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As I was getting back into my car after seeing the church I noticed part of the wooden wall of this place so I got out and took a few shots. It seemed that it may not not used now and I could only find information on its opening and no more.

Official opening of Fort Listuguj, Quebec Saturday, July 12, 1997

Allow me to congratulate Joseph Gray and everyone involved in the Fort Listuguj project. I salute the representatives of the Quebec and Canadian governments. I thank all those who contributed to this successful undertaking.

We are here to celebrate an opening in more than one sense. We are marking the inauguration of a major tourist attraction, but also the opening of doors between our country's different cultures.

When we think of a fort, usually we think of palisades and cannons and fighting off the enemy.

But this will be a fort of friendship. At Fort Listuguj, visitors can share Native foods, crafts, and dances. They can share the lives of the First Peoples, who have lived in this land more than ten thousand years.

Since I became Governor General, I have encouraged personal contacts between Native and non-Native schools, churches, and children's groups.

Today, as Chief Scout of Canada, I am proud that La Fédération des Scouts de l'Atlantique has taken up that challenge. Through exchanges, young Acadians and young Native persons from this reserve will learn from one another.

Besides opening doors between cultures, Fort Listuguj will open the doors of history. It will take us back in time to see French soldiers, Native people, settlers, missionaries, Acadians and others from that era.

Too often, we forget that the Native people helped the early settlers, both French and English, and saved the first Acadian colonists from the ravages of that terrible disease, scurvy.

More than two centuries after the Battle of the Restigouche, we the Acadians recognize the obvious. We are lucky to live in one of the world's best countries, and to share in building its future.

But for the Native peoples, in many cases the old realities still prevail. When one is isolated and out of the mainstream, progress at times seems impossible. But it can take place; it must; and it will.

Even though the Acadians were the victims of wars of the past, they have come back. Up to now, however, history has been less kind to the Native peoples.

We all have a duty to strive for greater co-operation and understanding between the First Nations and the rest of Canada.

And in this sense, Joseph Gray and his colleagues have built not a fort, but a bridge.