Jackie Vautour

Jackie Vautour
Born	1930 (1930) Claie-Fontaine, New Brunswick, Canada

John L. "Jackie" Vautour is a Canadian fisherman, born about 1930 in Claire-Fontaine, in New Brunswick. He is best known for his fight against the expropriation of 250 families in the early 1970s to create Kouchibouguac National Park on land formerly occupied by eight villages.

Origins and Family

Jackie Vautour was born circa 1930 in Claire-Fontaine, New Brunswick. He and his wife Yvonne have nine children, including Roy and Ron. He is nicknamed the "Eastern Louis Riel" and "rebel of Kouchibouguac."

Jackie Vautour case

In the late 1960s, the Acadians of Kent County, New Brunswick are the poorest people of the province and Louis Robichaud, both the MLA for Kent and Premier of New Brunswick wants to eliminate poverty by creating a national park.

Kouchibouguac National Park was established in 1969 during the expansion of the national parks network in Atlantic Canada. An agreement was signed between the provincial government of Louis Robichaud and the federal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau to create the park. However, a requirement of the federal government is the expropriation of lands for park creation.

Seven villages were expropriated comprising 228 families, representing 1200 people. These families, mostly Acadian fishermen and farmers, had inhabited the area for several generations, and are mostly poorly educated and less fortunate.

Auguste Landry negotiated the purchase of homes and land by the government. Families received an average of $10,000 to $12,000 depending on the value of properties. Nearly half accept the offer. Some of the expropriated residents cry foul because they receive much less than others. The expropriated residents also felt cramped in the other, more expensive, communities where they settled. Forced to sell their fishing rights, they also lose their profession.

During the late 1960s, the issue of expropriation sparks student interest. One of the students, a recent graduate and social activist, is Gilles Thériault, head of the Southeast Regional Planning Council (an organization funded by the provincial government). The organization is very active and Jackie Vautour is noticed . Vautour, chairman of the Claire-Fontaine citizens, directed the resistance to park creation. On 5 November 1976, the Kent County sheriff arrives at Claire-Fontaine with an eviction warrant. The house was demolished and his personal effects are sent to a warehouse. The Vautour family is housed at provincial government expense in a Richibucto motel. They are expelled in March 1977 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police using tear gas. The charges are dropped and in July 1978, and the Vautour family returns to live in the park. In 1978, 600 expropriated residents sign a petition to get back their properties. Several clashes occur with the police. Vautour refuses all offers of land or money from the government. they offer him 20 $ 670 while in request 150 $ 000 . In 1979, he challenged the expropriation in court but the court rules the expropriation legal. Two hundred people then riot in the park, followed by another riot a few weeks later. The riots precipitated the creation of a commission of inquiry, which places blamed on the federal government, granting compensation to the expropriated of $1,600,000.

In 1980, Louis Robichaud said that people were "happy to be expropriated." Some of the interested public burning a dummy in his image.

In 1998, Jackie Vautour, his wife Yvonne and their son Roy and Ron are arrested for illegally harvesting shellfish in the park. In 1999, they were convicted under the Law on National Parks of Canada. They then carry the decision on appeal and are paid. Jackie and one of his son then get a second trial invoke their ancestral rights. The trial, scheduled to begin in 2002, was repeatedly postponed until 2006. In 2008, Jackie Vautour announced the discovery of evidence that they had never been legally expropriated. In 2009, he returned to court, defended by lawyer Robert Rideout. His defense is based on the assumption that the ancient inhabitants of Kouchibouguac are Métis (i.e., they descend from both Mi'kmaq and early Europeans settlers), and therefore his clients have an aboriginal right to clamming, according Canadian constitution.

According to historian Alan MacEachern, the Jackie Vautour case has changed the history of national parks in Canada, and how the land is expropriated. According to Professor MacEarchern, Parks Canada has especially focused one opening parks in the northern Canada, because there are fewer residents. The law now prohibits Parks Canada from expropriating residents to create a park.

In 2009 , the Canadian government invested $ 1.3 million in the park, especially to showcase its history and dispossessed communities.

In Culture

The Louisiana musician Zachary Richard met Jackie Vautour for the first time in 1977. He later organized a benefit concert for the expropriated and wrote The Ballad of Jackie Vautour.

The film Massabielle, made ​​in 1982 by Jacques Savoie, recalls the story of Jackie Vautour. In 2007, Jean Bourbonnais directed the documentary Kouchibouguac. The film opened at the International Francophone Film Festival in Acadia in the same year. Zachary Richard, the narrator asks, in a message shown before the screening that governments officially recognize "the injustice that was committed against the dispossessed families".

Annual reunions have been held in the park since 2006. In 2009, historian Ronald Rudin of Concordia University, announced his intent to write a book and develop a website focussing on the park's history.

In 2011, the young Acadian playwright Emma Haché presented a play telling the expropriation story.