Peace and Friendship Treaties
The Peace and Friendship Treaties were a series of written documents (or, treaties) that Britain signed bearing the Authority of Great Britain between 1725 and 1779 with various Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy peoples (i.e., the Wabanaki Confederacy) living in parts of what are now the Maritimes and Gaspé region in Canada and the northeastern United States.While they were united by common ties of language, culture, and kinship, the Mi'kmaq were also a highly decentralized people, made up of autonomous local communities, each of which had its own sakamow, or chief.They had formed the Wabanaki Confederacy with the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki, possibly prior to European arrival, and had also entered into a broader alliance with the Iroquois and the Odawa in the late 17th century.[12] Following the end of that conflict, Governor of Nova Scotia Edward Cornwallis invited the two Indigenous nations to sign a new treaty, hoping to secure control over lands west of the Missaguash River and to reconfirm loyalty to the Crown.[12] On 22 November 1752, fighting momentarily ceased for the signing of a treaty at Halifax by Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope of the Shubenacadie (Sipekne’katik) Mi’kmaq, and Governor of Nova Scotia Peregrine Hopson.By the spring of 1760, General Jeffery Amherst determined that the Mi'kmaq and Acadians posed no significant threat to British control of the region, and that colonial forces were adequate to meet the defence needs of Nova Scotia.[16] The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted the "truckhouse" clause as providing a right to hunt, fish, and gather in order to secure necessary goods for trade and thereby earn a moderate livelihood.The Court noted that restricting trade with their enemies like the French while undermining unregulated private traders, was seen as important to cementing the fragile peace.At the Burying the Hatchet Ceremony in 1761, Governor of Nova Scotia Jonathan Belcher told the Mi'kmaq that the "Laws will be like a great Hedge about your Rights and properties.""[19] For example, when the province of New Brunswick was being established in 1784, Mi’kmaq were asking that "certain lands be reserved and protected to them by licenses of occupation, similar to those being issued to new settlers.[12] The Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Nova Scotia, Michael Francklin, attended a meeting in which the Mi’kmaq renewed their oath of allegiance to the British Crown.[21] On 24 September 1778, Wolastoqiyik delegates from the Saint John River area and Mi’kmaq representatives from Richibuctou, Miramichi, and Chignecto signed an agreement promising not to assist the Americans in the Revolution and to follow their "hunting and fishing in a peaceable and quiet manner.[12] In 1980, James Matthew Simon, a member of the Sipekne’katik First Nation (Mi’kmaq) in Nova Scotia, was charged with violating provincial hunting regulations.The Province of Nova Scotia argued on the contrary, stating that subsequent conflicts between the British and the Mi’kmaq terminated these treaty rights.Simon was subsequently acquitted of the charges, marking the first time that the courts had affirmed the rights of the Mi’kmaq people as set out in the Treaty of 1752.[12] In August 1993, Donald Marshall Jr., a member of the Membertou First Nation (Mi’kmaq), was arrested and charged for fishing violations in Nova Scotia.To sustain this argument, some historians have argued that the few hundred Mi'kmaq fighters were in a strong enough position to negotiate the terms of the Halifax Treaties and make demands of their own of the British.The Mi'kmaq leaders who came initially to Halifax in 1760 had clear goals that centred on the making of peace, the establishment of a secure and well-regulated trade in commodities such as furs, and ongoing friendship with the British crown.[24] The Supreme Court of Canada also stated in R v Marshall that "the British feared the possibility of a renewed military alliance between the Mi’kmaq and the French as late as 1793.
Jonathan BelcherJohn Singleton CopleyNova Scotia CounciltreatiesBritainMi’kmaqWolastoqiyikAbenakiPenobscotPassamaquoddyWabanaki ConfederacyMaritimesGaspéCanadanortheastern United StatesHalifax, Nova Scotiaoaths of allegianceBritish subjectsBurying the Hatchet ceremonyMilitary history of Nova ScotiaCitadel HillHalifaxBattle of Port RoyalSiege of Port RoyalBattle of WinnepangNortheast Coast CampaignBattle of Grand PréDartmouth MassacreBay of Fundy CampaignSiege of LouisbourgRoyal Naval Dockyard, HalifaxHalifax TreatiesBattle of Fort CumberlandRaid on LunenburgCapture of USS ChesapeakeBattle of the Great RedanSiege of LucknowCSS Tallahassee escapeHalifax Provisional BattalionBattle of WitpoortBattle of PaardebergImprisonment of Leon TrotskySinking of Llandovery CastleBattle of the St. LawrenceSinking of Point Pleasant ParkHalifax VE-Day riotMi'kmaq militiasAcadian militias40th Regiment of FootLouisbourg GarrisonGorham's RangersDanks' Rangers84th Regiment of FootRoyal Fencible AmericanRoyal Nova Scotia VolunteersKing's Orange Rangers1st Field ArtilleryRoyal Nova ScotiaNova Scotia FenciblesHalifax RiflesPrincess Louise FusiliersCape Breton HighlandersNova Scotia RiflesNo. 2 Construction BattalionWest Nova ScotiaNova Scotia HighlandersImpressment Military history of the Mi'kmaq Battle of Port La Tour Raid on Salmon Falls Raid on Chignecto Avalon Peninsula Campaign Northeast Coast CampaignRaid on Grand PréSiege of St. John'sBattle of St. John's Siege of Port RoyalRaid on Canso Siege of Annapolis RoyalNaval battle off TatamagoucheBattle at Port-la-Joye Raid on Dartmouth Siege of Grand PreBattle at St. CroixBattle at ChignectoRaid on DartmouthAttack at MocodomeBattle of Fort BeauséjourBattle of Petitcodiac Battle of Bloody Creek Siege of Louisbourg Lunenburg CampaignBattle of RestigoucheTreaty of Portsmouth (1713)Treaty of 1752Treaty of WatertownTreaty Day (Nova Scotia)Military history of the AcadiansMi'kmaqconsensus-basedIroquoisConcordatVaticanDummer's WarNew England ColoniesMassachusettsNew HampshirePaul MascareneKing George's WarEdward CornwallisMissaguash RiverChignectofounding of HalifaxguineasscalpedAcadianFrench and Indian WarJean-Baptiste CopeSipekne’katikPeregrine HopsonNova Scotia1756 raids on Lunenburgcapture of Louisbourg in 1758Quebec in 1759Montreal in 1760Jeffery Amherst