A lot of people in Waswanipi want to send a warning to Domtar. They say they’re ready to do what it takes to stop the giant forestry company’s bid to build a 59-km logging road into the virgin forests northwest of the community.
“The battlefield has been chosen and the spear has been driven into the ground/’ said Paul Dixon, the local trappers’ representative and Band Council member.
“We First Nations have always been under the gun, having no options but to go along. No more. We’re going to grab the hand and turn the gun around,” he said. “It’s a declaration of war against our people.”
Ata public meeting in Waswanipi’s arena on Oct. 26, Domtar officials heard an earful of complaints about the road idea from community members angered by years of clearcutting on their traplines.
The road comes up for approval at a meeting of a Cree-Quebec environmental review committee on Nov. 24. The committee’s two Cree members can be outvoted by the three Quebec reps, who appear to be leaning toward Domtar. The Quebec government owns 43 per cent of Domtar’s shares.
Company officials claim that with no road, Domtar will shut down its Matagami processing operation, killing 200 jobs.
But privately, they admit being aware that after the recent referendum, the world is watching Quebec’s dealings with Natives.
Dixon said forestry and the influx of hunters on logging roads have nearly made the moose extinct in Waswanipi lands.
Logging is expanding quickly into the heart of Eeyou Estchee, the Cree homeland. It has been reported on the James Bay Highway as far north as Kilometre 140 or 150. Piles of Domtar forestry equipment were recently noted strewn alongside the highway on the way to Nemaska, from Km 190 to 162. Loggers are now making their way into Waskaganish and Nemaska traplines.
“The reality here is us Crees need the trees to survive as a hunting society,” said Dixon. “For other people, they need to cut them down. You cannot expect us Crees to roll over and play dead. We were here first”
He said Waswanipi residents are now discussing measures to stop the road. Some possibilities: a roadblock, court actions and taking Quebec to task in the international media. An appeal could also be made to the federal impact review committee. It has jurisdiction over navigable waters and fisheries, both of which would be impacted by the road.
“It’s going to be hard to stop it, especially now in Quebec after the referendum,” said Chief John Kitchen. “You can feel the tension already in the towns.”
But he said he isn’t comfortable with the road either. “I’m worried about it myself too because I have a camp there,” he said, adding that he has asked Domtar to modify its project. Meanwhile, the three other forestry companies planning to use Domtar’s road reject Kitchen’s offers to meet.
Dixon said even young Crees know the stakes. “My son is always asking me how come I’m sitting around doing nothing to save the land and the animals. It’s really something if it’s affecting my kid. Because he knows we survive off the land. He thinks something should be done and he’s only 10.”