We, the Mi’kmaq people, will gather at the Hunters Mountain entrance to stand in unity against the ongoing destruction of our lands, waters, and rights. Our resources!
For generations, we have been the caretakers of these mountains, rivers, and forests. Yet our voices are ignored while others profit from what is rightfully ours. Logging operations continue unchecked—even during the so-called “wilderness ban”—while the very First People of these lands were excluded. No revenues from these operations are shared with our Nations.
Premier of Nova Scotia has further disrespected our people by calling our treaty-based fisheries “illegal.” His words last year were an insult to the Mi’kmaq and to the treaties that have been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. Instead of working with us as partners, the province has chosen to criminalize us while allowing corporations to strip our forests bare.
Logging operations destroy more than trees. They destroy moose habitat—already under threat—and they ruin salmon rivers and estuaries. A healthy tree consumes at least 150 litres of water each day, protecting the land from floods and erosion. When the trees are cut, the water rushes unchecked down the mountains, re-routing rivers, washing out salmon spawning grounds, and leaving devastation in its path.
Our medicines, plants, and sacred foods are disappearing, destroyed by non-Native loggers while the province stands by and approves the destruction of Mi’kmaq resources and way of life.
Nova Scotia Power generates millions if not billions of power from the Mountain and the Mikmaw people do not get any benefits from it plus over charge everyone in the province. This is Mikmaki! We are the protectors of the land and sea here in Nova Scotia.
Tomorrrow we say: Enough!
We will not be silenced. We will not stand by while our rights, our waters, our salmon, our moose, and our medicines are destroyed. This land is Mi’kma’ki. These are treaty lands. And we are here to protect them—for our ancestors, for ourselves, and for the generations yet to come.