The complicated relationship between Mi'kmaq and the Catholic church
While he doesn’t go to church anymore, some of Trevor Gould’s best memories are tied to the St. Anne’s Church near the Paqtnkek First Nation, N.S., built by the Mi’kmaq in 1867. Photo by Trina Roache
By Trina Roache
Apiksituaqn. The Mi’kmaw word for forgiveness. Reconciliation.
As I walk off the dock on Mniku, also called Chapel Island, a group of Mi’kmaw kids run by, laughing. The afternoon sun beats down and the breeze off the Bras d’Or Lake is welcome.
The Saint Anne’s pilgrimage to this small island in the Potlotek First Nation in Unama’ki (Cape Breton) is the longest-running continuous mission in Canada.
Small boats ferry everyone across the short distance to Mniku for the annual Sunday mass. Hundreds of people are here: a smaller crowd than in years past, when up to 6,000 L’nu’k would come from all over Mi’kma’ki.
“We don't worry about people not coming. We know,” says Antle Denny, a Kji-Keptin on the Mi’kmaw Grand Council, or Santé Mawiómi. “People are hurting.”