New mural at N.S. historic site honours Mi'kmaw legend, way of life

A new mural on display at Nova Scotia's Fort Anne National Historic Site is helping visitors learn about the history, legends, and way of life of the Mi'kmaq.

The historic site in Annapolis Royal tells the story of European settlers and military history in the area, beginning with the first French settlement in 1605. It's also Canada's first national historic site, created in 1917.

A hundred years later, in 2017, Parks Canada decided it was time to update the sparse information on the people who had been living on the land since time immemorial.

The lack of Indigenous representation signaled an erasure happening not just at Fort Anne, but across the country, said Ted Dolan, the site's manager.

"In the previous exhibit, there was really hardly any mention of what life was like in Mi'kma'ki prior to European arrival. And so, you know, we knew that there was a big chunk of the story missing," said Dolan. 

Dolan and his team worked with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq and local elders to update their exhibits.

But one display stuck out: the Fort Anne Heritage Tapestry. The 2.4-metre tapestry tells the story of European settlers in the area through the centuries. Dolan says while the tapestry is valuable, it sends the message that history began when the Europeans arrived.

"We really felt that we had kind of missed an opportunity there when we redid our exhibits," said Dolan.

That's when Dolan and his team decided to commission a mural from a Mi'kmaw artist to paint a fuller picture of the area. 

Loretta Gould, a Mi'kmaw artist from Waycobah First Nation in Cape Breton, won the commission. 

She spent months designing the images, mapping out the composition, and consulting with elders on the stories to include in the piece that's the same size as the original tapestry.

One of the images in the top left corner depicts the legend of Kluscap taking on a giant beaver.

"The little pieces of dirt that he's throwing, there's seven pieces there. And from that, there's a story where he threw the dirt to the beaver and it became islands. And that's one of our Mi'kmaw stories from Kluscap."

The mural shows not just legends and history, but also images of the present day, like the red dresses blowing in the wind, representing missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Gould hopes people will see the mural and learn about the connections between the Mi'kmaq and the land.

"I want people to know as Mi'kmaw people, we depend on Earth and our surroundings and we try to make sure everything goes where it belongs. Nothing's wasted," said Gould. 

Dolan says visitors to the site have been stopping in their tracks ever since the mural went up.

"What we're hoping is people leave with this impression of a continued presence and a continued connection to the land and that the people are standing on when they're viewing this piece," said Dolan.