Incident at Restigouche
Pick of the Hot Docs Festval 2009, Incident at Restigouche recalls June 9, 1981, when the Quebec Minister of Fisheries, Lucien Lessard, demanded the Mi’kmaq of Restigouche (now Listuguj) remove all nets from their traditional fishing waters. For the Mi’kmaq, salmon has been an essential source of food and income for thousands of years. Poverty and unemployment makes salmon fishing crucial to the community’s survival, though their take accounts for less than 0.5% of commercial fishing in the region. Within 48 hours of Lessard’s demand, a force of almost 400 Quebec provincial police and fisheries wardens brutally raid the reserve to find and destroy the six or seven nets left in the water. Outraged by the invasion and violence, First Nations groups across the country show solidarity; barricades spring up, tension escalates. The second police raid is even more brutal, and the ensuing trial a farce. Obomsawin’s formidable cross-examination of Lessard is the cornerstone of this eloquent examination of justice and sovereignty.
In a heated exchange, the director of the film and Lessard touch on issues of sovereignty. Obomsawin calls Lessard to task for having no understanding of Native issues, especially as a Quebecois. She cannot believe what he said to the chief during the incident at Restigouche and quotes him, “You cannot ask for sovereignty because to have sovereignty one must have one’s own culture, language and land.” Absurd.
Video, civil rights, featured 
