The First Nations of Québec - The Algonquins - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

The Algonquins are part of the Algonquian linguistic family. They account for more than 8,600 in Quebec, of which a little more than 5,000 is currently living on-reserve. Their territory is located in the Abitibi and Temiscamingue region. There are nine Algonquin communities in Quebec: Eagle Village, Grand-Lac-Victoria, Wolf Lake, Kitigan Zibi, Lac-Simon, Pikigan, Rapid Lake, Timiskaming and Winneway. The Algonquins relied mainly on hunting, fishing, gathering for their subsistence.

Did you know that the word of Algonquin origin « achigan » means « the one who struggles » ?

THE KANATHA-AKI ETHNO-CULTURAL CENTRE
A RESTING AND DISCOVERY PLACE
By Annabelle Dionne

The idea of sleeping in a teepee appeals to you? Want to discover Native spirituality, make a dream catcher or simply learning how to live in nature? The KANATHA-AKI 1 ethno-cultural centre is the ideal place. Located in Saint-Donat at approximately 130 kilometers north of Montreal in the forest, it is the replica of a Native village where we can take the time to live in harmony with nature.

While visiting the site, the former Algonquin Grand Chief, Dominique Rankin, takes us to a Native Sacred site, the healing circle. Visitors are invited to meditate and to pray the four directions. They pray the East for the light and the new day which has just begun at dawn. Since tomorrow is out of our reach, we must take the time to live one day at a time. They pray the South in order to thank nature for all the living and growing things. They also pray that direction for humans to be respectful towards one another, and for harmony among people. West is the direction of acceptance and rest which we pray in order to thank Mother Earth. Finally, praying the North is done in order to free ourselves and find purity.

According to the price of the package deal, it is also possible to go canoeing on the lake. "It is important to live in harmony with nature, to feel that we are part of the same environment as that of the animals", mentions Dominique Rankin. It is important to take some time to become aware of our origins, who we are and what surrounds us."

PURE AWAZIBI MAPLE SYRUP,
A COMBINATION OF TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY
By Annabelle Dionne

“Blending tradition with technology” is more than just an advertising slogan for the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. They are tapping maples, as their ancestors did hundreds of years before the arrival of the Europeans. But there are no birch bark buckets here, no sap boiling over open fires in the bush. Instead, they’ve combined traditional knowledge and modern technology to create a booming business.

This community, south of Maniwaki, has turned a 57-hectare mixed growth of maple hardwoods into a commercial 12,000 tap maple syrup operation. The community made an important strategic decision about 10 years ago to preserve its common lands so that the trees, including the stand of sugar maples, could replenish themselves. A number of people in the Kitigan Zibi community depend on the forestry industry, but a balance was reached between the need for jobs and the need to preserve the forest — and the First Nation’s future.

It was, the community decided, time to stop cutting and start tapping. Since a sugar maple tree can be successfully tapped for at least 100 years, a maple syrup business was one with obvious potential. Three years ago, that potential became reality.

“INAC and Aboriginal Business Canada came through with about 50 percent of the money we needed to get the business started,” says Chief Jean-Guy Whiteduck. “This covered the original infrastructure costs, including a road into the site and the building where the evaporator is located. But the idea was always that Awazibi Pure Maple Syrup become self-sustaining. Products produced had to cover expenses. And we’ve done it. Since that first season, we haven’t received any funding from anyone. We’re breaking even,” he says. “And now we’re moving into the secondary products market, with candies and maple butter. With good management, this is an aspect of our local economy that should sustain itself for years to come. It’s also a business that incorporates our traditional ways.” Even the company’s name reflects the community’s roots: Awazibi means ‘to carry maple water’ in the Algonquin language. But, “carrying maple water” has progressed far beyond the traditional birch bark buckets of years ago. “In three years, the community has increased the number of taps from 10,000 to 12,000,” explains Norm Odjick, the Assistant Community Services Director. “We are currently preparing to add another 5,000 taps for the upcoming season.”

Liquid gold... Approximately 12,000 litres of Awazibi Maple Syrup are produced each year.

The oil-fired sap-processing plant keeps four employees busy nearly 24 hours a day during the nine-week production season. The operation works on a vacuum system that keeps the sap moving through several kilometres of plastic tubing into three 2,300-litre fibreglass holding tanks. The process can produce approximately 680 litres of syrup every 10 hours. About 12,000 litres of the syrup is produced annually. But demand is growing and the community sees opportunities in the retail market.

Awazibi Pure Maple Syrup suffered a setback at the end of the most recent sugaring-off season with the sudden death of its manager, Tom Ferguson. “It was a great loss,” says Norm Odjick. “Tom had been the moving force behind the syrup operation since its very beginning. He was very knowledgable in every technical aspect of the production and had a solid background in horticulture, too. We’ll miss him.”

And although some change under a yet-to-be named new manager is inevitable, Awazibi Pure Maple Syrup will stay grounded in its heritage. “This year, we held a ‘first tap’ ceremony,” explains Odjick. “We invited the students of Kitigan Zibi Kikinamadinan, our local school, to this spiritual ceremony that allows us to honour the trees and give thanks for another successful season. It reflects our belief that when you take something from nature, you must give something back.”

Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
PO Box309
Maniwaki Quebec J9E 3C9
Phone : (819) 449-5170
Fax : (819) 449-5673

The Eagle Forest near Maniwaki was once the traditional hunting and trapping grounds of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. The 14,000 hectare forest sheltered moose, deer, fox, wolf and other small game, and it supported the people living within its borders.

Today, it is part of an “inhabited forest” program that promotes a mixed-use approach to both sustainable development and environmental protection of the woodland, giving the Algonquin of the Kitigan Zibi community a way of making their living from the forest once more.

”Canadian International Paper (CIP) used to log this forest,” explains Marc Beaudoin, Director General of the Corporation de Gestion de la Forêt de l’Aigle (CGFA). “Then, in the 1980s, the province changed its policy on commercial cutting, deciding who should have the right to log and develop the province’s forests. CIP lost their cutting rights to Eagle Forest and, in 1996, this land was given back to the community. It’s now our responsibility to manage it and profit from it. Our goal is to do that in a way that respects both the land and the community.”

Seven organizations joined together to create the Eagle Forest Administration Committee: the Société Sylvicole, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, the Municipalité de Cayamant, ZEC (zone d’exploitation controlé) Bras-Coupe Desert, the snowmobile club Les Ours Blancs, the ZEC Pontiac, and l’Institut Québécois d’Aménagement de la Forêt Feuillue.

Marc Beaudoin, who has been with the project since its earliest days, is especially pleased with how well the partners work together. “These are people who might not even have spoken with one another before working on this project. There was a certain amount of distrust, perhaps a lack of understanding of what each wanted. Now, we all want the same thing — to successfully manage our community’s resources, to enjoy our land and to promote Eagle Forest as a place where people can come to play. It’s not just a place for snowmobile and quad racing. We want to promote other uses as well: snowshoeing, dog-sledding, cross-country skiing, hiking and cycling. So far, we’ve cut close to 150 kilometres of recreational trails.”

The inhabited forest project has meant jobs, too. Since 1996, eight full-time positions and 60 seasonal jobs have been created — 35 of them related to the forestry services. Logging continues in Eagle Forest, but in a controlled way that ensures there will be trees to cut for generations to come. One of the management partners, Société Sylvicole, oversees the annual cut of 32,000 cubic metres of hardwood: maple, ash, oak, white and yellow birch, and beech. The wood is sold to sawmills in the Outaouais. Timber sales, and money from recreational use of the forest topped $2.5 million last year.

But not everyone’s eye is on the bottom line. When André Dumont, a biologist who has been working full-time for the CGFA since 1998, walks through Eagle Forest, he doesn’t see trees measured in cubic metres. He sees “an open-sky laboratory,” where the experiments run wild.

One of his four-legged subjects is the wood turtle, so-called because it ventures deep into the forest, away from the water, during the summer months. Eagle Forest is home to about 150 of these reptilian creatures — one of the largest populations in the province. It’s classified as a “vulnerable” species and Dumont hopes his work will contribute to its survival. He’s tagged a dozen of the turtles with radiotracking devices that allow him to study their habits and habitat. He’s built secure egg laying sites for them and has set up screens around their nests to help protect the wood turtle from its predatory neighbour, the raccoon.

The wood turtle project is only part of what André Dumont does in Eagle Forest. He reviews management plans for the forest’s development and maintains wildlife inventories to make sure that the logging and recreational use of the forest isn’t harming the animals. He’s also helped develop an interpretation trail and will often offer guided tours to visitors.

Dumont is passionate about his work in Eagle Forest. “It’s important to protect the forest’s biodiversity. This is our land. If we don’t take care of it, who will? Once animals like the wood turtle are gone, they never come back. Protecting this land is one of our highest priorities.”

Balancing those priorities is Marc Beaudoin’s responsibility. And he’s proud of his community’s enthusiasm and success. “When you take on a project like this,” he says, “you want to have an impact — and we have. It’s so exciting to see people take charge of their future. We’ve created jobs. We’re managing our own resources, without depending on others. We’re deciding what’s best for us and our community. And the most important thing is, we’re doing it together.”