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Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island
Artist: Laurie Ann Marie MartinPublisher: Acorn Press$16.95The Mi’kmaq people have been here since the ice began to melt over this great land. They learned the medicines in nature to keep them healthy and they hunted the animals of the land and fished the waters of the sea. During the summer months they would gather in large community groups to celebrate, dance and sing. When the cold winds started to blow, they would go off in their own little family units to survive the winter. It was a hard life and it was always a struggle to make it through the long cold winters. One thing is certain, at night, by the campfire under the stars those families would tell stories, stories about who they were, where they came from, and all the lessons they needed to learn about life. Those stories passed on traditions, songs, language and the culture of the Mi’kmaq people.
Here we present to you just a couple of those stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Hear them, learn from them, experience them, but most of all enjoy them!
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Mi’kmaw Grammar of Father Pacifique
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95First published (1939), as Leçons grammaticales théoriques et pratiques de la langue micmaque of Rev. Father Pacifique Buisson, The Mi’kmaw Grammar of Father Pacifique is a vast and important collection of information on the Mi’kmaw language. It represents a tradition of Mi’kmaw grammatical studies by missionary priests that spans more than 200 years, from the days of abbé Pierre Maillard (ca. 1710-1762), to Father Pacifique, who, although he intended his grammar to be a guide to other priests who wanted to learn Mi’kmaw, seems to have been the last priest to speak the language fluently.
The purpose of updating the orthography is, of course, to give the reader who does not know the language exact information on the pronunciation of each Mi’kmaw word. This was not an important goal for Pacifique, since he recommends, in the original, that the pronunciation should be obtained from a native speaker. Now that the language has been lost from many communities so that native speakers are not as available as they once were, it has become crucially important to use the new, exact, orthography, so that the written word can be used to convey as much information as possible on the accepted pronunciations.
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Stubborn Resistance
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95When New Brunswick became its own colony in 1784, the government concluded several peace treaties with the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet in the territory that protected First Nations lands. But as settlers, loyalists, and disbanded soldiers moved into New Brunswick, they moved onto the reserves, often without official sanction. This squatter problem led the New Brunswick government to pass an act in 1844 that allowed them to sell reserve land. Author Brian Cuthbertson explores the history of the defense of reserve lands by the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq of New Brunswick, from eighteenth-century peace treaties to the present. With reference to the 1844 act, Cuthbertson examines the legality of the sale of reserve lands using specific cases from Buctouche, Red Bank, Tobique, and Burnt Church and Eel Ground. Includes 60 images, including maps and contemporary paintings and sketches.
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Ancient Land, New Land
Publisher: Acorn Press$24.95The Mi’kmaq have inhabited Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island) for millennia. At this site, known in Mi’kmaq as Skmaqn, or “waiting place,” the Mi’kmaq met the French in the 18th century to renew their friendship and military alliance at a time when the French and British empires were fighting for supremacy in North America.
As Europeans settled on what had become to be known as Isle Saint Jean, the major European players were France and Great Britain, each of whom started constructing forts and sending soldiers, warships and settlers. A key strategy of the French was to establish a close alliance with the Mi’kmaq, one that was maintained by missionaries. Thus Skmaqn became the French fort Port-la-Joye. The French saw it as the most strategic location as its harbour was large, sheltered, and easy to defend because of the narrow entrance through which any enemy ships would have to pass.
One of the first permanent French settlements on the island, Port-la-Joye was the seat of colonial government and a port of entry. This site was surrendered to Great Britain in 1758 and renamed Fort Amherst, the British organized the deportation of more than 3,000 Acadians.
