Revisiting the 'proverbial tin cup' : a study of political resistance of the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia, 1900-1969

Abstract

This thesis explores political resistance of the Mi'kmaq Nation from 1900 until 1969. In an analysis of the interplay between Federal government policy and Mi'kmaq moves to retain a measure of control over political structures, issues such as political identity formation and the adaptability of agency through political resistance are set in the context of period politics and policy development.

Through a series of case studies this study traces how the Mi'kmaq Grand Council functioned at the turn of the twentieth century until the creation of elected Band Councils in 1958. It discusses how the Mi'kmaq incorporated western political culture as a means of adaptation to conditions imposed by the Canadian federal government.

The creation of a provincial organization in 1969, known as the Union of Nova Scotia Indians or UNSI, is the latest in a series of attempts made by Mi'kmaq leadership of this century to form an organization which could counter methods used by the Federal government to achieve assimilation while at the same time acting as a recognized voice of Mi'kmaq people in the province.

This study demonstrates that leading members of the Mi'kmaq Nation were active agents in the maintenance of a political identity which transcended attempts at destruction.