Avon River Heritage Society
  • About
    • Avon River Heritage Society
    • Artifacts & Archives
    • The Avon River
    • Meet the People in our Neighbourhood >
      • Dawn Allen, August 21st, 2020
      • Sara Beanlands, July 22nd, 2021
      • Carolyn Connors, July 30th, 2020
      • Carolyn Connors, July 21st, 2021
      • Louis Countinho, August 13th, 2020
      • Sean Countinho, January 13th, 2021
      • Eva Evans, July 24th, 2020
      • Elizabeth Ferguson, July 27th, 2020
      • Nicholas Hughes, August 6th, 2020
      • Olwynn Hughes, August 11th, 2020
      • Kim Lake, January 18th & 21st, 2021
      • Trudy Lake, March 13th, 2022
      • Raymond Parker, August 12th, 2020
      • Raymond Parker, July 7th, 2021
      • Zacchary Paul, August 21st, 2021
      • Tacha Reed, August 27th, 2020
      • Allen Shaw, January 18th, 2021
      • Carolyn vanGurp, July 16th, 2020
      • Abraham Zebian, August 24th, 2020
    • Avondale Walking Tour
    • Fundraising
    • Book an Appointment
  • History
    • Natural History >
      • Highest Tides in the World
      • Tidal Bore
      • Avon Peninsula Ecology
      • Birds of the Avon
      • Marine and Freshwater Species of the Avon
      • Karst Environment
      • Gypsum
      • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society >
        • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society, Interview with President, Raymond Parker
    • Mi'kmaq >
      • Mi'kmaq Birch Bark Canoes
      • Mi'kmaq of the Avon River >
        • Treaty Truckhouse 2 & Zacchary Paul
    • The Coming of the Europeans
    • The North American Colonies
    • Acadians >
      • Pisiquit
      • Acadians of the Avon River
      • Village Thibodeau (Poplar Grove)
      • Acadian Families After Expulsion
    • New England Planters >
      • New England Planters in Avondale >
        • Genealogy
        • James and Lydia Mosher
    • Loyalists
    • African Nova Scotians
    • Local Home Histories >
      • 28 Chip Hill Road
      • 51 Avondale Road
      • 38 Avondale Road: The Clifford Mosher House
      • 58 Avondale Road
      • 60 Avondale Cross Road
      • 71 Avondale Road: The John A. Harvie House
      • 354 Belmont Road: The Yellow House
      • 603 Belmont Road: Wallace Point
      • 801 Avondale Road
      • The Acadia House
      • The Avondale Church
      • The Avondale Parsonage
      • The Church Farm
      • The Fred Robart House
      • The Henry Lyon House
      • The House Across From The Church
      • The John E.F. Mosher House
      • The Knowles Homestead
      • The Mounce Mansions >
        • Captain George R. Mounce House
        • The Thomas A. Mounce House (Honeymoon House) >
          • Interior of the Honeymoon House
      • The Mrs. Dunham Hotel
      • The Old Newton Mosher House
      • The Old Stone House >
        • The Mystery of the Fieldstone House
      • The Roley Mosher House
      • The W.H. Mosher House
    • The Avondale School
    • Golden Age of Sail >
      • The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Sail in Newport
      • The Mosher Shipyards
      • Sailing Ships, Sugar, and Salt
      • Vessels of the Avon River
      • Shipbuilding Process
      • Shipbuilding Tools
      • Ship Directories
      • The Avon Spirit
      • Kings Wharf
      • The Hamburg >
        • Obituary Capt. Andrew B. Coldwell
        • The Hamburg and Alice Coalfleet’s Diary
      • Captain George Richard Mounce Sr
      • Annie Armstrong Mounce Correspondence 1875-1892
      • Captain Daniel William Dexter & The Emma Payzant >
        • Captain Daniel William Dexter and Family, Interview with Debbie Siler, July 21st, 2021
        • Diary of Sarah Dexter, 1892-1893
      • The Rotundus
    • Avondale Wharf & The Landing
    • Community Orchard
    • Edmund McCarthy
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Great Little Art Show >
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2023
    • Artists Landing Art Gallery
    • Open Studio at the Museum
    • Full Circle Festival >
      • Sofa Sundays
      • Solstice Market
    • Avondale Wharf Day
    • Honey Harvest Festival
    • Yoga with Linda McLean
  • Events Calendar
  • Planters Sea Chest Gift Shop
  • Lydia & Sally Cafe
  • Rentals
  • Volunteer and Employment Opportunities
  • How to find us!

Mi'kmaq of the Avon River

Picture
“Mi'kmaq” comes from a word meaning my friends; the original name for the Mi’kmaq was Lnu'k , meaning the people. Mi'kmaq and their ancestors, Sagiwe’k L’nuk (Ancient Ones), are the founding people of Nova Scotia and have been here for over 13,500 years. Before European contact, Mi’kmaq settled along all 42 principal rivers in this province, including the Avon River and its tributaries. The Avon River was part of an important portage route used by thousands of Mi'kmaq who travelled along the St. Croix River and Panuke Lake to cross the province.

Mi’kmaq spirituality and way of life has been based on respectful and sustainable use of natural resources. Mi’kmaq usually lived along rivers, spent summers along the coast, and winters inland to hunt. Up to 90% of food came from river and sea areas. Extremely skilled in hunting, and fishing, Mi’kmaq were able to carve out a relatively comfortable life until the arrival of Europeans. Mi’kmaq believed that Kluskap created the features of the land and taught them how to make earthenware, knowledge of good and evil, fire, tobacco, fishing nets, and canoes. The home of Kluskap is said to be Cape Blomidon, visible from the hills around this museum.

The Mi’kmaq Grand Council (Sante’ Mawio’mi) has been the traditional government, comprised of a Grand Chief (Kji Sagamaw), captains (kji’keptan) from each district, and wampum readers (putu’s) who maintain treaty and traditional laws. In the past, soldiers (smagn’is), who protected the people, also sat on the council. Leadership has been based on prestige rather than power. Consent of all, generally through a talking circle, has been the key to a peaceful existence.

Mi’kmaq traded with Europeans for centuries, providing them with the knowledge and resources needed to survive here, although the presence of colonial Europeans changed traditional Mi’kmaq lifestyle. Mi’kmaq, who respected others’ beliefs as well as their own, welcomed Catholicism into their lives and befriended the French at Port Royal in 1605. Marriage between Mi’kmaq and French or Acadians was common and each adapted to customs of the other. 

Relations between Mi’kmaq and the British differed, especially after the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which did not consider Mi’kmaq tenure on the land. Peace and Friendship treaties negotiated between the Mi’kmaq and British between 1726 and 1761 did, however, recognize Mi’kmaq title and established rules for an ongoing relationship between nations. The Mi’kmaq did not surrender or cede rights to the land, and the treaties are still valid today.  
​

Mi’kmaq remained as autonomous people trying to accommodate the Europeans and adjust to the challenges they presented; however, the arrival of greater numbers of settlers created pressures on the Mi'kmaq. It’s estimated that by the 1700s, about three-quarters of the Mi’kmaq population was lost due to introduction of European diseases. A 1763 census, done just after arrival of the Planters, lists 51 Mi’kmaq, members of Nocoot (Knockwood), Segona, Briskarone, Thoma, and Michel  families along the Kennetcook River.
​

The British tried to justify appropriation of Mi’kmaq lands by arguing that they did not cultivate or parcel the lands, that the land was “empty”.

​From 1801 until the 1950s, Mi’kmaq were relocated to reserves, and, over time, much of the allocated reserve land was taken from them. In 1820, Shubenacadie (Sipekne'katik ) or Indian Brook Reserve was established as part of the attempted forced relocation. Today Sipekne'katik is the second largest Mi’kmaq band in Nova Scotia. 


By 1855 all traditional Indigenous ceremonies were declared illegal.  The 1876 “Indian Act” removed powers of self-determination and free movement; citizenship and voting rights were denied until 1961. In 1892, Indigenous children were referred to as “inmates” at Residential Schools. Attendance at these schools was mandatory for children 7 to 15 years of age, and parents were threatened with imprisonment if they did not send their children to the schools, which were designed to obliterate Indigenous culture. Nocoot descendent Isabelle Knockwood describes the conditions at the Shubencadie Residential School in her book, Out of the Depths. 

Despite the pressures placed on them, Mi’kmaq resistance led to only about half the population being relocated to reserves. Today about 3% of Nova Scotia’s population is Mi’kmaq. There are 42 reserve locations and 13 Mi’kmaw communities in Nova Scotia, the largest being Eskasoni and Sipekne’katik. Up to 50% of Mi’kmaq now live in urban areas.

As recommended by the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, we support the renewal of treaty relationships based on mutual recognition and respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future. We are grateful for today’s work by Mi’kmaq who are protecting the waters of our rivers and Bay of Fundy from environmental harm and for the contributions of earlier Mi’kmaq who welcomed European settlers to their land and provided them with the knowledge and  support they needed to survive. We recognize that this museum sits on unceded Mi’kmaq territory. 
We are all treaty people.


Picture
Avon River Heritage Society Museum, 17 Belmont Road, Avondale/Newport Landing, Hants County, Nova Scotia, B0N 2A0
Email us at infoavonriver@gmail.com
Telephone us, May through October, at (902) 757-1718