Transmission
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| Infos : | 112 pages |
The Legacies of James Bay
A splendid and disorienting dive into the vast northern territory of James Bay, between intimate history and political upheaval.
1971. Robert Bourassa has just been elected Premier of Quebec and, to fulfill his promise to create 100,000 jobs, announces “the project of the century”: the construction of a vast hydroelectric complex on the territory of James Bay in northern Quebec. This colossal work, which will be the engineering feat and pride of the Quebec people, is entrusted to Paul Desrochers, Bourassa’s special advisor. Fifty years later, his granddaughter Annie Desrochers hits the road with her three boys following the traces of the man who devoted his life to politics before dying tragically in 1983. Along the way, they measure the radical metamorphosis that the hydroelectric plants have imposed on the territory and on the Cree community that has inhabited the region for millennia.
In a breathtaking staging known only to cartoonist Christian Quesnel, journalist Annie Desrochers reflects on the multiple and ambiguous inheritances of this “cathedral of the North.” A splendid and disorienting plunge into the world of James Bay, between an intimate approach and political upheavals, between small and large history.
“He haunted me, my grandfather. I wanted to understand who he was. The way he died when I was a child, the fact that I didn’t have all the answers I was looking for means that for a good part of my life I searched for him. […] What do we do with what we’ve received? How do we overcome a trauma? What energy do we expend so as not to repeat what we endured? Is it the same mechanism for a society? How does a community make peace with its past? How do we make sure not to repeat either what we have suffered or what we have inflicted on others?”
Based on the podcast Transmission from Radio-Canada OHdio.
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Annie Desrochers
Radio broadcaster and mother of five children, Annie Desrochers hosts the public affairs program Le 15–18 on ICI Radio-Canada Première. She first turned this family and historical quest into a podcast, "Transmission," broadcast on Ohdio. Transmission is her first comic book.