''Incident at Restigouche'' is a 1984 documentary film by

Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki American Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has writ ...

, chronicling a series of two raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation (Restigouche) by the

Sûreté du Québec The (SQ; , ) is the provincial police service for the Canadian province of Quebec. No official English name exists, but the agency's name is sometimes translated to 'Quebec Provincial Police' or QPP in English-language sources. The headquarters ...

in 1981, as part of the efforts of the

Quebec government Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

to impose new restrictions on Native

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fishermen.

Production history

Obomsawin had heard about an impending police raid on the news and wanted to head to Restigouche immediately with a film crew. However, it took several weeks of discussions with her producer, the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB), to secure permission. With approval finally granted, she arrived at the reserve with a small film crew shortly after a second raid. Obomsawin was irritated about what she had missed, forced to rely on footage from the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and photographs from '' L'Aviron'', a Campbellton newspaper. To add insult to injury, when Obomsawin asked the NFB for permission to shoot more interviews, including with then-Minister of Fisheries

Lucien Lessard Lucien Lessard (born February 22, 1938) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. Background He was born on February 22, 1938, in Grandes-Bergeronnes. He has a Master degree from Université Laval and was an educator and a union activist. Member of ...

, who had ordered the raids, the

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

filmmaker was informed by NFB management that she should not interview white people for her film, only natives. Obomsawin disregarded this order and interviewed Lessard anyway, in an exchange that would serve as a key part of the film. When confronted by NFB management about her disobedience, she told them that no one would tell her whom to interview and that while white people had interviewed Natives for years, the opposite had never been true. NFB management relented and Obomsawin was free to complete her film with relatively little interference—an important step forward for her in her increasing autonomy within the NFB.

Interview with Lessard

In Obomsawin's pivotal exchange with Lessard, a member of the sovereigntist

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

, she confronts Lessard with the charge that a movement such as his that favours national self-determination for the Québécois was at the same time suppressing those rights for

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

. In particular, she calls Lessard to task for a comment he made to the Listuguj chief, when he said "You cannot ask for sovereignty because to have sovereignty one must have one's own culture, language and land." By the end of the film, Lessard offers a personal apology for any harm his actions may have caused the people of Restigouche. Obomsawin later said that she respected Lessard for his decision to speak directly and honestly with her, even if she strongly disagreed with his actions:

Music

In addition to documentary material and interviews, the film also includes a musical segment in which

found film Found film is the most common name for the still film or movie footage found exposed but undeveloped; it is also often referred as ''undeveloped film'', or ''forgotten film''. A well known found film was found in 1930 at the shore of arctic islan ...

on the life cycle of salmon is accompanied by a song by

Willie Dunn Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

Legacy

Mi'kmaq director

Jeff Barnaby Jeff Barnaby (1976 – 13 October 2022) was a Canadian film director, writer, composer, and film editor. He is known for his horror films ''Rhymes for Young Ghouls'' and ''Blood Quantum''. Early life Barnaby was born on a Mi'kmaq reserve in Li ...

, who witnessed the 1981 raids first-hand, has stated that ''Incident at Restigouche'' was an inspirational film for him: Barnaby had all of the actors in his 2019 film ''

Blood Quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establ ...

'', about the effects of a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

apocalypse on a Mi'kmaq reserve, watch ''Incident at Restigouche'' before commencing filming. In 2021 the film was selected for inclusion in Celebrating Alanis, a retrospective program of Obomsawin's films at the

2021 Toronto International Film Festival The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.Barry Hertz"TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’ ...

."Toronto Film Fest Unveils Platform Program Slate; Riz Ahmed To Head Jury"
''Shoot Online'', August 11, 2021.

References

External links

Watch ''Incident at Restigouche'' online
*{{IMDb title, 0143303 National Film Board of Canada documentaries Films directed by Alanis Obomsawin 1984 films Documentary films about Indigenous rights in Canada Documentary films about Quebec politics 1984 documentary films 1980s Canadian films