Self-centered: 

We pronounce it as Manouane but the Indians say Manawan, which signifies in Attikamek, the place where we gather the eggs. I have a cottage in Manouane in the Haute Mauricie. I have been there for about 23 years. I acquired the land and have been settled in this area since 1984.  I have frequented Manouane since 1977-78 and I have retired from the military. I am an autochthones descendant and member of the Métis Nation of Quebec. Since a very young age I have frequented the forest.  I learnt to live in the forest by my father and through the teachings I received by many wise men of different autochthones nations. Therefore respect for Mother Earth is integrated in my being. I really love Manouane Lake for the peace and tranquility of the spirit.  

The wilderness is diversified, where we find amongst others, the goose, duck, partridge, bear, deer, moose, wolves, lynx etc... I’m a friend of nature, I love to observe. Because of my Indian roots, I practice certain ancestral customs. My life dream is to live in the forest, regardless of my age, 45 years old, to live in the forest all year long with my wife, Sharon, without electricity, living in simplicity, amongst my brothers and sisters of the animal and plant family, within this vastness that I love so much.  

I have observed an alarming degradation of different ecosystems in this area for quite some time. For 10 years I have been fighting to keep my hopes and dreams alive to live at Lake Manouane even through all kinds of oppositions, whether it was because of family, Indians or neighbours.  I have to admit that I am tired of doing battle alone but before I quit, I have a moral duty, to try one last time to save the animal and plant kingdom,  I have to try to help Mother Earth. To those who are reading right now, if you share my convictions, you can probably help me save the wild life on the territory of Lake Manouane. Without your collaboration I cannot do a thing besides watch the territory continue to deteriorate.  

The testimony that I share with you demonstrates how urgent and important it is to bring awareness to all, whether white and autochthones. The sickness that a lot of people suffer from today is the ‘I DON’T CARE’ syndrome. What is self-centrism? Self-centrism means egoistic, selfish, self-absorbed, self-interest, it means a person’s attitude is centered on their problems, gives ones self, greater importance. This is the way the government actually reacts whether they are Canadian federalists, Quebec separatists or Autochthon claimants. I get chills with the way politics are being conducted today. The government has neither ideas nor inspirations to offer the population. Why? Because they are disconnected from reality. They operate the country like it was a business and in my opinion, this is the error. If they were to listening to the needs of the people, they would find excellent ideas. By being disconnected with the people, they no longer take account of the populations needs. And in spite of themselves, vote on projects or laws that go against the needs of the people and support the multinationals.  

Take Mont Oxford as an example, I think the first role of the government is to listen and assist, not the contrary. During the electoral champagne 2005-06, they spoke very little of the environment and the Indian land clams. Being both native and white, it is easy for me to see who lies and who speaks the truth between whites and autochthon. Before making my Web site, I had to do a lot of research in order to have the facts on the autochthon territory claims. 

In spite of my knowledge of the native customs, I must admit, when it comes to their claims, I had no knowledge. After going through about 800 pages of documents, including treaties and videos, I admit I am no longer ignorant. The autochthon territorial claims are a delicate and complex subject. It is a reality that concerns us all. The goal here is not to decorticate it on the whole but to outline the major points.  

I have a chalet on the Attikamek territory; I love mother earth, the plants and animals as much as or more. I will try to bring awareness for environmental protection, however with what I have learnt about the claims, they could easily push me off the territory and my dreams of living there year round risks ending before it begins. This is the reason why I feel it is important to speak out. It is possible that I am completely off base and haven’t understood a thing. Therefore if I am wrong, then reassure and explain it and I will offer my apologies.  

There have certainly been serious mistakes committed in the past against the Indians and we should give them a hand in order for the communities to gain confidence and start the healing process. The white people have to realise that the autochthones were here first and have the right to handle their own futures. I believe what is detrimental to the Indian is this law on the Indians that patronize and render the communities debilitated. This law should be abolished in order to allow the Indians to take back control of their lives. But the autochthon also have to realise, they do not have the choice but to live on and share the territory as well as the resources with the white man if they want to know an economical improvement in order to permit community development.  

It has to be understood that not all autochthon communities will prosper when they obtain their autonomy. Unless there is a diamond mine or an oil well, I do not believe a community far from the main centers will know an important economical improvement and the best example is Nunavut who has obtained their autonomy in the beginning of this century. There are people that live on the new Canadian territory that have not seen any difference with before, poverty, unemployment and criminality are still as high as in the Great North.  For those communities who live near the main centers, their economical prosperity can be a lot different from those in the Grand North.  

They are actually closing entire cities in distant regions that are not profitable, so imagine those autochthon communities in the Grand North. For those claimant extremists, understand that the white man will not return in their sailboats back to France, forget it. The word autochthon signifies ‘native of the land where they live’. What this means to us, the Quebecois, born here, we are not known as Europeans, but as autochthones. Most Quebecois have never set foot in France and have never seen the Eiffel Tower or the Arche de Triomphe. The Indians are not as stupid as the white man thinks; they are capable of creating great things too. I believe it is possible to live on the some territory together and profit together but we both need to have faith and respect of one another.  

The Quebecois government wanted to negotiate secretly with the Innu from the North and from Saguenay, Lake St-Jean by giving them ¾ of the north side and Lake St-Jean, all the while enclosing in reserves more than 200,000 whites who occupy the territory, and all this to ensure votes for Quebec sovereignty. Fortunately, the white population saw clearly and succeeded in blocking this scheme. The autochthones and white governments will no longer be able to negotiate the claims without considering the needs of the white population who would be affected by this claim. What I reproach the autochthones and the governments in this file is their lack of precision. The white population in general are not against the land claims but what they want is written guaranties, in order to continue taking advantage of their right to circulate anytime on the claimed territories, to hunt, fish, and camp as well as keep their chalets in the forest and feel safe.  

After reading the Royal Commission investigation report on the autochthones, I was disappointed to learn that there was no guaranteed access to the claimed territories for the white population. What seems apparent is that the autochthons want to push the white out of the territory and to create a country within a country, where no white man would have access without permission. They have no intention of sharing their territories with the white man. You only have to read between the lines. It’s about the same principal as the Lampoons in Scandinavia. If I understand correctly, the Indians want to claim the territories and put the white out. All the while they place the governments against the wall, parallel with the complicity of lawyers and Ministry of Indian Affaires and the north, and all this to be paid by the white tax payers.   

We each have in our respective communities, problems with drugs, alcohol, suicide, and violence. Criminality is increasing in both communities and we should fight together this plague that affects us all and that destroys our children. The planet is dying and we should make future alliances to prevent the forest from being cut down as well as preventing the fish, wolves and moose from disappearing completely, forever from the territory. The separatists, federalists and autochthones land claimants are fighting between themselves a war of nerves that has been going on for a number of years.  

Politically speaking, since the Oka crisis, we are all here, in Quebec, sitting on a barrel of powder ready to explode at any moment. Indian, French and English detest each other, ready to tear the world apart at the cost of blood and arms, just so the ideologies of the self-centered can know who can piss the furthest.  It is a 400 year old story that has never been settled. I would like to kick some butts and let all the enemies of my Mother Earth know that their enemies and those of the Quebecois are not the white men nor the Indians but the governments and the multinationals that abusively poison and exploit our resources in support of commercial globalisation, wild, savage and unfair, all the while remaining completely without emotion, compassion or feelings. They exploit and exhaust the entire population of the planet by imposing visions of dependency to an extreme, over consumption that harms our mother earth. And this uniquely with the goal to make profits. 

My military experience and the missions that I was on around the world, taught me that it is hard to obtain sovereignty with our fire arms. Most of the time, negotiations are failures. Men and women fight in wars, and don’t forget, children suffer. It is important to sit together and find solutions to these problems. I therefore invite local communities and associations to come and talk as it is urgent to save the planet. It is a matter of life or death for all, without any exception.

Finally, I want to say that I agree to the name change from Haute Mauricie to Nitaskinan, Haute Mauricie. To all separatists, federalists and land claimants, the time is not for self-centrism but to opening up to a world with a new planetary and universal awareness. It’s urgent.