Mi’kmaw Timeline
- Pre-1525 – The 7 Mi’kmaw Districts flourished under one government, one language, and one mind
- 1610 – Chief Membertou and 140 Mi’kmaq are baptized
- 1620 – Mi’kmaq adopt St. Anne as their patron saint
- 1621 – King James I gave a piece of land to Sir William Alexander
- 1713 – There is the same number of Mi’kmaq and Europeans in Nova Scotia
- 1725 – Peace and Friendship Treaty signed in Boston (Wabanaki Compact)
- 1726 – Mi’kmaq all agree to Wabanaki Compact
- 1749 – The Mi’kmaq renew the 1725 Treaty and Halifax becomes the first British settlement in Nova Scotia
- 1751 – The Mi’kmaq complain to King George about illegal settlement on Mi’kmaq lands
- 1752 – Mi’kmaq Compact is signed in Halifax
- 1763 – Royal Proclamation saves all unsold Mi’kmaw lands as hunting grounds, transfers Cape Breton to British
- 1776 – Mi’kmaq recognize the independence of the new United States in Watertown Treaty
- 1820 – Some lands protected for Mi’kmaw reserves are established
- 1834 – Eskasoni reserve established
- 1867 – British North America Act gives responsibility of treaties and Indians to federal government
- 1876 – First Indian Act organizes Indian agents
- 1920 – New Indian Act begins regulating Indians
- 1930 – Federal government builds boarding school in Shubenacadie
- 1942 – Federal policy of moving Mi’kmaq to two reserves – Eskasoni and Shubenacadie – begins
- 1969 – Federal government decides to end Indian status in White Paper Policy and all Indians reject plan and unite. Union of Nova Scotia Indians established
- 1980 – Eskasoni takes control of their school from federal government
- 1982 – Canadian Constitution includes Aboriginal and treaty rights
- 1985 – Supreme Court recognizes Mi’kmaw hunting rights in Treaty of 1752
- 1990 – Court recognizes Mi’kmaw right to fish
- 1997 – Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples begins hearings
- 1999 – Marshall Decision
Mi’kmaw Timeline compiled by Eleanor Bernard and Marie Battiste, 1999.
