The son of the late Acadian activist Jackie Vautour, Rocky, was arrested Sunday at Kouchibouguac National Park while mowing the grass on the site where his father lived.
“Last year, I did it all summer, but this is the first time that they have come to arrest me like they did,” he said on Monday, the day after his arrest.
“If they had let me cut the grass, there would have been no trouble. It was not me who went to see them to attack them,” he declared.
On Sunday, when he had almost finished mowing on the site where his father lived for a long time, Rocky Vautour was preparing to do the same work on the other side of the road, where the ashes of his father and one of his brothers is buried at the foot of a tree.
Rocky Vautour on April 11, 2023, during Parks Canada’s operation to move the Vautour family’s belongings outside the boundaries of Kouchibouguac Park. – Archives
However, a park guard abruptly ended his work and reportedly told him: “no, you’re not going any further.” The arrest took place during the afternoon. Jackie’s son was handcuffed.
“I didn’t ask for the ambulance, but they called it the same,” he said, “because they thought they had hurt me.”
He claims to have a bruise on his head, attributable to his arrest.
The paramedics came to the scene and left after doing the usual checks with him. Rocky Vautour was then transported by the RCMP to the Richibucto detachment.
He was questioned and released by the police. He believes charges have been filed against him and he will have to appear in court at a later date.
However, it was not possible to verify what accusations were made against the rebel’s son. The RCMP explained to Acadie Nouvelle that it was “an assistance agency only for the transportation of the individual.”
The police force invited us to contact Parks Canada which, according to the RCMP, is the organization responsible for the investigation and the arrest.
Monday evening, Parks Canada told us by email that it was working on our request and that it would respond “as soon as possible”.
Since April 11, 2023, the date Parks Canada carried out an operation aimed at moving the Vautour family’s belongings outside the park boundaries, Rocky Vautour no longer lives on the site where his father had settled, but he returns there often.
“We have to keep this going because these are our lands,” he claimed, as an indigenous descendant.
