Membertou 400 celebrations begin with re-enactment at Port Royal
Actors re-enact the baptism of Mi'kmaq Grand Chief Henri Membertou in 1610/Photo by Stephen Brake, RadioGoogoo.ca
It was a ceremony to mark the anniversary of what’s considered to be a 400-year-old political alliance the Mi’kmaq made with French and the Vatican.
Approximately 500 people gathered near the shoreline at Port Royal National Historic Site in Annapolis Royal, N.S. on Thursday to witness the re-enactment of Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Henri Membertou’s baptism into Roman Catholic religion on June 24, 1610. The event is considered to be the first time an aboriginal person in North American was baptized into Christianity.
It also formalized a friendship and an alliance between Membertou’s followers and the French settlers at the Port Royal Habitation.
The current Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy was joined by most of the 44 members of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, the traditional government of the Mi’kmaq Nation, for the ceremonies. Other dignitaries included Rick Simon, Assembly of First Nations Vice-Chief for Nova Scotia and PEI, Peter Newton, Warden for Annapolis County and Vickie Conrad, NDP MLA for Queens.
The ceremony began in the morning with a two-hour outdoor mass that was held underneath a tent. Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana, the Pope’s representative in Canada, joined several other Church representatives from Atlantic Canada in the mass which was read in Mi’kmaq, English and French.
At noon, the crowd shifted towards the re-enactment site a few feet away where a birch bark canoe and a drumming area were set up for the outdoor play. The actors who played Membertou and his family were all from the nearby Bear River First Nation.
The play, also narrated in Mi’kmaq, English and French, began with a historical overview of Mi’kmaw people’s lives before European contact. The male actors performed the Mi’kmaq honour song before the baptismal re-enactment took place with actors playing the roles of French priest Jesse Fleche and settlement leader Sieur de Poutrincourt.
Robert McEwan, who played the role of Grand Chief Membertou, considered it more than an honour to play the famous Mi’kmaq leader. His grandfather, Richard McEwan, played the same role during a similar re-enactment that was held in 1985 to mark the 375th anniversary of Membertou’s baptism.
“It filled me up with excitement and I said, for sure, I would do it because (the role) is kind of a hand-me-down,” McEwan, 40, said following the play.
McEwan, whose day job is as Natural Resources Coordinator for the Bear River Band, was only asked to play the role of Membertou three weeks ago. He admitted that he was a bit nervous at first during the performance.
“I like to say I work well under pressure,” McEwan said, laughing, afterwards.
McEwan was one of several people from nearby Bear River First Nation to take part in the re-enactment.
Hal Theriault, a playwright from Digby, N.S., was only asked to write the play back in March. He said he had only three months to research and write the re-enactment for Thursday’s ceremonies.
“Part of the reason we chose to do it as a mime because there was not (enough) time for people to learn lines so that was very different from what we did before,” Theriault said following the performance.
“But I think the spirit was the same. The feeling was the same,” he said.
Theriault, who has previously written historical plays about Mi’kmaw people’s relationship with the French and Acadians, said working on this project was both wonderful and humbling.
“I think of this as an extraordinary important event that really … has never been recognized for its importance,” Theriault said.
“It’s only in the last two years, really in the last year, that people have begun to see what the Mi’kmaq have known all along: that Membertou was vital to the shaping of the history of this country and it was time he was appreciated by the rest of us,” he said.
Andrew Denny, KjiKeptin of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, travelled from his home community of Eskasoni First Nation in Cape Breton to attend the re-enactment ceremonies. It was his first visit to the landmark site of Membertou’s baptism.
“I was looking out at the water and the landscape, just looking to see how much it has changed in the past 400 years,” Denny said following the ceremonies.
Denny said he understood why some Mi’kmaw people have decided not to participate in the Membertou 400 celebrations in Port Royal and Halifax because of the Church’s role in running the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for more 30 years in Nova Scotia.
The federal government apologized to aboriginal peoples in Canada in 2008 for the abuse and loss of culture they suffered while attending Indian residential schools.
“They have issues with the Church,” Denny said. “I have issues with the Church but I’m not celebrating the fact that we’re Catholics, I’m celebrating the fact that I’m a Mi’kmaq,” he said.
“And I’m celebrating the fact that our Grand Chief was just as great as any leader in the history of man and that is the part that they don’t look at,” Denny said.
