On this day, 11 June 1981, the first of two violent raids by Québec police took place on the Restigouche reserve of the Mi’kmaq First Nations people. Officers in full riot gear attacked the reserve, while 35 boatloads of game wardens came ashore to shut down fishing by Mi’kmaq people.
During the first raid police seized 100 fishing nets, arrested nine people and was accused of brutally beating others, like fisherman Randy Morrison, who reportedly stated: “I was trying to get out of the way of a group of policemen. A group of them grabbed, handcuffed, and then beat me with their sticks.”
On June 20, police returned, blockading the area and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
While the government claimed to be acting for conservation reasons, at the same time as shutting down salmon fishing by First Nations people, increasing oil exploration on Indigenous land was continuing apace. At the time there was speculation that the raids were to assert Québec’s control of salmon fishing as a precursor to potential independence.
Clashes continued in the aftermath of the raids, with two Native Americans shot by police and another reserve raided by a mob of white Canadians who destroyed a Native salmon net.
The second raids were filmed in a landmark documentary by Indigenous director Alanis Obomsawin in her film, Incident at Restigouche.
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