The Relationship between the Mi’kmaw People and the Fisheries: A Historical Perspective Part IV
As an Archivist and a Historian, I would like to raise awareness of the historical context of Mi’kmaw fisheries in Mi’kma’ki. I hope this will create a better understanding of Treaties, and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Settlers.
The following is a narrative that has been constructed from primary and secondary written historical sources. It should be noted that some of these sources are colonial in nature and offer only one (sometimes biased) perspective that is not told directly from the perspective of the Mi’kmaw people. That said, written documentation, despite their biases, can be sources of valuable information, particularly with regards to Mi’kmawsettler relations. They can also offer insight on Mi’kmaw cultural landscapes and how these changed drastically following the settlement of European colonies.
Since the land allotted to reservations was considered inadequate by the Mi’kmaq, the government struggled to encourage them to “settle” on the reserves.
Incentives, such as blankets, crops, agricultural tools, and other forms of assistance were offered.
In addition to the reserves, the government established day schools and residential schools. In order to secure attendance of schools, a condition (bribe) was enforced so that if Mi’kmaq did not send their children to school, they would lose any amount of assistance they had been receiving from the government.
Acts passed during the nineteenth century reveal the agenda of the government simply in the titles alone: “An Act to Encourage the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes of this Province, and to Amend the Laws Respecting Indians” (1857), “An Act for the Gradual Enfranchisement of Indians, the Better Management of Indian Affairs, and to Extend the Provisions of the Act 13st Victoria, Chapter 42” (1869).
Evidently, the government’s interests lie in the assimilation of Mi’kmaq by forcing them to become “sedentary” rather than transient. In the eyes of Settlers, European ways of life that involve settlements and the cultivation of land were “civilized.” Therefore, because Mi’kmaw cultural practices were different, Settlers saw them as “uncivilized.”
In addition to governmental strategies for re-moving Mi’kmaq to reservations, the Mi’kmaw people faced even more barriers during the nineteenth century. As waterways became essential to the Settler economy, the impact of economic development on the Mi’kmaq fisheries was detrimental. A report on Indian Affairs by Abraham Gesner in 1847 demonstrates the negative impact: “The erection of dams across the rivers have destroyed some of the best salmon and alewive fisheries in the province. The best shore fisheries are occupied by white inhabitants, from which the Indian is sometimes driven by force.”
By the mid 1800s, the development and exponential growth of industries such as mining and lumbering had a dramatic impact on the ability of the Mi’kmaq to fish.
Dams, log drives, and sawdust hindered fish populations, destroyed Mi’kmaw weirs, and prevented fish from swimming upstream beyond dams and blockages.
This was critical for fish spawning and reproduction. Development of industry had taken its toll on the waterways. One year after Gesner’s report, an “Act for the Regulation of the Salmon Fisheries in the Rivers of this Province” was passed.
And while on the surface, it sounds like it would have been beneficial to the Mi’kmaq, the act made it illegal to “fish by spearing or sweeping,” creating additional barriers to traditional fishing practices with spears and nets.
The importance of access to fishing is obvious in many of the petitions that continued to be sent to the government by the Mi’kmaq in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Petitions by the Mi’kmaq explicitly state that the fishing industry had been harmed by Settlers from blockages and pollution in the waterways. For example, on March 3, 1853 Peter Paul petitioned the government asking for assistance.
He states that he was given just one blanket for him, his wife, and six children to share for warmth during the winter. In addition, he mourns the loss of hunting and fishing grounds and notes the dramatic changes his people have endured.
Asking for compassion, he states: “God gave us the woods, the rivers, and the seas, the Lord gave our fathers all these lands, our hunting and fishing grounds, God blessed us and we were an happy, great nation.” He continues, “white man have them now, he take them away, first not so much then [our] hunting and fishing ground.”
The petitions demonstrate that the Mi’kmaq were very much aware of the negative impact it had on their people.
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