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This study looks at the accessibility and sharing of the territory among the Nations and tries to pin point the foundations of the Abenaki claims to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The presence of the Abenaki people between the St. Maurice and the Saguenay Rivers was the subject of many disputes throughout history: first by the Algonquins and Montagnais during the 17th and 18th centuries period, then by the Algonquins, the Atikamekw, the Hurons and the Nipissings at the beginning of the 19th century. Why did the Abenakis always presume to have the right to exploit the north shore ? What are the alliances and the agreements between these nations that explain the assumptions displayed by certain individuals and the hesitation or refusal exhibited by others, and sometimes prohibitions. The authors will initially focus on the starting point of the Abenakis’ presence on the north shore, as well as the relationships maintained between the Abenakis, the Algonquins and the Montagnais people. This will be followed by a review of the events that took place at the beginning of the 18th century, as the presence of Abenaki hunters in the St. John Lake region is disputed as much by the Montagnais nation as by the owner of the trade monopoly in that region.

La Grande Paix de Montréal consacre en 1701 la diplomatie franco-amérindienne, soulignant les adaptations culturelles qui permettent de mettre en place une paix et une alliance générale entre la Nouvelle-France et les nations du Pays d’en Haut. Nous avons voulu nous intéresser dans notre étude à la décennie qui suit ce traité, et à la manière dont les relations diplomatiques entre Français et Autochtones à Montréal se développent dans la continuité au début du XVIIIe siècle. En étudiant la correspondance coloniale que s’échangent les agents de la monarchie entre Versailles et Montréal, nous avons appliqué une analyse des discours afin de mieux comprendre la manière dont ces relations diplomatiques évoluent, et comment Montréal joue un rôle central en tant que cadre urbain de ces négociations. …

Qu'ils soient composés par des explorateurs, des membres du clergé ou des diplomates, les écrits de la Nouvelle-France ont une forte portée rhétorique. Les fonctions qui leur sont attribuées, voire les motifs de rédaction de ces textes, sont généralement d'ordres politique, religieux ou économique. L'expression de ces fonctions ponctue la narration et se dessine de différentes façons. Dans la « Lettre XII » de l'Histoire de l'Amérique septentrionale, Bacqueville de La Potherie se présente comme un témoin cohérent et lucide des circonstances entourant la Grande paix de Montréal de 1701. L'auteur rend compte des événements diplomatiques ayant mené à la signature de ce traité entre les nations autochtones alliées, les Iroquois et les Français. L'exclusion de La Potherie aux pourparlers de paix est la pierre …

This paper is a reflection on the actual presence or absence of native writers in Quebec, as seen through a parallel with the prevailing situation in Native Canada, on the larger American continent and elsewhere in the whole world. This reflection is presented in a personal manner through the author’s own experience and journey as an artist. A man of theatre and words, the author creates shows where the text serves the word and the voice. Because of the oral nature of culture, theatre always remains a sort of craft, an unavoidable archaism, a kind of shamanism that weaves the necessary meeting and confrontation between the Self, the Us and the Other. The author argues that there is a lot of subterfuges and lies that validate the mediocrity of what is done for and in the name of the Natives, or what is written about them. In fact, isn’t there a dispossession of the literature, a keeping out as few individuals occupy all the space, the entire vacuum? Is every form of writing, every text literature ?

AbstractThis article addresses the totemic dimension of the symbols used by North American Indians to sign treaties with Europeans. The theory of totemism is approached particularly through the analysis of Lévi-Strauss and Testart. If these seem to be antagonistic, conciliation is however suggested by considering the goal undertaken : an ethnographic analysis would consider totemism as classifying (Lévi-Strauss) whereas a comparative study of different practices of clan societies towards nature would embed social and seemingly individual forms of relationships to nature (Testart). However, neither of these understand the symbol as a signifier which, by guaranteeing the word of the signatory thanks to the link settled in the collective imaginary between the symbol and the Law giving its social identity to the group, allows the alliance talk to work.

Keywords: Guillaud, système symbolique, totémisme et théorie du signifiant, signature, traité, Amérindien du Nord-Est, Guillaud, symbolic system, totemism and theory of the signifier, signature, treaty, North-Eastern American Indian