Mi’Kmaq:  Cooperation or Competition

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous People before Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Mi’kmaq are among the many First Nations that inhabited the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of the Maritime Provinces including Gaspé and most of the land east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi’gma’gi  (Mi’kma’ki).  Mi’kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi’gma’gi or , since time immemorial (at least 10,000 years) and continue to occupy much of this land including Newfoundland as well as parts of Northern New England as far as Boson.

It would be nice if Canadians and Americans could get rid of their supremacist attitudes. Too often they think they have a monopoly of spiritual and economic insight. If we did that, we could have a true pluralist country, where all types, or races, or cultures were welcomed.  By that I mean a society in which many states, or groups, and principles coexist. For example, including religious pluralists where not one group benefits from claiming it is the fount of all wisdom. That would be a tolerant society. Then we could all benefit from each other’s knowledge and would not feel threatened by it. We would not concern ourselves with delusions of supremacy that we all have. These are delusions which we must learn to avoid.

According to Quenton Condo, speaking on the CBC Gem show, Telling Our Stories,  the treaty of 1752 negotiated by the Mi’Kmaq and the British Crown was according to the Mi’Kmaq intended to make sure that no one would interfere with the Mi’Kmaq way of life. The problem is, according to the Mi’Kmaq, that the non-indigenous people were not taught about the treaties in Canada and now react in anger and hate when they learn what it means. This is a failure of the Canadian educational system, he says.

After all, how much did any of us learn about treaties in school? Frankly, in my case, even in Law School, I learned almost nothing. And treaties are fundamental to learning about Canada. If we know nothing about treaties, we know nothing about Canada!

Although, that is their interpretation, it has the ring of truth as far as I am concerned. Those treaties did not give them the right to hunt. They already had those rights which they inherited from their ancestors. That of course, follows from them being part of the land, which is a fundamental principle to most indigenous peoples in North America and elsewhere.

The Innu territory and Naskapi overlapped as well as Inuit and Cree. As one Innu woman said,

“At the time of our ancestors there were no borders. Our ancestors did not use measuring tapes to say, ‘This is yours,’ and ‘this is mine.’ The territory was shared amongst all the nations. And we shared it well.”

 

She also said that at one time there were plenty of caribou in their territory. Some said there were so many “it moved the mountain.” That would be a lot of caribou.

An unidentified woman on the CBC show said “Nations were intertwined in all aspect of our lives and in our approaches to sharing. This insured the survivals of our peoples.”

I don’t want to suggest that indigenous people of the region were perfect. No one and no people are perfect. Yet stories like this show the truth of those who say, people who live in places where survival is very difficult, like the Canadian north, have found that sharing works best for survival. This is what the traditional knowledge of the people of the region tells us. I can’t argue with this.

As one Anishinaabe man, Andrew “Stitch” Manitowabi, said about his people, “As an Anishinaabe people we don’t go by boundaries. We use the language of speaking Anishinaabe which extends into the United States in the Quebec area and northern Ontario.” This is a very different approach to determining territory.

The Anishinaabe, like most Indigenous people used the language of sharing, not the language of boundaries.

 

Indigenous People of the East Coast: territory and spirituality

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous People before Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

 

 

In and around Rimouski we began our journey into Indigenous territory in eastern Canada. Before the trip to Eastern Canada started, I had been watching a television series on CBC Gem that I found very informative and interesting.  I came to appreciate, as I did not before, and certainly did not appreciate in 1967 when I traveled to Quebec with my buddies, that there are many interesting stories to tell about Indigenous peoples.   And until recently, they were not able to tell those stories themselves. Thanks to this series at least some of those stories have been told.

This film series begins with an admonishment that the stories of the indigenous people who live in eastern Canada, as it is now called, were not told by them but by others. They want us to hear their stories from themselves. Otherwise, we won’t hear the truth. So you will be hearing these stories second hand, from me, but you can go to the series and get the stories straight from them without my interpretation. I do not want to appropriate their stories, but as Niigaan Sinclair, a professor of Indigenous studies, and an Anishinaabe of Manitoba  once told me, I should consider telling my friends what I know because they are unlikely to listen to him or any other indigenous person. So that is what I am doing. But the key point is these are there stories which I have heard.

This series lets them tell those stories so we can understand who they are. And obviously, they wanted to tell their own stories. We should let them do that. We should not stand in their way.

They have been called, savages, Indians, aboriginal, indigenous, First Nations, First Peoples, native Americans, or native Canadians, but as one Innu man said, if you are not sure what to call them, the best thing to do is ask the person you are talking to what is the name of his or her group and he or she can tell you. Use that name.

The various Indigenous Peoples reflected in this CBC documentary are as follows: Innu, Atikamekw, Naskapi, Inuk, Kanien’kehákka, Abenaki, Wolastoqiyik, Anishinaabe, Wendat, Eeyou, and Mi’Kmaq.

The various territories of those people are called: Nadakina (for Abenaki), Mi’Kma’ki (for Mi’Kmaq), Innu (for Nutshimit) Nionwntsïo (for Wendat), Maliseet (for Wolastoqiyik), Nitaskimant (for Atikamekw), Nunavik (for Inuk), (for Kanien’kehákka), Eeyouistchee (for Eeyou), Wiikwemkoong (for the Anishinabe territory). I hope I got these names right.

As one Indigenous person on the series said, here is a fundamental fact:

 

“To understand who we are you need to understand our special relationship with the land. It is an intimate and powerful bond that we want to keep alive.”

 

As was said by the narrator, “Since the time of our ancestors we have always shared our territories between our different peoples.” That is important too. The Indigenous people were always willing to share. They were never militantly exclusive.

Added to that, the Indigenous people who were interviewed, said, “Our territory is our identity. It is impossible to survive without your territory.” As a rule, Indigenous people have an identity that is tied to the land. The people and the land cannot be severed from each other. I don’t think the rest of us can understand anything about the Indigenous People if we don’t understand this fundamental belief.

 

As Stanley Vollant, an Innu physician eloquently explained,

“My story and that of my nation are written within the territory. They are written with its rivers and the toponomy of its lakes. I am the territory and the territory is me. It is a sacred relationship. For us it’s impossible to be indigenous, Innu, without Nitassinan.”

 

As one indigenous young Wendat man, from Wendake, Brad Gros-Louis.  put it:

“At one time, First Nations people lived solely off of harvests. And the meats for which we hunted and fished. The territory served to feed you and your family. Today, for me, being indigenous means being a champion of nature, speaking in the name of animals, speaking in the name of the forest, being a guardian of the sacred, of the territory. What makes a good hunt, is that the moose you kill, the moose that you harvest, you will care for it as if it is your baby. Its meat is the priority. We use every part of the animal. When I go hunting and harvest an animal, I take the time to thank it, I take the time to treat it with respect, to do things properly. Everything around us is alive. Everything around us deserves respect.”

 

As Joséphine Bacon, an elegant Innu woman, from Pessamit said

“When I say Assi in Innu, I see the earth, but if I envision “Nutshimit” I see a lot mor than that. I see everything: the forest, the lakes, the rivers, moss, lichens, the horizon, and the animals that feed me. We do not own the land because Nutshimit takes care of us. It is where our identity lies, where our soul lies.”

 

I have heard others, like Chief Seattle say, “we do not own the land, the land owns us.”

 

Charles Api Bellefleur an Innu from Unamen-shipu said this:

 “the forest ensures our well-being. Look at how beautiful it is [he was standing in Innu territory]. It feels good to be here. I know the name of every tree, birch, aspen, white spruce. I know the legends of this land, the stories which have enfolded here, this is where I feel alive. Its where I still live today.”

 

 

As Matthew Mukash, Eeyou (Cree) from Whapmagoostui, said,

“Every valley, every part of the winding river has a name Every mountain, every hill, every hill has a name here, and those names are for reminding us how our ancestors survived so that we can have life today. The land tells the story of your ancestors.”

 

The connection between the land an ancestors is also considered sacred.

Gaspé Peninsula

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

 

The  Gaspé Peninsula, or Gaspésie, in French is peninsula along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Chaleur Bay, on the south side of the Peninsula separates it from New Brunswick. I don’t know exactly where it starts and ends. The name Gaspé comes from the Mi’kmaq word gespe’g, meaning “end”, referring to the end of the land.

Originally, this was the land of the Mi’kmaq people.  Actually, much of the land we travelled through in eastern Canada—commonly called the Maritimes—was in their territory.  And that is important but too often forgotten by Canadians. Jacques Cartier arrived in Gaspe in 1534 and many people think—wrongly of course—that this is when Canada started. This is a very large area, bigger than Belgium for example. Approximately 140,000 people live there. About 1/10th as many as Manitoba.

Though I don’t know exactly where it began, for me it began after leaving Rimouski and the “people” leaving the St. Lawrence River, looking out for land. This marked the beginning of the Gaspésie for us. It is one of the most interesting areas of Canada in my opinion. It is an area with a great variety of simple, yet elegant homes. They are not ostentatious, but nonetheless beautiful. Simple beauty. Well-tended. These people have heeded the wise words of Bob Dylan, “Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across the road.”  This area, though I had been there before many years ago, was one of the surprises of the trip.

Canada is full of surprises. And not all of them are bad.

It was a lovely ride beside the St. Lawrence River. Of course, sprinkled along the way were a few lighthouses.  The first one was the Cap Chat Lightouse that was completed in 1909. It is not very tall and unlike the fine sculpturing of the lighthouse at Rimouski, this one was a squat square towers built of reinforced concrete with a circular red lantern It is 133 feet (10 metres) above the sea. It has a revolving Fresnel lens built in France and at the time produced a white flash every 3 seconds that was visible for 17 miles. A new dwelling was built for the lighthouse keeper after the original one burned down in 1923.

I learned that during World War II Cap Chat was a staging area for German U-boats who hoped to intercept coal convoys from Cape Breton Island. Because of stratification in the area of fresh and salt water it was difficult for radar to detect them. It is possible to rent the house for overnight  stays. Wow! Life is good. I have slept in a few lighthouse keepers homes over the years and would have loved to stay, but we got here too early to pack it in. Sadly, we had to move on.

Art Emerges from the River

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, art

 

 

 

After leaving the Rimouski harbour, we tried to find a place to eat. This proved difficult as our GPS was flummoxed by something and kept leading us in strange circles. She tried to make us eat at a restaurant that had bit the dust a few years ago, but eventually we found a wonderful restaurant and art gallery for breakfast. The gallery showcases the sculptures of Marcel Gagnon. They are located at Sainte-Flavie, Gaspésie (Gaspe Peninsula).

 

I don’t know what Gagnon was saying with his approximately 100 life-size statues emerging from the St. Lawrence River. The works are collectively called the Le Grand Rassemblement (The Grand Gathering).  Who summoned them? For what purpose did they leave the river? Why were they in river in the first place? I guess it would have been ominous if the people had been walking into the river rather than out. Perhaps it was a movement of liberation like when our ancient ancestors left the sea to live on land. A friend of mine thinks ever since our ancients ancestors left the ocean Homo Sapiens have been doomed. He thinks it was much safer in the sea.  I’m not sure he is right about that.

In any event, the site is a little island of civilization with art on the walls, a little reading corner, great food, and spectacular view of the river and outside, art. Only in Quebec! The art is continually transformed by the river and weather.

 

Sadly, the tide was out so we did not get the best view of the sculptures, but as I keep repeating, ‘you gotta dance with the girl you brung.’

 

 

Unlucky

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

 

Right across the road from the lighthouse in Rimouski is the historic Maritime Museum de la Pointe-au- which houses the RMS Empress a ship that is sort of Canada’s Titanic. That vessel played a very important role in the history of Canadian shipping and navigation.

 

The museum commemorates the tragic sinking of the Empress of Irelandocean liner in the St. Lawrence River to Rimouski. It was the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history.  Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 died.  Actually what I read was that they were “lost.”  But I think reality is worse. The ship sank on May 29, 1914 near Rimouski.

The land has been declared a national historic site. The ship was considered a symbol of luxury at the time. It had spacious décor with rich wood panels and fireplaces. First class passengers were offered a music and writing room, a café, smoking room, and library. The ship and her sister ship were in their time the fastest ships making the trans-Atlantic run.

Shortly before she sank after a collision with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad, the Commander was told by the pilot, “I don’t think you should run into much fog for the rest of the night. Good luck commander.” Even though no passenger was given a cabin numbered 13, many on board suffered bad luck. In fact, it was the worst luck. On this day the Empress was unlucky as were most of her passengers.

Spiritual Light

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

 

 

Lighthouses can also have spiritual meaning.  In the Bible there are many references to light and nothing speaks about light as clearly and succinctly as a lighthouse. In verses from John 8:12, Jesus spoke as follows: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

 

It is one of the most significant passages in the Bible. It shows Jesus as the ultimate source of light and life. He provides spiritual light. He enlightens. He illuminates the way. He provides salvation from the dangers of life. Like a lighthouse Jesus can save us. That I think is the message.

 

You don’t have to believe in anything supernatural to appreciate the words and the meaning of such a passage. To some people a lighthouse can remind us of the divine spark of light in each of us. They can connect us to something greater than ourselves, particularly in the dark night of the soul.

 

The lighthouse can light the way to a spiritual path.

Lighthouses are not just Lighthouses

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

In the morning leaving Rimouski Quebec, we headed right out to the Pointe-Au-Père Lighthouse just north of town.

I have a confession to make—I love lighthouses. I cannot resist stopping to look at them and photograph them. Why is that?

 

Similar to what Sigmund Freud said about cigars, I say, “Lighthouse is never just a lighthouse.” Lighthouses have great symbolic value. Freud was obsessed with cigars.  When his nephew declined a cigar at 17 Freud was thunderstruck. How was that possible? He said to him, “”My boy, smoking is one of the greatest and cheapest enjoyments in life, and if you decide in advance not to smoke, I can only feel sorry for you.” He actually thought it was illogical not to smoke cigars. That is the way I feel about lighthouses. I wanted to see them all. And sometimes that was absurd. He smoked cigars almost continuously. He smoked about 20 cigars per day!

What then do cigars symbolize? Of course, many have said the cigar is an obvious phallic symbol. Of course, lighthouses stand proud and erect.  Is that what they refer to? Perhaps.

It has been said that a lighthouse represents navigation through the challenges of life. As Anne Volpe said, “They provide a sense of direction, safety, and hope. Lighthouses also symbolize the importance of staying on course, making informed decisions, and finding our way during darkness or uncertainty.” They offer guidance and assurance in tough times. In short, they help you to wade through uncertainties of life.

Lighthouses are often found in hazardous locations such as dangerous coastlines. Symbolically, they represent protection and security. Who would not want that? They offer hope that we will survive the dangers that surround us. They allude to a bright future. They are light inside the dark.

 

 

Yet the lighthouses are often found in secluded areas where they are isolated from harm. They suggest seclusion and solitude far from the maddening crowd. They provide tranquility in times of tumult and encourage reflection. They are allied with the search for truth. We need light to find the truth. And wisdom. Sometimes a lighthouse. And sometimes we just need luck.

Lighthouses must be strong for often they must endure brutal circumstances.  A lighthouse is a steadfast friend. Dependable. You can rely on the lighthouse in your life’s storms. Who would not welcome that?

After the danger of the rough sea, the lighthouse offers respite. They provide a warm welcome, a refuge, a safe haven. Lighthouses give us a chance to overcome obstacles and challenges in difficult times.

Lighthouses often are also shrouded in mystery and romance. I don’t know why? They are in remote areas which leads us to speculate about what life would be like living in a remote area, perhaps an island, in solitude for lengthy periods of time.

According to Volpe,

“Lighthouses represent the pursuit of wisdom, self-actualization, and spiritual enlightenment. They inspire individuals to strive for self-improvement, expand their intellectual horizons, and cultivate inner wisdom. They serve as reminders to seek knowledge, navigate life’s struggles with wisdom, and continually strive for personal growth and enlightenment.”

Lighthouses often symbolize eternal vigilance from other dangers. For example, they can represent political freedom, which as we all know, requires relentless never-ending vigilance and awareness. They require us to be attentive and aware and won’t tolerate indolence or laziness. In summary they require the best from us, including insight, courage, and determination to endure.

Long live lighthouses. Long freedom.

Rimouski Lighthouse

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

 

On our way to the east coast, we stopped in Rimouski, Quebec. It took quite a long time to find a room to stay. It turned out Rimouski was hosting a big hockey tournament. And in Quebec there is another religion that competes with art. That, of course is hockey. The town was filled with hockey fans and parents of hockey players. The hotel was jammed. There were hockey players everywhere.  It seemed like we got the last room in the town and naturally it did not come cheap.The players of course are hockey gods.

We stayed at the Hotel Rimouski. It was a large and nice hotel. The hotel restaurant was very large and completely filled with people who seemed to be having a great time. There is no doubt about it—Hockey is popular in Rimouski.

 

Pointe-Au-Père Lighthouse

In the morning in Rimouski, Quebec we headed right out to the local lighthouse on the edge of town. We saw it yesterday from a distance.  Today we would get a much better look. I admit I got a bit ridiculous about insisting on seeing the lighthouses. For one thing there are 40 lighthouses in Quebec and many of them are on islands.  No matter how much we meandered we would not see them all. And I always thought I was missing the best one.

Today in Rimouski Quebec I saw one of the most beautiful lighthouses I have ever seen. It was a magnificently sculptured lighthouse that stood out against a deep blue sky with distant fog in the background. This was the 3rd Pointe-Au-Père Lighthouse that was built in 1909 very near the edge of the city of Rimouski  in Pointe-au-Père.

It is the second tallest lighthouse in eastern Canada and consists of 8 concrete buttresses that reminded me of the great Cathedral of Paris—i.e., Notre-Dame de Paris. Often it is just called Notre Dame.  It was recently renovated after the great fire a couple of years ago. The buttresses here, unlike those in Paris, support a slender structure. Notre Dame de Rimouski perhaps.

 

The lighthouse is 108 feet (33 m) tall and its lines are pure.  It looked very modern. Sleek, jutting out into the sky like a sliver of white and the original was replaced with an electronic light in 1975. The grounds have been declared a national historic site.

Did you know that the maritime regions of Québec are home to over 40 lighthouses? A few are still operational, but most have been replaced by more modern instrumentation. Witnesses to a rich maritime tradition, these lighthouses, which were once navigational aids, now have a new purpose: to remind us of our past. Each lighthouse has its own personality, history and legends, and every one of them is worth a visit!

And I saw so few. What a dreadful pity. Even though we meandered!

 

 

Some Scenes Demand a Stop for all Meanderers.

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Meanderer, photography

 

 

If you pass by some scenes without stopping that is a sin.  I think this is one of them. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of the town. To avoid the taint of sin, we stopped to take a photograph of what at one time was a mill (I believe). There was no longer any sign of the mill but it was a lovely Quebec scene. I could not drive by without taking a photograph. That would have been a sin.

 

 

Are the Quebecois snobs?

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada

 

I used to think Quebecois were snobby, ill-tempered and totally dismissive of English tourists. Not anymore.  Everyone I encountered in Quebec laughed at me, rightly, for my pathetic lack of French. But they did not insult me or ignore me. They were actually polite and courteous. Even gentle.

It was a bit humiliating to ask Christiane constantly for translations. But that just shows up my ignorance. In Europe everyone speaks multiple languages and make no fuss about it. My German is terrible and my French non-existent. No doubt, I am ignorant and the French tolerated this without objections or mockery.

The French in Quebec have done quite well at preserving their language in the face of the overwhelming English language domination across all of North America. It really is a remarkable achievement that should be celebrated, even though they had to take some Draconian measures to make it work.  Like language police. But I like that they were able to do it. Almost everyone speaks French here. And many speak English too. Many more than those who speak only English. They like me, are in the ignorant minority.

I like the feeling of being in a different country. I know some don’t like it. I do. If you don’t, you should not go to Quebec. Then you are the snob..Snobs are in the eye of the beholder.Literally.