Grand Keptin Andrews “Antle” Denny’s Treaty Day Speech 2018

“Kwe’ (Traditional Mi’kmaw Greeting) Welcome, Pjilasi Today marks another year that we as Mi’kmaq and our allies celebrate and commemorate Treaty Day.

Treaty Day is not just a special day and time when we celebrate the achievements of the Mi’kmaq, and a time for us to come together to Treaty Day is also one of the terms in the 1752 Treaty, that renewed the 1726 Treaty, where it was agreed upon that we would come together on this day to renew our alliance, and make submissions and receive gifts from the Crown.

While we have celebrated and there is great symbolism in Treaty Day, we can never forget that Treaties are the gifts of our ancestors to this generation. That legacy carries with it the most sacred and highest obligations of our constitutional rights.

The Covenant Chain of treaties bind us and these solemn promises to our ancestors and to the Crown that have now been affirmed by the supreme law in Canada and protected constitutional rights.

Treaty Day is the most important day in celebrating the relationship Mi’kmaq have with the Crown, this City, the constitution of the province and Canada. We are all Treaty People bound by the mutual obligations of our ancestors that we now renew yearly.

This year, more than any other event, I have received many calls and had many conversations about whether Treaty Day will be funded and by whom. Over the years I must acknowledge the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and Deborah Ginnish, for taking a lead role in planning and ensuring Treaty Day is successful. Many times she and others have had to work to find money for this event so that we ensure that we can celebrate this day.

As Kji Keptin I feel now more then ever that I need to remind everyone in the room that Treaty Day is not just another social or cultural gathering and should never be treated as such. It is a right… a Treaty Right… a constitutional right of Canada and the Mi’kmaw Nation and it is our honouring our side of the obligations of treaty as well as others on the other side doing the same.

It is an Obligation. It is a Promise.

It is a promise made by that was denied by the province and Canada for centuries until we fought to ensure our rights were recognized by the Court and by the government and then in 1986, Grand Chief Donald Marshall proclaimed Treaty Day again as October 1.

I need not remind government that of all the terms in our Treaties and our inherent rights that Treaty Day is indeed, one of easiest of the promises made by your ancestors and the crown to fulfill…While I look to government to ensure their obligations are met, it is also an obligation of the Mi’kmaq.

Mi’kmaw organizations need to work together and ensure that Treaty Day is supported and funded by all. If your organization deals with Treaties or Inherent rights, then you should be here and doing everything you can to support this day.

We have to find a way to come together as a people, to find the necessary compromises, the bridge for our differences, and leave our children and grandchildren and those who come after a stronger and better future than we inherited.

We need to rebuild and reclaim our nation.

This event is not just another gathering, it is a national right, and it is our duty as Mi’kmaw to honour this day. In doing so we honour our ancestors and all those who have passed fighting to ensure that this day could happen and that it would continue.

When we speak of Nation to Nation discussion, we must never forget that our linked Treaties must be the basis of any discussions moving forward. For the next seven Generations of Mi’kmaw, we must ensure that moving forward our ideas and goals continue to be based on our Treaties.

As Grand Keptin I have enjoyed many Treaty days over the years and have heard from government about some of the progress that we have made that year. While we do have a long way to go, I have been pleased with the progress we are making towards reconciliation through our treaties.

I would like to thank the Premier for his dedication to Treaty Education in this province, ensuring all children, whether Mi’kmaw or not, will learn about the Mi’kmaq in the future through education.

I would also like to acknowledge the city of Halifax for finally removing that statue of the man whose name I will not say or honour who put a bounty on our heads. I also feel that its important to mention author Daniel Paul for his 30 years of advocacy and creating awareness and ensuring that Halifax never forgot what that governor did and tried to inflict on our People. Welaliek, Daniel.

Today I am also hopeful in hearing that we are moving forward both with Provincial and Federal Legislation to protect the Mi’kmaw Language.

I have often reminded government that we did not “lose” the language… it was stolen from many generations of Mi’kmaw through multiple generations of Cultural Genocide. We all know the stories of abuse and racist policies aimed at destroying our language and who we are as Mi’kmaq.

In the spirit of reconciliation, it is now time to revitalize and reclaim our language. We must ensure that the legislation of language is based on principles of recognition of our inherent rights given to us by our Creator, not the government.

Governments must recognize that Mi’kmaw was the original and first language in this province. And it is the foundation of our knowledge systems and the voice of the ecology. It is our constitutional voice.

It also must be accessible for our people, we must be able to access the language and its knowledge traditions, and ensure it continues to grow with us.

Most importantly, we must create incentives for our people to continue to learn in and from it. The Mi’kmaw language can not be the burden of our educators. While we have seen the dream of Mi’kmaw immersion schools realized, we must do more than just have language as part of our educational system. We are placing an unreasonable burden on our teachers and our children mostly under the age of 10 to save or revive our language.

It is not fair to our children alone to take on such a heavy burden alone… our Mi’kmaq leaders, our Mi’kmaw organizations, must help our educators. It is not enough for us to rely on schools for the cultural paradigm shift that is required to save our language.

I challenge every single Mi’kmaw speaker out there, YOU HAVE A GIFT, it has been passed down to you by other Mi’kmaw in hopes that you share that gift. Even if you’re insecure or not as confident with your abilities, speaking the language is a responsibility for our community and we must share and celebrate whatever language skills we have in Songs, in Poetry, in Story telling, through technology, and in our homes and workplaces.

If we do not wake up, and start utilizing our language within 30 years we will lose it and we’ll be saying I wish had done more when we had a chance to make a difference. Our children will be standing up here saying, “I wish my parents or grand parents had made it a priority in our house or at work to learn”

So with that I challenge all of you to begin the process of reclaiming your language, while we still have a chance.

And I say to the government that our language must be made more visable. As I drive from Eskasoni I am reminded with many signs of our guest, the Gaelic refugees, who came to inhabit our unceded and unpurchased territory. I would urged the Mi’kmaq and the government to make Mi’kmaw names more visible by signs across the province. This is and was our land which we named, not just the land, but the water and hills, mountains, and regions.

I carry a little sadness to be up here today, without my friend and my Grand Chief the Late Ben Sylliboy. A Humble Mi’kmaw… A dedicated Mi’kmaw, a wise elder who for more then 50 years served his community as a keptin and then as our Grand Chief since 1991. He served admirably and proudly as our Grand Chief in “Keeping the Faith, and protecting the nation” as a servant of the Mi’kmaq people for most of his adult life.

I need to take a minute to thank his family for all the time he had to spend away from his loved ones in order to serve the Mi’kmaw people. Grand Chief Ben till his death was a dedicated servant of the people, he will be fondly missed, by all. Marie, Christina, Michelle and all the family, Welalie’k.

One of the firm beliefs that our Grand Chief continued to strive for up until his death was the unity of the Mi’kmaw Nation. He never saw himself as a Grand Chief of his district, or a province, he was the Grand Chief of the Mi’kmaw Nation.

“Kji Saqmaw Ujit Mi’kmaq. Aq Newtait Pasik Eyk”

The Grand chief cared for the other districts of the Mi’kmaw and he and my father would often speak of the importance of 7 districts of Mi’kmaki’. These men believed in the power of our districts working together and the potential we shared when we worked for the Nation.

We are all linked together by our families and by our Treaties, just as our Treaties form a covenant chain with each link of the chain helping make it stronger. In the same way each District in Mi’kmaq is only a link in the chain, we are stronger together. Melki’knaik mawi’apoqnma’tltik

We can ill afford at a time when we have a government acknowledging that the Indian Act is outdated and there is a need for nation to nation dialogue. We must see past our personal ambitions and our personal gains for the local, we must look to the future for the next generation we must recreate the balance that we once had that made the Mi’kmaq a fighting force in the Atlantic. L’joqatukwkemkiway

Just like the links in the chain each district, each community and each family is only as strong as a nation when we find ways of working together. We are Stronger together. “Atji Melkiknaiq tanju apoqnmatltik”

In concluding, I would like to acknowledge our allies in all forms of government. More than any other year, I have had great conversations with Senators, Ministers, Lieutenant Governors and the Premier, and I look forward to many more conversations as we build towards reconciliation and resource sharing and true nationhood for the Mi’kmaq for the next seven generations.

It is important for the Mi’kmaq nation to remember we are the seven districts of Mi’kmaki. Our ancestors found ways of working together without technology, without highways, without money…yet still made it work. Today we are faced with several challenges, if we work together and never forget that we are family, we are all linked by the treaties, and we are all in this together.

There is nothing we cant accomplish for the future generations of Mi’kmaq. I ask you all to join me on this journey, we are the descendants of a proud people who never forgot that being Mi’kmaw is about responsibilities to our families, to our communities, to our nations and to our eco system. Welalioq.”

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