BY MATILDA RAMJATTAN
AND BRIAN FRANCIS
GUEST OPINION
In response to the Canadian Press article, “Adding Indigenous name to controversial P.E.I. site “an insult”: Mi’kmaq leader”, February 17, as well as to The Guardian’s editorial, “Still waiting for Justice,” Feb. 22, 2018, we would like to clarify some statements made in those articles and to express the views of the elected Mi’kmaq governments of Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island).
The Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. serves as the common voice of the two elected Mi’kmaq governments of Prince Edward Island - the Lennox Island First Nation and the Abegweit First Nation. The Confederacy has been working to promote better public understanding of Indigenous history for many years.
Last week, the Confederacy was pleased to learn that its request to honour Mi’kmaq heritage by giving a Mi’kmaq name to Port-la-Joye--Fort Amherst National Historic Site has been accepted by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
In the fall of 2017, the Confederacy, acting on behalf of the First Nation governments, proposed that the Mi’kmaq historic name Skmaqn be given to the site. The name was put forward following extensive consultation within the Mi’kmaq community by the Mi’kmaq leadership. Skmaqn means “the waiting place” and is thought to have its origins in the years 1725-1758 when Mi’kmaq and French leaders met annually at the site to renew their relationship and military alliance. As French leaders were often delayed in arriving from Cape Breton, the Mi’kmaq of Epekwitk would wait for them to arrive. The official name of the site will now be Skmaqn-Port-la-Joye-Fort Amherst National Historic Site of Canada.
Our request to include the Mi’kmaq name, rather than remove the name of Amherst, was based on many factors: the desire to promote Mi’kmaq history, a careful review of the historical facts and our goals for reconciliation.
Skmaqn-Port-la-Joye-Fort Amherst is an historic site that has a great deal to teach Canadians today. From the interaction, alliance and conflict of the Mi’kmaq, French and British, to the tragic deportation of Acadians, and, yes, even in the racist and deplorable attitudes of Amherst toward Indigenous Peoples, as expressed in his correspondence. No aspect is more important to understand than the difficult and painful parts- including the hardships endured by our ancestors because of colonization.
Mr. Sark, who was quoted exclusively in the Feb. 17th article, has a strong view on this, to which he is fully entitled, and he is certainly passionate in his stance, but it is his personal view. After extensive discussion with many members of the Mi’kmaq community, our position is one more representative of the entire community. We believe that it is preferable to present all of this history, rather than to risk removing Amherst from social consciousness. It does not mean that Amherst will be let off the hook. We are determined to remain involved with the site to demand that its full history is known, including greater presentation of its Indigenous history, and education about the attitudes and actions of Amherst and his contemporaries.
In our careful thinking about this issue, we are guided by the wisdom of Senator Murray Sinclair, former Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. To quote Sen. Sinclair, “the focus should not be about taking names off of buildings; it is about whether we can find a way to put Indigenous names on buildings.”
The Confederacy Board of Directors also had another practical consideration as part of its discussion of the name of this historic site. It is one small, uninhabited locale. There are over 30 places in Canada named after Jeffery Amherst. The debate to remove this name on a national scale risks taking us down a long and divisive road that will not lead to reconciliation.
We look forward to working with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Parks Canada and other cultural groups with ties to the site to improve the presentation of the history, including the Indigenous history at Skmaqn-Port-la-Joye-Fort Amherst.
- Chief Matilda Ramjattan, Lennox Island First Nation, and Chief Brian Francis, Abegweit First Nation, are co-chairs, Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island