In the River: A Socio-Historical Account of Dialogue and Diaspora

Abstract

I give encouragement to David Nickell and the Between the Rivers community by offering an account of good relations between a government natural resource land management agency and local people: Canada's St. Lawrence Islands National Park and the people of the Thousand Islands, focusing on Grenadier Island. I speak from my perspective as a descendent of the former year-round community on Grenadier. I describe our diaspora, our heated disagreement with the St. Lawrence Islands National Park's 1970s expansion plans, and how the local community successfully engaged a dialogue that ended these plans. I recount what I term the double politics of dialogue, a “good-cop/bad-cop” approach used by the community, and its resulting providence of good relations. I conclude with the prospect of such providence for the people of Between the Rivers.