifacts: a call to remember with the
river.
“These were the Mitis River’s initial invitations to us, visiting it for the first time in the Lower Saint Lawrence, Quebec as three masters students, settlers on this land, researching on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Jardins de Métis.”
Working within, between, and around two settler institutions, we followed the fluid currents of a river confronting, connecting, and transforming two grounded shores. As a traditional meeting place for Mi’qmaq and Wolastoqiyik communities, these currents are apt forces for encounter, carrying people, fish, sediment, words, and stories and bringing them in relation.
To follow this river as a site of research, gathering and sharing the River’s impressions, matters, and stories resists objectification and makes research of and for these encounters.
As we put various stories together, we begin to understand how certain relationships have been made, dispossessed, and sustained.
Moving between collages of various voices and more linear narratives, this scroll follows various currents, leaving gaps for contemplation and incomplete narratives. With people noted in green and places, names, things, and ideas noted in blue, this scroll is meant to gather the people, places, and ideas that give shape to the Mitis River.
INDEX LAYER: GATHERING
Marie-Ellen Houde Hostland
2
The elevated banks offered views to both river passages, and when submerged underwater, served as an ideal passageway for catching Atlantic salmon, American eels, and Striped cod for food and ceremony. 4
Today, the river’s mouth continues to sit on overlapping territory.
ji’gaw (Mi’gmaq), nokahkehke (Wolastoquey), striped bass (English), Bar rayé (French)
moves from the freshwaters, to brackish, and then saltwaters of the Saint-Lawrence and Atlantic as it ages.
Kataq (Mi’gmaq), sakapsqehtom (Wolastoquey), American eel (English), anguille (French).
Métis Anthropologist and Fish PhilosopherZoe Todd in her essay “Refracting the State through Human-Fish Relations” helps reframe the Mitis River not just as an ecological habitat, but as a social, legal and spiritual world in itself. These gatherings, or “habitats and ecosystems are better understood as societies from an Indigenous point of view; meaning that they have ethical structures, inter-species treaties and agreements...non-human beings are active members of society”.
5
jplamu
(Mi’gmaq),
polam (Wolastoquey), Atlantic salmon (English), Saumon atlantique
(French) travels significant distances throughout the Atlantic ocean during its juvenile and adult years. Caught for food, medecine, craft, trade and ceremony, the Salmon is deeply embedded in Mi’gmak and Wolastoqiyik ways of life, cultures, and spiritualities.4 The role that this meeting point plays for setting up encounters for different people, human and non-human, demonstrates the ways in which the ecologies of the Mitis River transforms from “medium” to “place”, carrying elaborate stories and memories for Indigenous people in the region.
Understanding these relationships between people, fish, and the habitat of the Mitis River as not only ecosystems, but societies begins to frame gathering itself as an act of unsettling colonial notions of land and property. Engaging and affirming these relationships recalls a process that Zoe Todd calls “refraction” whereby Indigenous people navigate “the complex and dynamic interface between Indigenous legal orders and the State”. The ways in which Wolastoqiyik and Mi’gmaq communities connect with the River’s complex ecologies can be recognized as an act of subverting colonial legal orders.
6
.
in their book Thinking with Water:
Currents of the Mitis River overlaying map of the Grand-Métis region.
7
Map of salmon pools by Lady Aileen Roberts made in 1923.
The fishing pools, a series of rock formations and water currents allowing salmon to congregate as they move up the river, are sometimes assigned to an owner, but the looser blue strokes suggest that Lady Aileen Roberts understood, at least intuitively, that the Mitis River, its waters and its salmon, resists ownership or containment.
Map of the Mitis Seigneurie from 1700-1850. The seigneurial system came out of an effort to attract settlers to the region, representing the ways in which gathering itself is not a neutral act, but shapes the landscape based on vectors of power, control and domination that translate these abstract boundaries into concrete legal, infrastructural, and economic barriers to the Mitis River.
9
9
Fishing cabin at the mouth of the Mitis River.
11
13
Recreational fishers at the mouth of the river.
“Understanding waters in place helps us engage with waters and places as mutually transforming and transformative phenomena. It is neither that places contain waters: the specificity of situated waters articulated with places, with space and time, with dynamic bodies, materials, and semantic contexts can enable a more thoughtful discussion of watery relations”. 1
To gather together
To collect stories, objects,
names and
perspectives of a place
15 Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson
Shawn Wilson:
“The concepts or ideas are not as important as the relationships that went into forming them”. 8
The Mitis River as a gathering of currents, people, and stories together is similar to the process of research; following these currents becomes an invitation itself.
1 Chen, Cecilia, Janine MacLeod, and Astrida Neimanis, eds. Thinking with water. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.
2 Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter : a Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
3 Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence. “Meet the Indigenous Peoples of the Métis-Sur-Mer Area.” Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence. Accessed August 22, 2023. https://heritagelsl.ca/meet-the-indigenous-peoples-of-the-metis-sur-mer-area/.
4 The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association. “COMMUNAL SUBSISTENCE FISHERY: Atlantic Salmon .” The Atlas of Marine St.- Lawrence Mi’gmaq and Maliseet Sites and Their Uses., n.d.
5 Todd, Zoe. “Refracting the State Through Human-Fish Relations Fishing, Indigenous Legal Orders and Colonialism in North/Western Canada.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 7, no. 1 (August 31, 2018): 60–75.
6 Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmawei Mawiomi. Nta’tugwaqanminen Our Story: Evolution of the Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmaq. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2016.
7 Reford Gardens. “Fish Stories: Hydroelectric Dams .” Community Stories, 2016. https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/histoire-de-peche_fish-stories/story/hydro-electric-dams-2/.
8 Wilson, Shawn. Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2008.
List of Figures for Gathering:
1. ‘How Do You Call This Place’. Canvas for a collective drawing produced during a community engagement event at the mouth of the Metis River.
2. Thiessen, Hannah. Gathering at the Mouth of the River, Image, 2023. Canadian Centre for Architecture.
3. Thiessen, Hannah. Where the two rivers meet, Image, 2023. Canadian Centre for Architecture.
4. The Mi’gmaq Maliseet Aboriginal Fisheries Management Association, Atlas of marine St. Lawrence Mi’gmaq and Maliseet sites and their uses by the Gesgappegiag, Gespeg and Wahsipekuk (Viger) Nations. Screenshot, 2019. http://atlas.aghamm.ca/.
5. Reford, Alexander. Alexander speaking along the banks of the Mitis River. June 25, 2023.
6. The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association. “COMMUNAL SUBSISTENCE FISHERY: Atlantic Salmon .” The Atlas of Marine St.- Lawrence Mi’gmaq and Maliseet Sites and Their Uses., n.d.
7. Houde-Hostland, Marie-Ellen. Currents of the Mitis River overlaying map of the Grand-Métis region. July 2023.
8. Roberts, Lady Aileen. Plan of Metis River. 1923. Les Amis Des Jardins de Métis Collection.
9. Ballantyne, D. S. Esquisse d’une terre appartenant à Mr. McNider. Map, 1829. Les Amis des Jardins de Métis Collection.
10. Les Amis des Jardins de Métis.
11. Thiessen, Hannah. Fishing cabin at the mouth of the Mitis River, Image, 2023. Canadian Centre for Architecture.
12. Comité du patrimoine de Price. ‘Foule a l’Embouchure’. 1920-1980.
13. Thiessen, Hannah. Recreational fishers at the mouth of the river. June 29, 2023.
14. Thiessen, Hannah. A gathering we held at the Jardins de Métis to shares stories around the Mitis River. June 29, 2023.
15. Wilson, Shawn. Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2008. Cover.
Movement 1
One Lake. Three Lakes.
Lac aux anguilles. Lac de la Croix. Grand Lac Métis. Three
lakes flowing into each other before feeding the Mitis River were mapped by Thomas Breen in 1870. When the Governor General of New France, Louis Buade de Frontenac, created a seigneurial grant in 1693 for Louis Rouer, the young son of Augustin Rouer de la Cardonnière, the grant referred to one lake called ‘Mitis,’ which flowed into a river of the same name. There was no attempt to exploit the lakes and the surrounding forest until the Price Brothers Company acquired the seigneurial grant in 1922 for their timber and paper business. When determining the boundaries of their land, the federal government disagreed with the Price Brothers on the wording of the initial seigneurial grant. The former believed it referred to one out of three lakes, whereas the latter thought it referred to the entire cluster. 9 During the legal case The King v. Price Bros & Co. Ltd. in 1925, the Price Brothers used a series of historical maps from 1765 to 1863 which represented the three lakes as a singular serpentine lake to show that Frontenac did not know there were three lakes in 1693 when he created the grant (page 44, figure 31). Instead, he granted Louis Rouer all three lakes, thinking it was one. When the Price Brothers finished building the dam at the springhead of the Mitis River for log driving, the water level of the lakes rose, and the three lakes literally became one. The past was conjured to return. A concrete dam eventually replaced the Price Brother’s timber dam. This new dam helped retain water for the two hydroelectrical plants downriver: Mitis-1 and Mitis-2. However, these plants haven’t produced any energy since 2018. The water retention dam now sat without a purpose. 10
Crumbling.
Sitting in the cartothèque of the Université du Québec
à Rimouski, behind heavy stereoscopes, we listened to
cartographer Kati Brown tell us the story of Lac Métis with
excitement. She fished at the lake almost every year and looked forward to returning the following week to stay at one of the many lakefront chalets available for short-term rent. From the young proprietor Louis Rouer, who never got to grow old, to the clever Price Brothers, to Solifor, the current proprietor, we slowly pieced together the long series of exchange of ownerships and transformations of the lake that was once three. At the end of her story, Kati laughed and said:
“You know, they might eventually remove the dam at the lake. If
they do, the lake will become three lakes again. The lakefront
chalets, they won’t be so lakefront anymore.”
16
16
Cartothèque at the Université
du Québec à Rimouski.
Hannah Thiessen.
du Québec à Rimouski.
Hannah Thiessen.
INDEX LAYER: NAMING
Métis (and
therefore Mitis) may originate from the word Mitisk meaning little birch to Mi’gmaq people and little
poplars to Wolastoqiyik people. These trees border
the Mitis River.
poplars to Wolastoqiyik people. These trees border
the Mitis River.
The second possible origin is from the Mi’kmaq
word metioui or mitiwee meaning “meeting place”,
in relation to the gathering of Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik,
and settler people.
18
‘La Pointe’. A Place of
many names.
‘La Pointe’. A Place of
many names.
Fleuve in French
doesn’t translate directly in English. A fleuve may be defined as a large river leading to the sea, but it is described in Métis-sur-Mer via personal connection and sentimental intuition.
“We were curious what fleuve means to you and how you would translate that to English.”
Mario Bélanger
“Well fleuve is bigger than a river, that’s what we say you know. The fleuve is like a big river. But us, when we were kids and a lot of people still today, they say on va à la mer. They don’t say we are going to the St. Lawrence or to the fleuve or to the river. They say la mer. La mer is like the ocean.”
“Well fleuve is bigger than a river, that’s what we say you know. The fleuve is like a big river. But us, when we were kids and a lot of people still today, they say on va à la mer. They don’t say we are going to the St. Lawrence or to the fleuve or to the river. They say la mer. La mer is like the ocean.”
Mario Bélanger
“Probably, the saltwater and it’s so big. It doesn’t feel like a river. It
feels like an ocean. So we always call it La Mer”
“Probably, the saltwater and it’s so big. It doesn’t feel like a river. It
feels like an ocean. So we always call it La Mer”
pempega’s’g - start to rise (of tide)
pempegitg - flow along 12
19 Mi’kmaq talking dictionary project
https://www.mikmaqonline.org
Learning the grammer of animacy could well be a restraint on our mindless exploitation of land. 14
L’écart - the gap
“Rivière Mitis has 33 pools divided into 2 public
sectors (II & III) and 1 restricted draw sector (III- B).” 13
ZEC map of fishing zones related to permit
requirements.
to an “it,” or if it must be gendered, inappropriately a “he” or a “she.” Where are our words for the simple existence of another living being.” 14
21 Video Recording as Documentation of the River.
Place-Thought: “the non-distinctive space
where place and thought were never
separated because they never could or
can be separated. Place-Thought is based
upon the premise that land is alive and
thinking and that humans and non-humans
derive agency through the extensions of
these thoughts.” - Vanessa Watts
15
where place and thought were never
separated because they never could or
can be separated. Place-Thought is based
upon the premise that land is alive and
thinking and that humans and non-humans
derive agency through the extensions of
these thoughts.” - Vanessa Watts
15
Ideas form through encounters with specific times and places.
Places and landscape attributes can be utilized as reference
points for communicating knowledge, acting as an archive for
social memory.
Porous knowledge terms, regularly understood as static, timeless,
and isolated:
Local Knowledge
Traditional Knowledge
Ecological Knowledge
The words used when negotiating land claims are deceptively
contested, meaning different things to the involved parties- “terms
like “land,” hunting,” resources,” and “property.” The groups
develop their understanding of “common sense,” yet only some
participants have the power to write these understandings into
legal agreements. 16
of land by the state. This is not so.
Comprehensive land claim agreements in northern Canada are premised on the state’s recognition that Indigenous
peoples hold a primary and unceded claim to their lands, as acknowledged in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
The property relations, institutions, and interactions that are formalized through land claim agreements are not gifts from
a benevolent state; the agreements require Indigenous signatories to formally cede their claims to the land in exchange
for specific types of compensation, title, and the establishment of forms of
governance that might more substantially account for their interests than existing structures”
Emilie Cameron
22Map of Seigneural Grant including the
Mitis River.
...“institutions established through land claim agreements often reinforce and perpetuate colonial relations” 17
Littoral
“Do you think you could describe in English what it means?”
Émile Forest
“When the, I would call it the sea, when the St. Lawrence River
meets land. You have this small piece of land that is so much
influenced by the sea that sometimes it becomes the sea,
sometimes it is land.”
Mi’kmaq names for the months of the year, referring to the experience
of animals during that time.
Mi’kmaq scholar Margaret Robinson
explains the Mi’gmaq relationship
between humans and animals, including their reciprocal exchange through hunting rituals. Robinson describes Mi’qmaq worldviews being intrinsically connected to non-human animal relationships.
“Humans and animals both experience our lives in the first person, overcoming fears, having adventures, falling in love, raising families, vanquishing enemies, and having a relationship with Kisu’lk, the Creator”
The objectification of animals “is reflected in our treaties with settler governments, and has codified an instrumental view of animals as if it were an inherent aspect of
Mi’qmaq culture”
explains the Mi’gmaq relationship
between humans and animals, including their reciprocal exchange through hunting rituals. Robinson describes Mi’qmaq worldviews being intrinsically connected to non-human animal relationships.
“Humans and animals both experience our lives in the first person, overcoming fears, having adventures, falling in love, raising families, vanquishing enemies, and having a relationship with Kisu’lk, the Creator”
The objectification of animals “is reflected in our treaties with settler governments, and has codified an instrumental view of animals as if it were an inherent aspect of
Mi’qmaq culture”
24
Collection of Death in the Sea. Institut Maurice Lamontage. Hannah Thiessen.
“While land ownership boundaries
shifted between French and English settler, Mi’kmaq Nation maintained its understanding of land, dividing the spaces into seven districts
1. Kespukwitk - Lands End
2. Sipekni’katik - Wild Potato Area
3. Eskikewa’kik - Skin Dressers Area
4. Unama’kik - Land of Fog
5. Siknikt - Drainage Area
6. Kespek - Last Land (the Miramichi, Restigouche Rivers watersheds in New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec)
7. Epekwitk Aqq Piktuk - Laying in the Water and The Explosive Area”
Jardin de Métis
between the Mitis and
St Lawrence River.
26
Map of New France (1688)
European settler cartographers have combined Indigenous geographical knowledge with their own observations since the 16th century
“The French made do with a profusion of native names which was not incompatible with their imperial pretensions: naming and
mapping the territory, even in a foreign language, also meant appropriating it metaphorically.” 20
11 “Meet the Indigenous Peoples of the Métis-Sur-Mer Area.” Heritage Lower St Lawrence. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://heritagelsl.ca/meet-the-indigenous-peoples-of-themetis-
sur-mer-area/.
12 “Mi’Gmaq Mi’kmaq Micmac Online Talking Dictionary.” Accessed August 15, 2023. https://www.mikmaqonline.org/.
13 “Mitis / Mistigougèche Rivers”. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www. saumonquebec. com/en/gaspe-peninsula/mitismistigougeche-rivers.
14 Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Learning the Grammar of Animacy.” The Leopold Outlook, 2012, 4–9. https://xenoflesh.files.wordpress.
com/2017/03/robin-wall-kimmerer.pdf.
15 Watts, Vanessa. “Indigenous Place-Thought & Agency amongst Humans and Non- Humans (First Woman and Sky WomanGo on a European World Tour!).” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 2, no. 1 (2013): 20–34.
16 Cruikshank, Julie. Do Glaciers Listen?: Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination. UBC Press, 2005.
17 Cameron, Emilie. Far off Metal River: Inuit Lands, Settler Stories, and the Making of the Contemporary Arctic. UBC Press, 2015. (18-19)
18 Robinson, Margaret. “Animal Personhood in Mi’kmaq Perspective.” (2014).
19 Treaties of peace and friendship - l’nuey. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://lnuey.ca/ wp-\content/uploads/2020/09/lnuey_4291_treatyday_ResearchPaper_V01_lowres.pdf.
20 “Nommer et Cartographier Le Territoire Autochtone.” BAnQ. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://www.banq.qc.ca/explorer/articles/nommer-et-cartographier-le-territoireautochtone/.
21 Canadian Centre for Architecture. “CCA Master’s Students Program.” CCA. Accessed
August 21, 2023. https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/41087/cca-masters-students-program.
22 La Boîte Rouge VIF. “Glossary Pronounciation Guide.” Premiere Nation Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://wolastoqewatu.ca/index.php?section=lexique&lang=en.
List of Figures for Naming:
17. Hannah Thiessen. Where the Mitis and St. Lawrence Rivers meet.
18. Google Earth screenshot of where the rivers meet.
19. “water” category in Mi’gmaq-Mi’kmaq talking dictionary project. “Mi’Gmaq Mi’kmaq Micmac Online Talking Dictionary.” Accessed August 15, 2023. https://www.mikmaqonline.org/.
20. Fishing spots map, Mitis / Mistigougèche Rivers. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://
www.saumonquebec.com/en/gaspepeninsula/mitis-mistigougeche-rivers.
21. Documenting the river, group Google Drive.
22. Seigneurial map of of Mitis and St. Lawrence Rivers- BANQ, https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3474266
23. Mi’kmaq names for the months of the year, https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Mi%27kmaq_
vocabulary/Calendar
24. Hannah Thiessen. Maurice Lamontagne (Oceans & Fisheries Canada) labelled collection
of the sea
25. Jardin de Metis between the Mitis and St Lawrence Rivers, https://www.lapresse.ca/gourmand/2022-08-13/jardins-de-metis/thea-l-anglaise-avec-ricardo.php
26. Vincenzo Coronelli, Western part of Canada or New France..., 1688. BANQ. https:// www.banq.qc.ca/explorer/articles/nommeret-cartographier-le-territoire-autochtone/.
Movement 12
Changing Myths
In July 2023, Bruno Paradis, mayor of Price and the MRC la Mitis prefect, announced his ambition to create a touristic
‘utopia’ centered around the decommissioned Mitis-1 dam. Dreaming about bistros and walkways offering direct views of the concrete barrier, the mayor depicts the hydroelectrical dam as a monument of significance. 23 The deep sense of pride that the nearby community feels towards it can be traced to its inception in the 1920s. Jules A. Brilliant, the founder of the Compagnie-du- Pouvoir-du-Bas-Saint-Laurent, which built Mitis-1 and two decades later Mitis-2, represented the growing Francophone upper class in the early twentieth century. 24 The purchase of the Mitis River waterfalls from wealthy horticulturist Elsie Reford also marked a period of increase in land ownership by Francophones in the Lower St-Lawrence. The oral and written history of the Mitis dams is often told as a story of the empowerment of the Québécois people.
When hydroelectric companies were consolidated into Hydro-Québec during the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, the
dams took on the more significant narrative role of showing that Québécois people became “Maîtres chez nous” (Masters in Our
Own Home). The hydroelectrical energy production increase in post-WWII Québec coincided with a nationalist movement
leaving behind race-based discourses of nationhood proposed by 1920s nationalist thinkers such as Lionel Groulx and Benjamin
Sulte. Hydro-Québec’s vast network of plants was the perfect story to support the refreshed founding myth that describes the
Québec nation as a collective that emerged from the symbiotic relationship with the landscape of Québec. 25 The dams were the looms that helped weave the story which entangled the Québécois people, the governmental apparatus, and the many rivers and falls of the province. Through these massive pieces of infrastructure, a nation could communicate both ownership and dependence on the landscape of a ‘homeland.’ The ‘low-emission’ qualities of this form of energy and the amount produced relative to other provinces also ensured the perenity of a sense of Québécois exceptionalism.
It is evident that these nationalist narratives around hydroelectricity, because of their political purpose, are difficult to reconcile with the substantial disruption of life for indigenous communities that have harvested and gathered around these rivers long before the arrival of European settlers. The flooding and fauna disappearance are often filtered out of the oral history of dams. If these imposing monuments represent a Québécois claim on the landscape, they are also architectural silencers of indigenous land claims. How will Québec nationalist
narratives evolve moving forward? Can such narratives avoid using unsubstantiated claims of collective descendance from indigenous peoples as a response to discomfort? Is it possible to talk about the right of Québécois people to self-governance without threatening the freedom of self-governance of Indigenous nations?
Métis-1 Hydroelectric dam. Price Heritage Society.
Movement 13
On the Topic of Race-Shifting
In Eastern Quebec, racial identity is undergoing accelerated movement. According to the Canadian census, from 2006 to 2016, the number of self-reported ‘‘Métis” in the province increased by 147%. 26 This astonishing figure begs us to ask what it means to shift one’s identity from that of a settler to that of an Indigenous person. Undoubtedly, the shift takes on a different meaning to different people. There are certainly people who are, as Mi’gmaq author Daniel N. Paul calls, “opportunists” who wish to benefit from the treaty rights of First Nations and government programs aimed at First Nations. 27 Others may mistakenly believe, similarly to Elizabeth Warren, that having a distant Indigenous ancestor equates to being indigenous. Others, like activists Sacheen Littlefeather and, more recently, Andrea Smith, may naively feel that identifying as Indigenous allows them to advocate for the rights of Indigenous people more effectively. 28
Unlike the examples above, many self-reported Métis do not claim membership of a specific nation, such as the recognized Métis nation of Canada. Instead, they are part of political groups such as the Métis Nation of the Rising Sun (MNRS) based in Gaspésie and Lower-Saint-Lawrence, which advocates for recognition and fishing rights for its members. These groups, almost always funded by registration and annual membership fees, are based on self-reported ancestry and do not have a structure to verify applicants. Therefore, it is impossible for these groups to demonstrate a distinct culture as a people. 29
With the increase in this phenomenon, sometimes called ‘race-shifting’ by scholars such as Darryl Leroux, the questions around the rivers of Eastern Quebec will also increase in complexity. 30 In recent years, cases such as that of Eric Parent, a member of the MNRS who took legal action with the support of his organization to argue that the fines he received for exceeding his fishing quota near the Bonaventure River in Gaspésie did not apply to him due to his Metis identity, suggest that difficult conversations around racial identity are urgent. 31 However, Canadian author Thomas King has provided warnings in his stories of using ‘Indian Status’ as the only metric of Indigeneity. The classification originating from the Indian Act has often been used to exclude and dismiss people who wished to build relationships with a community they have been removed from. 32
In what ways can the current mobilization and activism from the Eastern Métis groups threaten the treaty rights and land claim of the Innu, Mi’gmaq, and Wolastoqikyik communities in Eastern Quebec? What actions need to be taken to prevent that?
INDEX LAYER: COLLECTION
28
Stéphanie Béliveau’s Depuis le rivage. Stéphanie Béliveau.
Stéphanie Béliveau describes the physical challenge she
overcame to carry buckets of soft clay from the Fleuve St
Lawrence to dry land. She regales us with stories of intimate
exchange between her and the water, including proclamations of
forgiveness to a place that holds onto her most painful memories.
An enclosed case appears filled with an authentic sea collection,
a mound of sea sponges and coral. Examined closer, the
collection reveals itself as an arrangement of foams, plastics, and
decontextualized synthetic materials that found one another via
‘‘l’embouchure du fleuve.’’
holding onto our pasts, storing our
decisions until we understand them.
In 2014, McGill researchers cooped and sorted high concentrations of polyethlene microplastics from the St Lawrence River
The amounts are similar to the most highly contaminated ocean sediments in the world “It was previously assumed that floating microplastics are flushed through rivers to the sea. Now we have evidence that rivers can act as a sink for this pollution.” 33
29
Microplastic beads found in St-Lawrence.
The surface of these beads attracts chemical pollutants, like PCBscarcinogenic compounds used in industrial and consumer products until 1977, when production was banned in Canada. PCBS still participate in environmental contamination, as
small organisms absorb PCBS via
habitat exposure. The contaminated organisms are consumed and transfer PCBs up the food chain 34
30
Collection found at shore of St
Lawrence. Hannah Thiessen.
31
framing what we claim important
A Reconyx camera collects oblique photos from the Parc régional de la
Rivière Mitis every fifteen minutes. These photos reveal heavy human
presence on the shoreline, including the use of improvised paths, trampling of vegetation, wood collection, and motorcycle travel. 35
32
Mouth of Mitis River
during different storm
events (19), via Reconyx
(example, left, 21)
during different storm
events (19), via Reconyx
(example, left, 21)
the mouth of the river has especially fertile
soil, encouraging agricultural activity west of
the river. 35
33
Stills from our unreleased Mitis sur
Mer horror movie, featuring Rose
Côté’s shoreline collection.
Water sampling suggests that the current agricultural practices in this area present a risk to water quality. Nitrite, nitrate, and phosphorus levels were found to be abnormally high when sampledthreatening
the health of aquatic life by allowing heightened algae growth. 35
Agricultural zones near the river have minimal trees, likely removed in favor of annual crops or due to over-grazing. 36
the lowest quality riparian buffers (areas with trees, shrubs, plants that limit excess sediment
in water) include Mitis 1 and Mitis 2 dam facilities and the salmon capture station. 35
34
River as collaborator, collecting based...
Seals, seabirds, aggressive striped bass
all congregate at the mouths of rivers,
capitalizing on the migration of salmon.
Sealice move through cages, preying on
trapped salmon. 37
on our collections
Dam structures and water management programs significantly impact salmon and salmon habitat, affecting factors like flow rate and temperature. Predatory risks increase when salmon have to wait in estuary zones before moving up/downstream. 37
may describe place’s role beyond human associations,
References for Collection:
33 Microplastic pollution discovered in St. Lawrence River, 23 September 2014 https://
www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/microplastic-pollution-discovered-st-lawrenceriver-
239101
34 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, June 2013
35 Lafond, F., Veilleux, S., et Pothier, J. 2022. Caractérisation biophysique de la rivière et de la baie de Mitis. Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l’Estuaire. Rimouski, Québec.
36 “Government of Canada.” Language selection - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada/ Sélection de la langue-Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, July 29, 2020. https:// agriculture.canada.ca/en/agricultural-production/soil-and-land/riparian-areamanagement.
37 A Special Report on Wild Atlantic Salmon in Eastern Canada Prepared by Minister’s Advisory Committee on Atlantic Salmon, https://coherent-commons.s3.amazonaws.com/artifacts/file/file/fa2184e0-bd71-43ba-81c0-032b34fa036b.pdf?X-Amz- Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA23B6R4NTCRHS5NZ3%2F20230707%2Fus-east-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230707T142814Z&XAmz- Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=731a2be7335838
98e118a369dbace624efd22e1a912510f9addf125d5f2711a1
List of Figures:
28. Stéphanie Béliveau, Depuis le rivage, June 2022.
29. microplastic beads found in St Lawrence, https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/
news/microplastic-pollution-discovered-st-lawrence-river-239101
30. Hannah Thiessen, collection found at shore of St Lawrence
31. Reconyx camera example, https://kbmoutdoors.ca/collections/reconyx-cameras-more.
32. Aperçu de l’embouchure de la rivière Mitis lors de différents événements de tempêtes,
https://coherent-commons.s3.amazonaws.com
33. Hannah Thiessen, Stills from our Mitis sur Mer horror movie, featuring Rose Côté’s shoreline collection
34. Hannah Thiessen. Salmon transport.
Movement 13
Broken
Journey
At eight o’clock on a late June morning, we watched the
first salmon transport of the day at the mouth of the Mitis River.
On their long journey inland to lay their eggs, a dozen Atlantic
salmon arrive in their mechanical waiting room. If allowed to
continue their climb, they would soon be confronted with the reality
that the pathway to their destination, precisely mapped in their
bodies, has long been broken by an insurmountable obstacle.
The Mitis-2 hydroelectric dam built in 1947 by local hero Jules
A. Brilliant’s Compagnie du Pouvoir du Bas-Saint-Laurent stands
taller than any fish can jump.24 The cage is closed.
The more
they are, the more likely they hurt each other in their confused
state.The half-submerged cage tied by four chains to a bright
yellow crane is lifted above a shiny metal drum at the rear of a
truck. The drum is opened from the top allowing the fish to be
poured into the container. The dark passage begins.
A salmon feeds for years in the ocean to gather the energy they need for the tiring journey to spawn. For many, it would be the last trip of their life. However, for the Mitis River salmon, their expedition’s narrative is marked by a 15-kilometer blur. The strong red body they have built is suspended in the air and rattled by a turbulent ride in complete darkness. The salmon float past the two immense concrete structures that disrupted their yearly ritual, never to see them. When they finally perceive light again, it is through a tube that dispenses them back to the
river, where they can continue their trip.
This operation is the results of the careful planning of the Zone d’Exploitation Controlée (ZEC) Mitis., part of a network of wildlife management organizations funded by the Quebec Government. In 1978, these zones replaced the old lease system, which viewed fauna management as the responsibility of the many private hunting and fishing clubs that leased the rivers and lakes of the province. The clubs’ conservation strategy was often based on making hunting and fishing available only to a secretive elite and their distinguished guests. In their attempt to make fishing more accessible, the ZECs maintain fish counts, grant a limited number of permits, and sometimes chauffeurs groups of fish who can no longer accomplish their journey alone. The river invites the Atlantic salmon back to its birthplace every year, but our extractive relationship with water severed the place from their memories. Each salmon transport trip is another guilty post-script to our invitation to extinction. 38 39
35
Atlantic salmon in the
salmon transport tank.
Hannah Thiessen.
Atlantic salmon in the
salmon transport tank.
Hannah Thiessen.
INDEX LAYER: HARVEST
From the mouth of the Mitis River, we drove inland,
through heavy air tinted red by ongoing
fires, following the same
path as the yearly
salmon run. That morning, the long chain of
calls, referrals, and forwarded e-mails finally gave us permission
to retrace the water back to its origin. Of the riverhead, we know
little – only from stray whispers and fragments from the past.
A court case involving a pulp and paper company and a map
drawn in the seventeenth century. Holiday stories from a Rimouski
cartographer. Pages from a boastful fishing log. Hasty sketches
by a sentimental land surveyor. When we arrived at what can be
called the river’s beginning, a narrow stream pouring through a
dam in ruins, we found ourselves amidst a dizzying landscape of
resource extraction. A panorama far from picturesque.36 Dam at Lac Métis. Hannah Thiessen.
We walked toward the comma-shaped lake which births
the river sharing its name. The pathway under our feet marked the edge of a newly cut forest hedged by tall pyramids of fir trunks. The mountains of logs observed our movements like the hundred eyes of the giant Argus. Where will all this wood go to? Another mass timber building crowned with awards, perhaps. The rapid lumbering of the Lower Saint-Lawrence transformed the identity of these forests. Centenary coniferous trees gave way to young deciduous trees. Feeding on the immature leafy branches, rich in nutrients, the moose population reached unprecedented levels. As the headcount increases, so does the likelihood of mass death from starvation and disease. Fearing that the grazing may prevent the harvested forest from ever repairing itself, every summer, the proprietor of the seigneurie welcomes groups of hunters here, tasking them to replace the packs of wolves, natural predators of these woods who have long disappeared. Harvesting calls for more harvesting. 40
37
Stacks of logs at the
seigneurie du Lac Métis.
Hannah Thiessen.
warning sign marked with a white circle pierced by a thunderbolt,
iconic symbol of Hydro-Quebec. Behind the placard, the sickly
backside of the dam is exposed, twisted rebars shooting out of its
open wounds. Two workers walked around the dying structure to
assess its uncertain future. During this time, what would become
of the hydroelectric infrastructure on the Mitis River was still a
closely guarded secret. First erected to facilitate the movement
of logs downstream, the Mitis dam’s purpose changed many
times. Built and rebuilt. Always for harvest. Possibly waiting to
be rebuilt once more.
38
Backside of the decaying
dam at Lac Métis.
Jia Chen Mi.
Backside of the decaying
dam at Lac Métis.
Jia Chen Mi.
39 Map the seigneurie du Lac Métis.
Hannah Thiessen
Hannah Thiessen
to the numerous fishing lodges. We could hear behind us the
fading rumble of a truck loaded with timber driving away while
stirring up a dense cloud of dust. In front of us was a map of
the seigneurie on a wooden structure coiffed with a shingled hat.
One of many along the paths on which the ink began to fade from
the bottom up. Like ghosts, the three original lakes that formed
Lac Mitis existed on the map as small, printed names in parenthesis. The tortuous pathways in the forest, drawn like a mesh of axons, were impossible to understand. How many paths still existed, as illustrated by the faint dashed lines?
Disoriented, we walked on, following the curves of the water.
Mario Bélanger
My grandfather used the river to transport timber, my father used the river to produce electricity.
I guess that’s why I feel a connection to the river.
My grandfather used the river to transport timber, my father used the river to produce electricity.
I guess that’s why I feel a connection to the river.
40
Oceans and Fisheries Canada conducting research related to
aquatic ecosystems management of the St-Lawrence River and
Estuary, the Saguanay Fjord and Hudson’s Bay.
Laboratory space at the
Institut Maurice-Lamontagne.
Water tanks are available for researchers to rent in their study of various aquatic species.
42
One of the tanks is used for the
study of the Saint-Lawrence
redfish. This species, previously
depleted from overfishing, saw
a rebound in population and
bodymass. While
the institute is
interested in permitting redfish
fishing once again, it recognizes
that policy change will take time.
The results of the return of this fish to the Canadian diet are also unclear.
The results of the return of this fish to the Canadian diet are also unclear.
the salmon transport from the mouth of the Mitis River to Sainte-
Angèle-de-Merici. During every trip, the number of salmon is
precisely counted. The ZEC believes the salmon transports helps
a threatened salmon population grow.
43 When a dozen or so fish enter the cage, it is lifted up to allow the transfer of the salmon to the truck.
44
The crane places the cage on top of the transport truck where the fish is dispensed into the steel drum.
43 Mi, Jia and Marie-Ellen Houde-Hostland. Recording. June 22, 2023. Reford Gardens. “Fish Stories.” Community Stories, 2016.
https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/histoire-de-peche_fish-stories/story/elsie-reford/
List of Figures:
36. Thiessen Hannah. Dam at Lac Metis. June 22, 2023
37. Thiessen Hannah. Stacks of logs at the Seigneurie du Lac Metis. June 22, 2023.
38. Thiessen Hannah. Back of Dam at Lac Metis. June 22, 2023.
39. Thiessen Hannah. Map of Seigneurie du Lac Metis. June 22, 2023.
40. Thiessen Hannah. Squirrel on Mario Belanger’s trail. June 12, 2023.
41. Thiessen Hannah. Research vats at Institut Maurice Lamontagne. June 19, 2023.
42. Thiessen Hannah. Red fish at Institut Maurice Lamontagne. June 19, 2023.
43. Thiessen Hannah. Cage for Salmon Transport. June 21, 2023.
44. Thiessen Hannah. Truck for Salmon Transport. June 21, 2023.
Movement 13
Fishing and Dispossession
Many historical accounts attempt to explain the
dispossession of the Mi’gmaq and Wolastoqiyik from their
traditional territory in the Gaspé Peninsula. Fishing settlements
and changes in fishing laws had an important role in the forced
migration of their communities from the Lower Saint-Lawrence.
The following quotes provide fragments of explanations.
Many gaps of knowledge remain.
From Nta’tugwaqanminen: Evolution of the Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmaq, a history of the Mi’gmaq nation in the Gaspé Peninsula :
“Before 1763, the Mi’gmaq were the only permanent inhabitant in
Gespe’gewa’gi. European fishers, and only a few hundreds of them, came during the cod fishing season only and camped at various fishing posts. After the arrival of the British the european
settlements’ growth was alarming. The Acadian refugees were the
first to arrive in 1755. Thirty years later, other refugees, loyalists this time, moved into the area.” 6
“The once bountiful stocks [of fish] essential to our subsistence were
threatened by the British merchants’ aggressive fishing technique.” 6
From Wildlife, Conservation, and Conflict in Quebec, 1840-1914, by Darcy Ingram.
In 1857, the Montreal Fish and Game Protection Club wrote the following message to the colonial government.
“We are of the opinion that their privilege, which allows them a latitude of with they have shown themselves unworthy, should be abolished and that they should be brought down to the level of other citizens. In fact the tenderness shewn, and the exclusive rights granted, act as incentives on the Indians, to persist in their present idle, useless and uncivilized modes of life.” 41
“[...]prohibited is the fishing for, taking, and killing of any Salmon or Sea-Trout by aid of torch-light or other artificial light, and by means of spears, harpoon (n’egog), jigger-hooks, or grapnel.” 41
“Les derniers Micmacs du Bas-Saint-Laurent se sont vraisemblablement integrés à la bande Malécite de l’île Verte (Famille René) où sont retourné vivre en Gaspésie” 42
records involving Wolastoqiyik people dated to this period, 24 were exogamous. Approximately 50% of Wolastoqiyik marriages in the Lower Saint-Lawrence were exogamous. 42
INDEX LAYER: ARCHIVE
How does the Mitis River invite memory?
and, along with strengthening
rainfalls, work away at the soil
layers making up the shoreline.
Soils erode and older soils are
exposed.
Soils, rocks, clays holding
objects, artefacts, stories, and
memories; the stuff of history.
This eroding shoreline makes this history a matter of the present: a self-exposing archive.
In their own way, the Mitis and St. Lawrence Rivers in flux works as a call to remember.
Shards of glass from a picnic that day.
Grasses
Topsoil, Roots.
The leftover stones of a building foundation recalls a
Mitis River once used as the Price Brothers’ wood mill.
Soil,
Organic matter, mussel shells and fish bones,
decomposed.
Time, there is history here too, but it is not perceptible to all eyes and memories.
An arrowhead brought here by Mi’gmaq travelers from the late Middle Woodland (1500 to 1000 years BC), made of stone carried all the way from what is today known as Labrador.
Clay,
and Rock.
Grasses
Topsoil, Roots.
The leftover stones of a building foundation recalls a
Mitis River once used as the Price Brothers’ wood mill.
Soil,
Organic matter, mussel shells and fish bones,
decomposed.
Time, there is history here too, but it is not perceptible to all eyes and memories.
An arrowhead brought here by Mi’gmaq travelers from the late Middle Woodland (1500 to 1000 years BC), made of stone carried all the way from what is today known as Labrador.
Clay,
and Rock.
46
Marking out archeological
objects of interest.
Hannah Thiessen.
47 Objects of interest are noted, measured and captured in their context.
48 Arrowheads and cutting tools belonging to Indigenous people who visited the Mouth of the River as early as the Middle Woodland period. Collected and stored in the grounds around the river, they become artifacts during anarcheological dig lead by Les Amis des Jardins de Métisfrom 2012-2014. They have been since stored in theirarchives.
lessons that circulated with these tools. 44
49
Archiving at the Jardins de Métis, like many archives, involves a system of coding archeological material.
50
Archival holdings at the Canadian
Centre for Architecture are stored in
a controlled, conceiled and secured
environment.
We visited the archives at the
Jardins de Métis : an enclosed
room with shelves of the Reford’s
house objects, books, paintings,
maps and pieces found at the
Mouth of the Mitis River.
Jardins de Métis : an enclosed
room with shelves of the Reford’s
house objects, books, paintings,
maps and pieces found at the
Mouth of the Mitis River.
CCA
51 Elsie Reford’s fishing log, stored at the Jardins de Métis archives, paints a record of the state of the salmon and the Mitis River from the point of view of elite settler sport fisher men and women.
Ange Loft an interdisciplinary performing artist from
Kahnawà:ke, in her excerpt featured in “Water, Kinship,
Belief: Toronto Bennial of Art 2019-2022” :
“An archive is defined as ‘a collection of historical
documents’...But archives of this kind are incomplete and
biased towards power. Where then are the gaps?...What if we
treated the gaps in the archive as openings for escape?” .
The river, and landscapes generally, “are places of
remembrance ... [which] may provide a kind of archive
where memories can be mentally stored”. 16
remembrance ... [which] may provide a kind of archive
where memories can be mentally stored”. 16
53
The archives at the Jardins de Métis.
54 The Mitis River during low-tide.
“Archives can exist in other forms, in other living
things, as incomplete, indeterminate, and everchanging. Trees, rocks, ice, rivers, lakes, and so much more are archives of a particular kind. The earth remembers; water remembers; all living things are records of the worlds they help create and encounter”. 46
While the concept of the Anthropocene” defines a specific era in which human, particularly colonial, activities have geologically altered the
earth and landscapes, Zoe Todd and Heather Davis in their essay “On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene” remind us that for many Indigenous peoples, waters, soils, humans, and non-human kin have always been intertwined:
“What settler colonialism, and
its extensions into contemporary
petrocapitalism, does is a
severing of relations. It is a severing of relations between humans and the soil, between plants and animals, between minerals and bones. This is the logic of the Anthropocene”. 47
severing of relations. It is a severing of relations between humans and the soil, between plants and animals, between minerals and bones. This is the logic of the Anthropocene”. 47
55 The eroding shoreline along the St. Lawrence river as a record of the river’s changing ecologies.
minds that have long been shaping one another.
57
A ladder to support habitat connectivity for the American eel currently placed at the pond at the Jardins de Métis.
The Atlas of Marine St.- Lawrence Mi’gmaq and Maliseet Sites and Their Usesis a record and geo-referenced map of Mi’gmaq and Wolastoquey traditional and contemporay knowledge and activities around the marine environments, including the Mitis River. Meant specifically for Mi`gmaq and Wolastoquey Gesgapegiag, Gespeg, and Wahsipekuk communities, this Atlas keeps record of important places and activities so that members can continue to taking part in these practices.
large-scale climatic
changes, what happens
to the memories that it
stores?
As Kataq (Mi’gmaq)
or Sakapsqehtom
(Wolastoquey) or
American Eel (English)
face barriers in their
migration to their breeding
sites up along the Mitis
River, these ladders
installed by The Mi’gmaq
Wolastoqey Indigenous
Fisheries Management
Association (MMAFMA)
helps ensure the eels
keep coming back. 49
Nta’tugwaqanminen: Evolution of the
Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmaq:
“the Mi’gmac way of thinking...sees creation as an everlasting process where everything is constantly transforming and where the only power human beings have is the power to learn and transform themselves along with an ever transforming world”
6
Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmaq:
“the Mi’gmac way of thinking...sees creation as an everlasting process where everything is constantly transforming and where the only power human beings have is the power to learn and transform themselves along with an ever transforming world”
6
58
MMAFMA`s Atlas home page.
Nation (Neqotkuk) in New Brunswick. This work came out of Jeremy discovering 110 year-old archived recordings of Wolastoey songs long held at the Canada History
Museum , to which he responds and integrates back into his own compositions. The song Eqpahak begins with a conversation with Wolastoquey and Passamaquoddy Elder, Knowledge Keeper, and Song Carrier Maggie Paul as transcribed here:
59
Jeremy Dutcher in the cover for his 59
album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.
those and sing those. People will be singing, you know, there’s not only me, there’s a lot of people bringing
those songs back. And when you bring the songs back, you’re gonna bring the dances back., you’re gonna
bring the people back, you’re gonna bring everything back”- 50
Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal:
“Eqpahak noun locative (verb ii participle 23)
at head of tide on river or inlet; (cap., Ma) in, at, to old village just upriver from Fredericton, New Brunswick Notes: (literally, where the tide stops coming in)”.- 51
Marie-Ellen, Jia, Hannah:
``We listened to this album during our research, and spent some time trying to understand why it reminded us so much of the work the River does. There was something important that we felt but could only begin to understand when we placed these lessons together. Tracing the meaning of this song title is not to conflate the name of this place to the tides along the Mitis River, but captures the way we as researchers, people looking, reflecting, and learning understand through the relationships between different voices. Placing these voices next to each other, we begin to understand intuitively something much greater;
There is something that happens in the gathering.
Here, there seemed to be some kind of commonality in Dutcher’s song, the word Eqhapuk as have understood it, and the tides of the Mitis River, gathering, collecting, storing, and remembering the histories of the people who visit and listen to it. To take part in this gathering of voices, words, images, lessons, stories, activities of people between, along, and beyond
``We listened to this album during our research, and spent some time trying to understand why it reminded us so much of the work the River does. There was something important that we felt but could only begin to understand when we placed these lessons together. Tracing the meaning of this song title is not to conflate the name of this place to the tides along the Mitis River, but captures the way we as researchers, people looking, reflecting, and learning understand through the relationships between different voices. Placing these voices next to each other, we begin to understand intuitively something much greater;
There is something that happens in the gathering.
Here, there seemed to be some kind of commonality in Dutcher’s song, the word Eqhapuk as have understood it, and the tides of the Mitis River, gathering, collecting, storing, and remembering the histories of the people who visit and listen to it. To take part in this gathering of voices, words, images, lessons, stories, activities of people between, along, and beyond
the River, a version of the river begins to form, and continues it’s call to
remember and gather.
To remember, to listen, is also an invitation to follow.``
To remember, to listen, is also an invitation to follow.``
References for Archive:
43 Mi, Jia and Marie-Ellen Houde-Hostland. Recording. June 22, 2023.
44 Reford Gardens. “Fish Stories.” Community Stories, 2016. https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/histoire-de-peche_fish-stories/.
45 Canadian Centre for Architecture. “Collection.” Canadian Centre for Architecture. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/about-collection.
46 Loft, Ange. “Indigenous Context and Concepts for Toronto (Excerpts): The Dish with One Spoon .” Essay. In Water, Kinship, Belief: Toronto Biennial of Art 2019-2022, edited by Candice Hopkins, Katie Lawson, and Tairone Bastien. Toronto Biennial of Art and Art Metropole, 2022.
16 Cruikshank, Julie. Do Glaciers Listen? : Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters and Social Imagination. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005.
47 Todd, Zoe, and Heather Davis. “On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene.” ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 16, no. 4 (December 20, 2017).
48 Ibrahim, Hadeel. “Wolastoqyik People Hold River ‘reclaiming’ Ceremony.” CBC News, June 24, 2018. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/wolastoqyik-riverwolastoq- st-john-renaming-1.4719808.
49 The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association. “Current Projects Management, Conservation et Diversification.” The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association, 2018. https://aghamw.ca/en/currentprojects/.
6 Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmawei Mawiomi. Nta’tugwaqanminen Our Story: Evolution of the Gespe’gewa’gi Mi’gmaq. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2016.
50 Jeremy Dutcher. Eqpahak. Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, 2017.
51 Language Keepers. “Eqpahak.” Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal, 2006. https://pmportal.org/dictionary/eqpahak.
List of Figures for Archives
45. Thiessen, Hannah. Isadora walking towards shoreline of artefacts. June 24, 2023.
46. Thiessen, Hannah. Marking out archeological objects of interest. June 24, 2023.
47. Beaudry, Nicolas. Monitoring. voir point GPS DdEa-2-S001 Embouchure rivière Mitis. July 30, 2021.
48. Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec. Cutting Tools.
49. Houde-Hostland, Marie-Ellen. Archives at the Jardins de Métis. June 20, 2023.
50. Gabor Szilasi. Interior view of the Archives Collection storage vault on level 2, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, Québec. PH1989:0092 Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec. December 1988.
51. Thiessen, Hannah. Elsie Reford`s Fishing Log. June 24, 2023.
52. Publications Québec. P-9.002, r. 2.1 - Archaeological Research Regulation. March 2023.
53. Houde-Hostland, Marie-Ellen. The archives at the Jardins de Métis. June 4, 2023.
54. Thiessen, Hannah. Mitis River during low-tide. June 5, 2023.
55. Thiessen, Hannah. The eroding shoreline along the St. Lawrence River is a record of the its changing ecologies.
56. Ibrahim, Hadeel. “Wolastoqyik People Hold River ‘reclaiming’ Ceremony.” CBC News, June 24, 2018. Screenshot. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/wolastoqyikriver-
wolastoq-st-john-renaming-1.4719808.
57. Thiessen, Hannah. Ladder for American Eel at Jardins de Métis. June 22, 2023.
58. The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association. The Atlas of Marine St.- Lawrence Mi’gmaq and Maliseet Sites and Their Uses. Screenshot. Accessed August 18, 2023.
59. Barnes, Matt. Cover for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa. 2018.
1. Chen, Cecilia, Janine MacLeod, and Astrida Neimanis, eds. Thinking with water. Montre- al; Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.
2. Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter : a Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
3. Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence. “Meet the Indigenous Peoples of the Métis-Sur-Mer Area.” Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence. Accessed August 22, 2023. https://heritagelsl.ca/
meet-the-indigenous-peoples-of-the-metis-sur-mer-area/.
4. The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association. “COMMUNAL SUBSISTENCE
FISHERY: Atlantic Salmon .” The Atlas of Marine St.- Lawrence
Mi’gmaq and Maliseet Sites and Their Uses., n.d.
5. Todd, Zoe. “Refracting the State Through Human-Fish Relations Fishing, Indigenous Legal Orders
and Colonialism in North/Western Canada.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 7, no. 1 (August 31, 2018): 60–75.
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7. Reford Gardens. “Fish Stories: Hydroelectric Dams .” Community Stories, 2016. https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/histoire-de-peche_fish-stories/story/hydro-elec tric-dams-2/.
8. Wilson, Shawn. Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2008.
9. The King v. Price Bros & Co. Ltd. (Canadian Supreme Court May 20, 1925).
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11. “Meet the Indigenous Peoples of the Métis-Sur-Mer Area.” Heritage Lower St Lawrence. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://heritagelsl.ca/meet-the-indigenous-peoples-of-the- metis-sur-mer-area/.
12. “Mi’Gmaq Mi’kmaq Micmac Online Talking Dictionary.” Accessed August 15, 2023. https://www.mikmaqonline.org/.
13. “Mitis / Mistigougèche Rivers”. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www. saumonquebec.com/en/gaspe-peninsula/mitismistigougeche-rivers.
14. Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Learning the Grammar of Animacy.” The Leopold Outlook, 2012, 4–9. https://xenoflesh.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/robin-wall-kimmerer.pdf.
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