Expected to Get More Independence : Future Clouded for French Islands Off Canada

Fishery workers ran the governor out of town. A cod war rages with Canada. And now voting in Paris clouds the future of this tiny piece of France in North America.

Symbolically, these barren rocks are the last of a French empire that once stretched to Louisiana. They are also the basis for French claims to vast waters which may contain rich offshore oil reserves.

But half the jobs are in government. Subsidies weigh heavily on a Socialist government reluctant to be seen as imperialist. When irate workers expelled Prefect (Gov.) Gerard Lefebvre Feb. 27, gendarmes did not intervene.

“Anyone can do anything here now,” grumbled a self-employed St. Pierrean, who feared reprisals if identified. “With the ‘Change,’ it will be worse.”

The islands are an overseas department (state) of France, as French as Corsica. The Change, requested by local leaders, would make them a “territorial collective.” French legislators are expected to make it official this spring.

Unofficial Backing

Islanders backed the Change in an unofficial vote of roughly 1,400 to 800, but few seem to know why.

“Most people just went along with the elected leaders,” said the businessman. “What it means is that local politicians can thumb their noses at France and do what they want.”

Advocates say that by dropping out of the European Common Market, the islands can deal more freely with the dollar zone around them. That could spur the economy, stagnant for 50 years since the repeal of U.S. Prohibition put rum runners out of business.

But critics say the Change pushes back further the French hand that feeds them. Except for nine British intrusions, the islands have been French since Jacques Cartier found them in 1535, and residents fiercely defend their citizenship.

“This in no way means a lessening of our commitment,” said Georges Lemoine, minister of overseas territories, in a recent interview in Paris. “These are 6,000 people who want to stay French, and the cost involved is not relevant. A status change will help their business.”

Disputes With Canada

But Louis Hardy, Chamber of Commerce president, said: “I don’t expect any improvement. What we need is for French authorities to settle our disputes with Canada.”

France claims a 200-mile territory limit around the islands in the mouth of St. Lawrence River, 15 miles from Newfoundland in places. The French seek sovereignty over fishing zones and the right to prospect for oil.

Canada has agreed to fishing quotas within carefully chartered zones but insists that France’s rights extend only to 12 miles. Canadians have yet to approve a French factory trawler, the Bretagne, in service since October.

Negotiations continue, but neither side predicts a settlement soon.

“Canada accepts St. Pierre and Miquelon, but differences over the 200-mile limit and fishing poisons our relations in general,” remarked a French diplomat in Canada, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Hardy said, “We are a foreign power in their midst, and we bother them. Canada is not Argentina, and they will not invade like in the Falkland Islands, but they have other ways of pressuring us.”

Yves Robert, director of the private fishery, Interpeche, the islands’ sole industry, said Canada’s long-term goal was to force all foreign fishing boats out of its waters.

‘We Cannot Survive’

“Without sovereignty over our waters, we cannot survive,” Robert added. “And without fishing, St. Pierre would be a vegetable, an administrative nonentity.”

He said Interpeche was barely breaking even now, and the smallest problem could make the operation unprofitable. One example, he said, was the fight over the prefect.

Interpeche workers claim the right to unload the Bretagne. But dockers say processed fish is general cargo, and it is their domain. The dockers struck. When Lefebvre did not back them firmly, the Interpeche workers seized him in his office and marched him to his own boat.

“I think this reflects the way the prefect could not take firm action,” said Sen. Marc Plantegenest, the island’s political leader as president of the General Council. “But it is true, we must put a little order in the boutique.”

The “boutique” includes St. Pierre, a cluster of brightly painted wood frame buildings housing 5,300 inhabitants, and Miquelon, a larger island to the north with 700 people. Nearly everyone’s roots go back to Normandy, Brittany or the Basque country.

Politics are tumultuous, but life is peaceful and neighborly. Residents still talk about the century’s one murder--a Basque was stabbed 12 times three years ago. Storekeepers routinely send customers to competitors if they cannot provide what is required.

Even when the summer fog lifts, or if the runway is not frozen, France is two days away via connecting flight through Halifax, Nova Scotia, or St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The sauces and croissants are French, but St. Pierre boasts the world’s oldest Ford automobile agency, with sales and service since 1919.