Native land rights a moving target

Bolger’s book indicates 3,000 to 4,000 native persons lived in Maritimes during this period

(A response to the article, Exact numbers not important, Feb. 21. 2018.)

The discussion of native land rights on P.E.I. began with the op ed piece by John Joe Sark on Jan. 25 in which he provided an explanation of the term unceded lands, in the context of the Mill River dispute.

In my response, I noted that the subject of aboriginal land rights on P.E.I. is more complicated than his article indicates. In those and subsequent discussions in this newspaper both John Joe and I, have I believe, attempted to provide an honest assessment of the available facts pertaining to the subject.

Unfortunately, Prof. McKenna appears to have taken a different approach, putting up smokescreens to unnecessarily confuse the reader on this important subject. His derogatory remarks on my knowledge of the subject are also not helpful.

Exact counts of numbers of the Island’s native population in the 18th century are not available but the highly speculative numbers McKenna cites (up to possibly 200,000) presumably refer to the whole Mi’kmaw region, an area stretching from central Maine to Cape Breton. In sharp contrast, Rev. Bolger’s seminal work “A History of P.E.I.” indicates that only 3,000 to 4,000 native persons at most, lived throughout the Maritimes in this period.

McKenna also appears to have overlooked the statement by L.F.S Upton (whose work he cites), in his piece “The Micmacs in Colonial P.E.I.” in Acadiensis, that there were about 300 natives living on P.E.I. then. Upton also notes that the population of Lennox Island, which was provided as a home for the Island’s native population, was no more than “two or three families” in the early 19th century.

Admittedly many native families were reluctant to move to that island, but this is indicative of the small numbers involved. Lt.-Gov. Fitzroy in 1838 stated that their numbers did not exceed 200, disputing the local tribe’s estimate of 500. So by all these accounts the numbers involved were small, and certainly were nowhere near the extraordinary numbers cited by McKenna.

With the acquisition of Ile St. Jean by the Treaty of Paris 1763, the British under King George III sent Samuel Holland to survey the Island to be divided into lots for distribution to British gentry and subsequent settlement as a farming community by indentured servants from the old country.

Perhaps, because of the small numbers involved, or perhaps because the Mi’kmaq had sided with the French in the Seven Years War, there was no recognition by the British of land rights for those natives living on the island. There can be no doubt it was a cruel fate for the local native community.

Rev. Bolger’s book notes that as far back as 1765 the now infamous Col. Cornwallis was told by a Micmac chief, “The land you sleep on is ours. We sprang out of the earth like the trees, the grass and the flowers.”

The recent court decision concerning Williams Lake in B.C. is indicative of the developing case law which is increasingly sympathetic to aboriginal land claims originating from the pre-Confederation period, and supports the basic point in my initial article that this is very much a moving target.