by Paul Martin

Approximately three kilometers west from the community of River John, N.S along the Northumberland Strait there is a small cemetery set back in a field on what is called the Louisville Road. The Silent City Roman Catholic Cemetery has been known to our family since about 1986 as a place of rest for several Mi’kmaw Children dating from 1853. Ben and Jean Martin of Millbrook First Nation had at one time resided in this community and had learned of the burial site from Mrs Netta Heukshorst, a local resident and one of the cemeteries caretakers.

Around 1986 Jean learned, from Mrs Heukshorst, that this site contained several Mi’kmaw Children, as she had discovered when she first began restoring this neglected overgrown cemetery. Rumour had it that there were as many as thirteen indigenous children interned at this tiny Roman Catholic Cemetery and that there was no grave marker to indicate their presence; just a “mound” to indicate their general whereabouts. Although now known to the Martin family, it became apparent that something needed to be done to acknowledge the presence of our ancestors in the cemetery. The lore of this sacred area has also served as a stark reminder that we had at one time inhabited and flourished along these shores long before contact.

Over time the deep importance and significance of this small area became a focus of my thinking and I decided that the time had come to recognize and honour these ancestors so that they will be forev ...