Benoit First Nation

La photo de l'affiche de l'Anse-à-Canards publié antérieurement montre une troisième langue, i.e. le Mi'kmaq! Pour les curieux:
Mi'kmaq French connections

Citation :

Our people have historically built a relationship of peace and trust with the French Colonial movement throughout the Mi'kma'ki homeland, the Mi'kmaq learned to speak French before any other European language. It is for this reason that we have a strong French language history since the European arrival.

Historically, the Mi'kmaq quietly lived in the area, often denying their ancestry due to the fact that the British Empire were enemies of the French and their Mi'kmaq allies. Our ancestors spoke French and Mi'kmaq and did not do anything that would draw attention to themselves.

Here today out on the Port au Port Peninsula we continue to co-exist with the adjacent Francophone community many of whom are also of Mi'kmaq ancestry. We are friends, family and allies with great mutual respect and understanding.

Et pour creuser davantage:

Citation :

Newfoundland's francophone community fights extinction
...
I was born and raised in this area and as this article illustrates, the francophones continue to focus on only the French part of their ancestry and not their aboriginal ancestry. These Acadians, mentioned above, a few of whom married French Deserters were of Mi'kmaq descent.

What the francophones are projecting is an incomplete history of the area. Alot of the local people were known as French Indians and the French language was important to them and all of us today. Much of the people were ashame to say they were Mi'kmaq (this was a British Colony). English missionery schools throughout the area discouraged kids from speaking French and Mi'kmaq. Their goal was assimilation- pure and simple. This is still the case today for the Mi'kmaq people.

It is time for all of us to complete the history, heritage and ancestry of our communities and not be ashame of any of it.

The francophone movement is based on a lie in the sense that alot of the census records and records were deliberately void of the strong aboriginal presence in the Bay St. George and Port au Port Peninsula regions. Parents were deliberately not telling their children of their aboriginal ancestry for fear of sterotyping and discrimination. Families were ashamed and scared to reveal their aboriginal heritage to renumerators who recorded the various census that were taken in the area.

It stems back from when the Mi'kmaq allied themselves with the French against the sadistic British Empire. It was necessary to keep a low profile and not draw attention to yourselves. The Francophone movement seized on this to argue it's case for recognition and funding. Today, many of them still do not understand that they do not have a monophy on our history and culture and that they are fast becoming a part of the problem that the Mi'kmaq are facing in getting back their identity.

The Francophone movement does not have the right to publish promotional material of the area without consulting with the aboriginal movement for it's input and inclusion. Tourist rest stops are another example (one of many)- when one reads the printed material about the area's history and heritage- will find no mention of the aboriginal people. This has to stop. Cooperation and consultation must be the way of the future between the two groups. Tourist will love to hear about the Mi'kmaq, the French Indian and the Francophone. I would even take this a step further by demaining that the signage and printed material be written in Mi'kmaq, as well as English and French.

Etrange en effet qu'on se gargarise de diversité culturelle de d'identités, mais que nous ne faisions pas un meilleur travail pour en faire une promotion adéquate. Mea culpa dixit le Canard ainsi que c&isse d'intégrisme linguistique et culturel. Combien de sortes d'écoles pensez-vous y-a t'il dans la péninsule de Port-au-Port??? Et quel est l'impact sur la prochaine génération?