A Lower North Shore Story: containers for feminist place-making in Québec, Canada

Abstract

This article examines current efforts by the woman-led Lower North Shore Bioproducts Solidarity Coop on the northeastern coast of Québec, Canada to re-brand their region for sustainable economic growth. This cooperative is using the narrative tools of social media to counteract stories of decimation following the collapse of the fishing industry in the region in the 1990s. The goal of the Coop is to create jobs in the community through the production and export of local products made from wild berries and other plants. Through their creative use of Facebook and YouTube, narratives about the Lower North Shore are changing. The use of online platforms for sharing videos and stories allows the community to re-create itself through the lens of environmental stewardship rather than exploitation. These efforts can be seen as a form of feminist place-making. This photo-essay argues that using the discourse of terroir to re-brand the region for outside consumption has the dual possibilities of valuing non-invasive, seasonal fruit harvesting performed on a small scale by locals, and also opening the door to detrimental transformation of the land. Analyzing the deployment of the term terroir in this case will point to its ambiguous potential for sustainable development. This original artistic research, based on interviews and fieldwork conducted from 2013 to 2015, will be of interest to readers of Gender, Place & Culture for its focus on the efforts of women, many of whom are seniors, to re-present nature-cultures in a geographically remote coastal region.