Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

84 • islands of resistance
which the community had staged in November of 2008. The blockade
was held to pressure the Federal government to honour the resource
co-management agreements it had signed with the community in 1991
but which had yet to be implemented. Sonny was jailed for a violation
of his conditions — to not protest — stemming from an earlier action
where Sonny and other community youth were arrested for staging a
sit-in at Federal MP Lawrence Cannon’s Buckingham office.
“I’m so happy to hear about the radio,” he told me. “I can’t wait to get
out of here so I can help out. Maybe I could talk about my experience
in here.” We chatted briefly about the radio (collect calls from jail are
extremely expensive), and I told Sonny everything we had done so far,
and he told me his ideas. We arranged to hold another training weekend
a few weeks later, when Sonny would be out of jail and then we
said our goodbyes.
“Stay strong,” I said.
“You know me,” he replied, laughing.
A few weeks later, I made the trip back up to Barriere Lake for
another weekend of training with Courtney and Tim, another supporter
from Montréal, who was visiting the community for the first
time. We brought up a new computer and some better headphones,
but we still had not raised enough money to buy any portable recorders.
This meant that we would be unable to leave a recorder with the
community, a key tool for youth to be able to go out and record stories
from elders. For the weekend, at least, Tim had brought his own
recorder for the youth to use. This time, more than fifteen people
showed up for training. We decided to break into groups. Tim and
Courtney would work with Sonny, Jamie and the others to learn how
to use the broadcast equipment and editing software for recording. I
would accompany Angelo and Paul out to record stories with some
elders who had expressed interest in speaking on the radio.
Leaving the volunteer school we walked down the bright treeless
road that runs along the top of the community, splitting the school
and a baseball field from the densely packed dwellings along the lakeshore.
From over one of the tall snowbanks that line the road, a pack
of fierce looking dogs greeted us outside a small wooden cabin. Angelo
told me it was his grandfather Toby’s house. I waited outside on the
narrow porch with Paul, while Angelo entered only to return moments
later. Toby wanted us to come back in a few hours. We decided to head
over to find another elder, Eddie, who lived a few houses over. Another