Education authority brings elders together to preserve Mi'kmaw knowledge and history

A hundred elders from 13 Mi'kmaw communities across Nova Scotia met this week at the Kisiku gathering in Dartmouth to share laughter, stories, and history.

Kisiku means "elder" in the Mi'kmaw language. The gathering included discussion around adapting the Mi’kmaw language, sharing Mi'kmaw ways of being, and first hand experiences of the painful history of centralization, when the federal government forced First Nations families into fewer, larger communities.

“Sometimes people don't get a chance to tell their story, so this is a great opportunity for them,” said Elder Marilyn Francis from Wasoqopa'q First Nation.

Francis said she was overjoyed to take part but joked that in attending the gathering, she would have to accept that she was a kisikui’skw – a Mi’kmaw term for an elder woman. 

The three-day gathering was organized by Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey (MK), a provincial Mi’kmaw education authority, and was aimed at drawing on the wisdom of elders to help shape future curriculum.

From Sunday to Tuesday, within several conference rooms, elders were encouraged to drop in and share their stories and insights. Many of these sessions were recorded so that knowledge would be preserved.

“The resource and content development that we do, this is informing us every step of the way,” said Blaire Gould, executive director of MK.

Beyond the serious conversations, the gathering also made space for fun, with nighttime activities including storytelling, ko’jua dancing, waltes dice games, bingo and fiddlers.

Ethel Johnson sat down with her sister to share a story from when she was just seven years old in 1944, and her family was forced to move under the federal government’s centralization policy. 

Centralization began in 1942 to amalgamate First Nations families in Atlantic Canada into larger communities. In Nova Scotia, those communities were Eskasoni First Nation and Sipekne'katik First Nation.

Her family was relocated from Hantsport to Eskasoni, over 400 kilometres away. Her first house had three families living in it.

“We were the lucky ones. Some of them lived in tents in the winters,” said Johnson.

She shared a recording of her late father discussing their move and sharing stories of families who tried to return to their homes but found they had been burned down, and others who suffered through brutal conditions, including one mother who had a baby in a tent during the winter. 

“Her husband tore another tent to make more protection to keep the warmth in and he got arrested because he destroyed government property,” said Johnson.