Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université Laval, 2008. / Bibliogr.: f. 303-321. Webographie. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

In 1971, Robert Bourassa, then Premier of Quebec, launched a major hydroelectric scheme to be built 1400 km North of Montreal. Known as the "James Bay" project, the first phase included the creation of eight powerhouses, six reservoirs and the diversion of two rivers. These transformations necessarily impacted the local Cree people; a territorial agreement partly compensated them but remains controversial to this day. While northern communities overwhelmingly bear the ecological cost of the project, the bulk of James Bay energy flows south to the industrial centers of Quebec, Ontario and the U.S. The assertion then that "James Bay belongs to all the Quebecois" which was meant to ease political tensions about the project begs the question, "Who are the Quebecois" and how do the Crees fit within such a community? This thesis explore that question by looking at the Quebecois cultural production of territory and its resources in the north. If James Bay was out of reach, it was never out of view. Media and political discourses reiterated key elements of a Quebecois cultural relationship to place, some of which are contained in the rural literature known as the roman de la terre. Several elements of this literature and its broader context were recontextualized in James Bay, particularly as they pertained to the will to occupy the land and develop natural resources. This was an important aspect of making James Bay - a land historically inhabited by the Crees - into a "Quebecois" national landscape. I suggest that this process was largely rooted in representations of nature that sought to bind it with nation and national identity. Thus James Bay demonstrates the close connection between identity and environmental struggles. For the Quebecois, the access to James Bay was supported by a territorial discourse that performed their own cultural past. This provoked an organized resistance from the Crees which constituted them as a modern political unit. A look at the cultural geography of the region highlights the political scales created in the accessing of resources that render their equitable and sustainable use more difficult to achieve.

In 1971, Robert Bourassa, then Premier of Quebec, launched a major hydroelectric scheme to be built 1400 km North of Montreal. Known as the "James Bay" project, the first phase included the creation of eight powerhouses, six reservoirs and the diversion of two rivers. These transformations necessarily impacted the local Cree people; a territorial agreement partly compensated them but remains controversial to this day. While northern communities overwhelmingly bear the ecological cost of the project, the bulk of James Bay energy flows south to the industrial centers of Quebec, Ontario and the U.S. The assertion then that "James Bay belongs to all the Quebecois" which was meant to ease political tensions about the project begs the question, "Who are the Quebecois" and how do the Crees fit within such a community? This thesis explore that question by looking at the Quebecois cultural production of territory and its resources in the north. If James Bay was out of reach, it was never out of view. Media and political discourses reiterated key elements of a Quebecois cultural relationship to place, some of which are contained in the rural literature known as the roman de la terre. Several elements of this literature and its broader context were recontextualized in James Bay, particularly as they pertained to the will to occupy the land and develop natural resources. This was an important aspect of making James Bay - a land historically inhabited by the Crees - into a "Quebecois" national landscape. I suggest that this process was largely rooted in representations of nature that sought to bind it with nation and national identity. Thus James Bay demonstrates the close connection between identity and environmental struggles. For the Quebecois, the access to James Bay was supported by a territorial discourse that performed their own cultural past. This provoked an organized resistance from the Crees which constituted them as a modern political unit. A look at the cultural geography of the region highlights the political scales created in the accessing of resources that render their equitable and sustainable use more difficult to achieve. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

All articles, editorials and letters to the editor written by The Gazette and La Presse during the Oka Crisis of 1990 are measured and compared in order to determine which of the two major newspapers in Quebec was more sympathetic in its coverage of the Oka Crisis. The method used is content analysis, with 1674 pieces written by the two newspapers being analyzed from the seventy-eight day period which has been characterized as the Oka Crisis (July 12 to September 26, 1990). The study will be divided into several parts, as follows: theory and literature review, chronology of events at Oka, methodology, presentation of findings and discussion of the relevance of these findings. In particular, six areas of theory helped lay the foundation for the hypothesis: non- Aboriginal attitudes towards Aboriginal peoples and protest, studies on newspaper coverage of the Oka crisis, studies on differences between French and English media, studies on the FLQ crisis, communications theory and Aboriginal peoples as portrayed by the media. Chapter two describes the history of the Mohawk land claim, divisions within the Mohawk community and a chronology of events at Oka. Chapter three outlines the methodology and explains that content is placed into seven categories: law and order, death of Lemay, native perspective, Mohawk rights and claims, mixed or other, criticism of the S.Q. or provincial government, and criticism of the army or federal government. They are then further classified as either positive, negative or neutral. The findings show that La Presse was less sympathetic than The Gazette towards the Mohawks, and that La Presse emphasized the need for law and order, while The Gazette gave greater attention to the Native perspective. Both newspapers however, tended to have negative front page and editorial coverage. The final chapter discusses the results and points to some possible reasons for the differing coverage: the sovereignty movement in Quebec, the historic relationship between the English and Aboriginal peoples and the French and Aboriginal peoples, and the fact that the Mohawks were English speaking which facilitated reporting for The Gazette. A summary of the literature and the findings is presented at the end of chapters one and four.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of History. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/24). Includes bibliographical references.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2007. / Bibliogr.: f. 111-117. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Montpellier I et Université du Québec à Montréal, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 352-370).

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2007. / Bibliogr.: f. 85-95. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Thomas Kerr's thesis (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke, 1996. / Translation of: Portraits d'un pays. Includes bibliographical references.

Mémoire (M.P.M.O.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1994. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU