Île Sainte-Thérèse Project: How to tell the story of an island?
An Island is More Than a Park
In the fall of 2021, mayors from the Greater Montreal area officially announced a plan to develop Île-Sainte-Thérèse (Sainte-Thérèse Island) into an Eco-Park. The park project is an expansion of an already existing network of park and recreational infrastructure across various municipalities throughout the Hochelaga Archipelago. But the new park project on Île-Sainte-Thérèse, which aims to make land and water more accessible to the public, comes at a cost of 50 family cottages that will be evicted from the island. In the year following this announcement, a group of graduate students from Montreal Waterways, a working group from the Concordia Ethnography Lab, worked collaboratively to explore the island’s history and the material entanglements with land and water, as well as to speculate what is to become of this place and its inhabitants.
While the proposed eco-park and impending eviction are reminiscent of a troubling history concerning National or Provincial Parks as a form of conservation, Île-Sainte-Thérèse offers its own story, albeit a fragmented one involving multiple actors, each with a claim to the island’s landscape and heritage. The group shared and engaged with ethnographic methods and imagery, and brought these fragmented pieces together collectively; they did so not in a way that is definitive, fixed, or complete, but rather to demonstrate how these fragments move—and move us—when telling the story of an island.
“The Return”:
Island Stories and the people who made them.
“To return” can have two meanings. It could signify revisiting a certain place or time; or, it may represent giving something back.
On February 10th, Montreal Waterways held an event hosted by la Bibliothèque Serge-Bouchard in Pointe-aux-Trembles where we presented the book “An Island is More Than a Park” (Montreal Waterways Collective 2023) to the residents of île-Sainte-Thérèse; many of whom are featured in the chapters in this compilation of ethnographic texts.
It had been almost two years since we last saw the residents who graciously invited the research team to the island to conduct fieldwork at what was a rather difficult time. Not only did they make the fieldwork possible by taking us to and from the island and guiding us around, they had entrusted us with their stories about their life and history on île-Sainte-Thérèse, and about their inevitable eviction. Returning their stories to them in the form of a book was a way of expressing our gratitude and to offer residents the opportunity to ask questions and to get their impression about the book that embodies two years of research and writing.
One of the residents expressed that the book and the event was a way to “boucler la boucle”, which translates to “closing the loop,” or “to come full circle.” These words could not have described this reunion better since the event was not only an opportunity to give something back, it was also a return to île-Sainte-Thérèse, which could be seen directly in front of us from the library. As much as the surrounding municipalities wanted to remove the residents from the landscape, the book became a way of writing them into the island’s history and archive. As members of Montreal Waterways took turns to revisit their chapters, standing between the residents and the island, the book stirred up emotions for those in attendance who were listening closely to the words being read. When we opened the floor for discussion, one resident—with both hands firmly holding her copy of the book—said that her decision to participate in the project came with some trepidation, but what we had offered to her was a gift. Speaking on behalf of members of Montreal Waterways who were present, it is undeniable that the feelings are mutual.
Returning to île-Sainte-Thérèse and returning its stories to the residents was a moment to give closure to the project. But with still so many unanswered questions, closure seems unlikely for both the residents and Montreal Waterways given the injustice in regards to an expropriation that is being made invisible by municipal governments and in their future plans for the park. The book was created as a response to a question that guided the research and the writing process: How to tell the story of an island? But after returning to the island and its residents, it has become rather obvious that this story is far from over. Perhaps more meaningful than closure, the gathering at la Bibliothèque Serge-Bouchard created space for the residents to speak to their stories and to finally be heard. Such opportunities for collaboration and communication are not often realized in academic work. But, when they do happen, one can’t help but feel a renewed sense of faith in the potential of ethnography as a way of telling stories, and as a way of giving something back.