After many years in the north, I am starting to understand and feel the strength that the land offers us.
I was born at a time when, thanks to the ''Development Plan,'' Islanders were being pushed off the small farms that had sustained us since we were dislocated in Ireland and Scotland. My father bought a farm and built a barn, but after a few seasons of non-profitable potato harvests, he relied on other endeavours to sustain the family. I was the first generation who grew up separate from the land, and although there were certain benefits such as access to education and health care, I think my generation suffered more than we gained because ''the plan'' did not suit us or invite us to participate in any way.
This archived TV show explores the process of leaving the land and reconfiguring communities. David MacDonald called it ''mindless paternalism.'' The host, Linden MacIntyre, likened the process to the experience of Canada's Indigenous people.
Of course, my settler family members were not the first people to connect with this island. Mi'kmaw people were here first.
Settlers and Indigenous people both needed the land, but they saw it very differently. For settlers, the land provided a living. For Indigenous people, the land was life itself. Settler governments thought their way of seeing things was the only one that mattered, and so they took what they wanted.
Many Indigenous people do not accept this action and are taking steps to reclaim what is theirs in their own time and in their own way.
May I recommend a couple of podcasts that explore this process?
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