13 Mi'kmaw communities. The Peace and Friendship Treaties (1725â1779). The Shubenacadie Residential School. The lobster fishery dispute. Mi'kma'ki â unceded territory.
The 2020 lobster fishery dispute in St. Marys Bay exposed the raw reality of Mi'kmaw treaty rights in Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court's Marshall decision (1999) affirmed Mi'kmaw treaty rights to fish for a "moderate livelihood" â a right guaranteed by the Peace and Friendship Treaties of the 1700s. Twenty years later, when Sipekne'katik First Nation launched a moderate livelihood fishery, non-Indigenous fishers responded with violence: traps were destroyed, a lobster pound was burned, and Mi'kmaw fishers were physically threatened. The RCMP was slow to intervene. The province was largely silent.
The incident revealed that treaty rights exist on paper but are enforced only when convenient for the majority. The Supreme Court affirmed the right. The community exercised it. The response was arson and assault â with minimal consequence.
Nova Scotia's highest score. Mi'kmaw culture has experienced a significant revival. The Mi'kmaw language is taught in several schools. Membertou First Nation has become one of the most economically successful First Nations in Canada. The province has incorporated some Mi'kmaw content into its curriculum. The Shubenacadie Residential School site has been recognized as a significant historical site. Treaty Day (October 1) is observed. But cultural recognition without economic justice and treaty enforcement is performative.
Nova Scotia scores 36.3 â an F+. The Peace and Friendship Treaties (1725â1779) never ceded Mi'kmaw land â they established a relationship of mutual respect and shared use. Nova Scotia has treated them as historical artifacts. The Marshall decision affirmed treaty fishing rights. The response was violence. The Africville destruction (1960s) â the demolition of a Black and Mi'kmaw community in Halifax â remains unresolved. Nova Scotia acknowledges Mi'kma'ki in land acknowledgements while doing little to materially honour the treaties that define the relationship.
"The Peace and Friendship Treaties didn't give away our land. They shared it. The friendship part was supposed to go both ways."