| Treaty of 1752 | |
|---|---|
| Canada | |
 Monument to the Treaty of 1752 | |
| For the Treaty of 1752 | |
| Location | near |
The Treaty of 1752 was a treaty signed between the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia and the governor of Nova Scotia on 22 November 1752 during Father Le Loutre's War. The treaty was created by Governor Peregrine Hopson and signed by Jean-Baptiste Cope. [1]
In 1928, Mr. Gabriel Sylliboy was the first to invoke the Treaty of 1752 in the courts (R. v. Sylliboy). He was Mi’kmaq Grand Chief. He was charged in Inverness County, Cape Breton, with possession of muskrat and fox pelts, in violation of the provincial Lands and Forests Act. The judge claimed that the 1752 treaty only applied to a small band of Mi’kmaq at Shubenacadie, located in central Nova Scotia, and therefore did not apply to Syliboy who was from the Whycocomagh Reserve in Cape Breton. [2]
In 1985, Mr. Simon from Shubenacadie invoked the Treaty of 1752 in the courts (R. v. Simon). The courts reported that the treaty protected hunting rights for those from Shubenacadie. The court also indicated that there was not enough evidence uncovered at that time to determine if the treaty was terminated by subsequent hostilities. [3] The court did not countenance any aboriginal rights to hunt and fish commercially. [4]
In August 1993, in Antigonish, Donald Marshall, Jr. (who was from Cape Breton) caught 463 pounds of eels and sold them for $800 as part of a commercial fishery. He was violating federal laws by fishing without a licence in a closed season with illegal nets. Initially, Marshall's lawyer relied solely on the Treaty of 1752. [4]
The Crown's expert historian Stephen Patterson dismantled the validity of the Treaty of 1752 that was used to support Marshall's case. Dr. Patterson indicated that the treaty did not apply to Mi’kmaq people outside of Shubenacadie and that the treaty was terminated by subsequent hostilities. (Chief Cope renounced and destroyed the Treaty himself six months after signing it.) [5] [6] Marshall's lawyers abandoned his reliance upon the Treaty of 1752, and switched his focus to the Halifax Treaties of 1760-61. [5] [7]
A significant provincial reconciliation event took place February 16, 2017. The Province of Nova Scotia granted the late Grand Chief Gabriel Sylliboy a posthumous free pardon. A free pardon, which recognizes that a conviction was made in error, considered “only in the rarest of circumstances,” marked just the second posthumously granted free pardon by the province of Nova Scotia. Lieutenant Governor J.J. Grant said that Sylliboy was pursuing his “aboriginal and treaty rights” and called the pardon “a process of treaty education,” which included “understanding and valuing what the Mi’kmaq have contributed in shaping this province and nation.” [8]
The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.
Country Harbour is a rural community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community is situated on a large deep natural harbour of the same name and is located along the province's Eastern Shore close to Canso, Nova Scotia.
Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing or Suckerfish script was a writing system for the Miꞌkmaw language, later superseded by various Latin scripts which are currently in use. Mi'kmaw are a Canadian First Nation whose homeland, called Mi'kma'ki, overlaps much of the Maritime provinces, specifically all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Indian Brook 14 is a Mi'kmaq reserve located in Hants County, Nova Scotia. In the 2016 Census, the reserve has 1,089 residents.
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Barrington of Shelburne County.
Villagedale is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Barrington of Shelburne County.
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories. The three primary destinations were: the west side of the Mesagoueche River in the Chignecto region, Isle Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. The leader of the Exodus was Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre, whom the British gave the code name "Moses". Le Loutre acted in conjunction with Governor of New France, Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, who encouraged the Acadian migration. A prominent Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier. The overall upheaval of the early 1750s in Nova Scotia was unprecedented. Present-day Atlantic Canada witnessed more population movements, more fortification construction, and more troop allocations than ever before in the region. The greatest immigration of the Acadians between 1749 and 1755 took place in 1750. Primarily due to natural disasters and British raids, the Exodus proved to be unsustainable when Acadians tried to develop communities in the French territories.
Jean Baptiste Cope was also known as Major Cope, a title he was probably given from the French military, the highest rank given to Mi’kmaq. Cope was the sakamaw (chief) of the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. He maintained close ties with the Acadians along the Bay of Fundy, speaking French and being Catholic. During Father Le Loutre’s War, Cope participated in both military efforts to resist the British and also efforts to create peace with the British. During the French and Indian War he was at Miramichi, New Brunswick, where he is presumed to have died during the war. Cope is perhaps best known for signing the Treaty of 1752 with the British, which was upheld in the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985 and is celebrated every year along with other treaties on Treaty Day.
The attack at Mocodome was a battle which occurred during Father Le Loutre's War in present-day Country Harbour, Nova Scotia on February 21, 1753 which saw two British mariners and six Mi'kmaq killed. The battle ended any hope for the survival of the Treaty of 1752 signed by Governor Peregrine Hopson and Mi'kmaq chief Jean-Baptiste Cope.
Daniel Nicholas Paul,, was a Canadian Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul was perhaps best known as the author of the book We Were Not the Savages. Paul asserts that this book is the first such history ever written by a First Nations citizen. The book is seen as an important contribution to the North American Indian movement. One writer stated, "It's a Canadian version of Dee Brown's bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and, as such, served a valuable purpose in raising public consciousness about Miꞌkmaq history, identity, and culture."
The Burying the Hatchet ceremony happened in Nova Scotia on June 25, 1761 and was one of many such ceremonies in which the Halifax Treaties were signed. The treaties ended a protracted period of warfare which had lasted more than 75 years and encompassed six wars between the Mi'kmaq people and the British. The Burying the Hatchet ceremonies and the treaties that they commemorated created an enduring peace and a commitment to obey the rule of law.
The Attack at Jeddore happened on May 19, 1753, off Jeddore, Nova Scotia, during Father Le Loutre's War. The Mi'kmaq killed nine of the British delegates and spared the life of the French-speaking translator Anthony Casteel, who wrote one of the few captivity narratives that exist from Acadia and Nova Scotia.
Treaty Day is celebrated by Nova Scotians annually on October 1 in recognition of the Treaties signed between the British Empire and the Mi'kmaq people. The first treaty was signed in 1725 after Father Rale's War. The final Halifax Treaties of 1760–61, marked the end of 75 years of regular warfare between the Mi'kmaq and the British. The treaty making process of 1760–61, ended with the Halifax Treaties (1760–61).
Gabriel Sylliboy was the first Mi'kmaq elected as Grand Chief (1919) and the first to fight for the recognition by the state of Canada of the treaties between the government and the First Nations people.
The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.
The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School operated as part of Canadian Indian residential school system in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia between 1930 and 1967. It was the only one in the Maritimes. The schools were funded by the federal Department of Indian Affairs. The derelict building was destroyed by fire in 1986 and subsequently demolished.
The Cape Sable campaign occurred in the fall of 1758 during the French and Indian War. The British sought to neutralize Acadian support for the French by deporting them. Colonel Roger Morris led a force of 325 British soldiers, aided by Captain Joseph Gorham with 60 rangers and Rogers' Rangers, to destroy the Acadian settlements in present-day Shelburne County and Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Peace and Friendship Treaties were a series of written documents that Britain signed bearing the Authority of Great Britain between 1725 and 1779 with various Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy peoples living in parts of what are now the Maritimes and Gaspé region in Canada and the northeastern United States. Primarily negotiated to reaffirm the peace after periods of war and to facilitate trade, these treaties remain in effect to this day.
Benjamin Kji Saqamaw Sylliboy was a Grand Chief of the Miꞌkmaq who lived at the We’koqma’q First Nation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. He served as Grand Chief for 25 years from 1992 until his death in 2017.
Alexander Denny, otherwise known as Kji-keptin Alex Denny of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, both a founding member and two-term president of the UNSI, was most prominently known for the role he played in the ongoing battle for recognition of Mi'kmaq treaties and Aboriginal rights. Born to the Eskasoni First Nation and raised by two elders in the community, Denny was taught the importance of Mi'kmaq treaties from a young age. His passion for and knowledge of his community ultimately led Denny to be credited with attaining linguistic and political rights for the Mi'kmaq Nation at an international level. Additionally, It was Denny and the UNSI that organized the very first Treaty Day.
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