Legislation Declares Mi'kmaq Nova Scotia's Official First Language

POTLOTEK FIRST NATION - Emotions ran high for several reasons as municipal, provincial, federal and indigenous leaders from across Nova Scotia gathered here on the third Sunday afternoon in July. 

Originally slated as the opening day of the Mi'kmaw Summer Games, this day also saw officials with the provincial government - including Premier Tim Houston, L'nu Affairs

Minister Karla MacFarlane, and Lieutenant-Governor Arthur LeBlanc - join Mi'kmaq chiefs from across the province to sign legislation recognizing Mi'kmaq as Nova Scotia's first language into law. 

Taking place at the Potlotek Community Hall, the July 17 ceremony also featured the participation of Mi'kmaq Grand Council Grand Chief Norman Sylliboy and more than a dozen other local and regional chiefs from around the province and across Atlantic Canada. 

"It's an important document - it's forever," declared Eskasoni First Nations Chief Leroy Denny, a key negotiator in the development of the legislation. 

"Language decline is all of our responsibility, and we all have a role to play in revitalizing it. We often place the responsibility on the schools to teach the language, and it shouldn't be kids - children - who carry the burden of preserving the language of our nation." 

Those in attendance also welcomed hundreds of young athletes from around the Maritimes and Quebec to the Mi'kmaw Summer Games, which are being held for the first time in three years. Athletes of a different era were also saluted during the opening ceremonies, as head coordinator Isaiah Bernard and author Tanya Johnson-MacVicar presented special gifts to three of the surviving members of a Mi'kmaq paddling team that left Richmond County by canoe in 1967 and headed to Montreal to take part in Expo '67.

However, this day was also coloured with sadness, as officials learned prior to the opening ceremonies of a death in Potlotek First Nation earlier that day. Chief Marshall, a relative of the deceased, blinked back tears as he addressed an audience that included Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette and Cape Breton Members of Parliament Mike Kelloway and Jaimie Battiste. 

"It's a sad day for me," a sombre Chief Marshall told those who had gathered for the outdoor opening ceremonies by the waters of Chapel Island. 

Chief Denny pledged that Eskaoni First Nation would send its own crisis team - including mental health officials and grief counsellors - to Potlotek the following day, and promised to assist the community in any other way possible for the remainder of the Summer Games and beyond.