AFTER THE MOVE
Session will examine how Membertou got to its present location.
There are stories galore about Membertou and Jeff Ward is determined that they be heard and shared.
“Why Dr. Peter Christmas told me the story of his dad who was born in a wigwam in Donkin Mines … those were our summer homes,” said Ward. “We had summer homes and winter homes — I always tell the story there was no such thing as nomadic — we had summer homes and we had winter homes. We invented that concept. People don’t realize that.”
Ward is the general manager of the Membertou Heritage Centre and one of the organizers of a project that will look at Membertou, which has existed at its present location since 1926, in an upcoming book, video and theatre piece.
It will begin Wednesday at the Membertou Heritage Centre during morning and afternoon community engagement sessions that will hear from residents about how the move from the Kings Road Reserve to the present location of Membertou impacted their lives and family histories.
Ward says it will be the community’s chance to share their stories for a project that will be further examined through a play, video and book.
“Our objective is commemorating 100 years from the move from Kings Road to what is currently known as Membertou,” said Ward, who will be supervising the theatre script project. “This is the day of conversation, sharing, telling stories with the focus of giving members of the community the opportunity to voice their opinion, thoughts and concerns as material is collected, detailing the community’s experiences and coming together to be of crucial importance to determine the direction, intent and concept of the script and eventually fully stage a theatrical production.”
Theatre professional Robyn Cathcart will be involved in the script production and will be among those taking part in the Wednesday session. The script is expected later this year.
Adam Gould will supervise the project’s upcoming book and Jenna Chisholm will supervise the video.
Although home to more than 1,300 people today in its location off Alexandra Street in Sydney, at one time the community was located on Kings Road and was known as the Kings Road Reserve.
In 1916, the Exchequer Court of Canada ordered the relocation of the 125 Mi’kmaq who lived there and in 1926, the Membertou community was officially moved to its present location. It was the first time an aboriginal community had
“With the concept of centralization, they took everyone from all their communities and put them in Eskasoni – some stayed but a lot of them trickled back to Whycocomagh, Nyanza, Wagmatcook, Membertou, Potlodek, they went back.”
Jeff Ward
been legally forced through the courts to move.
Like any move that wasn’t wanted, there were repercussions, changes and adjustments to be made and Cathcart wants to know how the community feels about it and what should be incorporated into an eventual script.
Ward says many people probably don’t even know how the move came about.
“People don’t realize the exchequer court had made a decision to have us relocated. Mind you, every community faced relocation — every community did and even Eskasoni is what they call centralization,” said Ward. “With the concept of centralization, they took everyone from all their communities and put them in Eskasoni — some stayed but a lot of them trickled back to Whycocomagh, Nyanza, Wagmatcook, Membertou, Potlodek, they went back.”
The various parts of the project should clear up many misconceptions, added Ward.