by Daniel N. Paul, CM, ONS, Mi’kmaw Elder and Historian

Before I left home on Shubenacadie Indian Reserve when I was fourteen, which later was also known as Micmac, then later Indian Brook, At Christmas times many of our Holiday meals consisted of stuffed Porcupine. This was not by choice but by necessity, it was all we had to eat. I remember a few of them when we had a chicken and one where we had a Goose. Turkey was a luxury that we had no knowledge of.

The Santa business was also a world of difference from what we have today. One year Santa was sent to us by my father’s sister Aunt Leta who lived in Chelsea, Massachuetts, and arrived in time for Old Christmas in January. My father also made some toys by hand.

From the time the British invaders assumed control of our land in 1713, the food supply of our ancestors gradually shrank to a level of starvation existence. After the Peace and Friendship Treaties of the mid 1700s were signed starvation among many Mi’kmaq continued until Canadian Confederation. At which time it slowly rose to a level of serious malnutrition, which left most of the People potential victims of even mild deceases such as colds, which for a well fed person would have been more of a nuisance than life threatening. Thus, the Mi’kmaw population (1,500) in Nova Scotia remained virtually the same from around 1760 to the late 1940s, when medical care and food rations began to improve.

The following is Indian Affairs rations when I was young, 1930s and 1940s.

“It is not expecte ...