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History Of Atlantic Canadian History And Its Impact On Our World

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Since 1971, there has been some important and innovative changes in Atlantic Canadian historiography that has made an impact on our world. One of the greatest landmark’s in Atlantic Canadian history, in my opinion, was the resurgence of treaties rights for the Mi’gmaq and Maliseet nation. Thus, my focus for this essay will be on Mi’gmaq historiography in regards to fishing and treaty rights in the maritimes. There have been three well known fishing disputes in Atlantic Canada, ranging from the 1981 the Listuguj Raid, to the 1999 Supreme Court ruling concerning the Donald Marshall Case, and a year later with the Burnt Church Crisis. All of these historic events are steps for the Mi’gmaq Nation to reclaiming their treaty rights. After over …show more content…

The Mi’gmaq of Listuguj met with the government on several occasions to resolve this issue, and after many meetings and careful planning we came up with our own law and regulations, and applied them onto pieces of paper, instead of the oral traditions which we followed for thousands of years. These requests to have our own laws and regulations have been granted to us because we had an inherited right to fish salmon long before any federal and provincial governments after a great deal of protesting. It was also finally recognized because it was in written word, this was the only form that the governments would accept. However, today these challenges with oral traditions and court systems are still a commonplace, but there are some successful steps towards the court recognizing and affirming treaty and Indigenous rights. Some attest that these steps in trying to get the Canadian courts to meaningfully recognize treaty and Indigenous rights is more than challenging, it is nearly impossible in some cases because of the colonial governing structures of Canadian society.
Indigenous nations have always had their own ways governing their society. These ancient traditions were passed down to the future generations, even making it through the forces of colonialism. By saying that, it can be understood of the importance and significance it had and has to

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