The National Centre (that’s right, “Centre”) for First Nations Governance recently released an article, video, and report on a community near and dear to my heart – Listuguj, where I grew up!
Many communities feel restricted in their right to manage their traditional resources, wondering how they might challenge laws imposed by federal or provincial governments. What the story of the Listuguj First Nation shows is the power to fight back by taking responsibility. As the report states, “The answer, it turned out, was [to fight] not [with] guns or litigation or marching in the streets. Ultimately, the Listuguj Mi’gmaq fought back with the tools of governance: by making credible law – Mi’gmaq law – and then backing it up with competent management and enforcement.”
The importance of law-making cannot be overstated. “Making good law and fairly enforcing it are among the most important activities any government ever undertakes,” remarks Stephen Cornell, faculty associate at the Native Nations Institute. “The Listuguj law on fisheries and fishing did more than just regulate a critical resource. It was a demonstration of the thoughtful, deliberate exercise of self-determination and self-government on the part of a First Nation. It’s a notable model, and the beneficiaries have included not only the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation but the salmon, the Restigouche River and Canada as a whole.”
You can read the fascinating story of how the Listuguj people came together to assert their inherent right to fish the Restigouche River and reclaim their powers of law-making and enforcement in the research report Making First Nation Law: The Listuguj Mi’gmaq Fishery, co-written by the NCFNG and the Native Nations Institute based on interviews and extensive research. It’s a story, says Satsan, of “how to turn a crisis into a stepping stone to success.”
Turtle Talk 