Ethnic Cleansing of the Mi kmac and Acadians- These were raiders who excelled at surprise assaults, brutal, efficient killing. This heartbreak preceded the expulsion of the Acadians known as “Le grand derangement”. It was deranged, disordered, men driven mad by the greed for money and old fears: a sort of historical madness. People slipped quietly away through the woods and canoed hundreds of miles to safety. Disease, starvation tracked them down in this ethnic cleansing. By the 1850s less than 1,500 Mi’kmaq were left in Nova Scotia. The Mi’kmaq now number 25,070 individuals — two per cent of the total Nova Scotia population. Once all of Nova Scotia was theirs and they travelled great distances through the Martimes and beyond. They used the resources of the Province and many Nova Scotia places names are from the Mi’qmak (Whycocomagh, Eskasoni, Chéticamp, Antigonish, Shubenacadie, Cobequid Bay, Musquodoboit Harbour, Memracook, etc). Mi’kmaq First Nations now occupy only 26,000 acres on reserves, but are found through the Maritimes in urban centres and cities and elsewhere in Canada (Province of Nova Scotia, MI’KMAQ CULTURE). Selections from the public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia: ¨ We do hereby authorize and command all officers civil and military, to annoy, distress, take or destroy the savages commonly called Mic-macks wherever they are found; and we further by and with the consent and advice of His Majesty`s council do promise a reward of ten guineas for every Indian, Mic-Mack , taken or killed to be paid upon producing such savage or his scalp if killed, to the officers commanding at Halifax, Annapolis Royal, or Minas. (Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, 582; Beamish 1866, 163). And the violence went on: in 1758 the British deported all the Acadians they could find and killed any Mi’kmaq they could lay hands on. Families shattered and scattered like leaves in a November gale. There was fighting all along the frontiers. Another Doucet voyageur was killed serving avec les bateaux for the French in April 1758 in George Washington’s successful assault on Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). (Joanne Doucette)
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 04:57:22 +0000