Barriere Lake Algonquins Place their Bodies in Front of Bulldozers

On September 1, Algonquins from the community of Barriere Lake placed their bodies in front of bulldozers to halt any further logging activities on their territory.

They are doing so until the federal and provincial governments honour the trilateral agreement they signed with the community in 1991.

At the time the agreement was hailed as a revolutionary win for Native rights as the community would have seen revenue-sharing from the natural resource development on their territory that would have significantly improved the community’s standard of living.

Neither government however implemented the agreement, leaving the community in dire poverty and with what has been described as developing world living standards.

The community is blocking machinery owned by Abitibi-Bowater to prevent further logging.

“The Quebec government has acted in bad faith, giving companies the go-ahead to log while they ignore their legal obligations, leaving us with no choice but to stop forestry operations until Quebec complies with the agreement. We have waited more than three years for Quebec to implement it,” said Jean Maurice Matchewan, Customary Chief of Barriere Lake.

The community is also up in arms as Indian and Northern Affairs is once again refusing to recognize their new customary chief, Chief Matchewan, who was voted in on June 24.

The community has had similar disputes with INAC in previous years, in 2008, the community’s interim Chief, Norman Matchewan, was also not recognized by the department who favoured Chief Casey Ratt, who had been voted in by a small faction in the community.

“Instead of acting honourably and cooperating with our Customary Council to implement these signed agreements, the federal and provincial governments have been working in unison to try and install a minority faction whom they can use to sign off on the cutting of our forest,” said Matchewan.