By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer In the foothills of Quebec’s Appalachian Mountains, a woman with Métis heritage is working to return a parcel of land to a nearby First Nation, marking a step toward restoring Indigenous stewardship over ancestral territory. Since 2006, Françoise de Montigny-Pelletier has owned the land at the border of Sainte-Perpétue and Tourville in southern Quebec. She bought it to protect its ecosystems as a tribute to her Indigenous heritage and the former owner who protected the land with the same concern for biodiversity. She doesn’t see it as private property. “We don’t own the land. It’s our mother,” said Montigny-Pelletier, who considers herself a guardian of “Mother Earth.” “I am here to protect it.” For almost two decades, the forested land…
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