Mi'kmaq wigwam brings history to life at historic P.E.I. site

Mi'kmaq history is coming to life this summer at the Port-La-Joye-Fort-Amherst National Historic Site.

TheMi'kmaqConfederacy of P.E.I. and Parks Canada have teamed up to build a traditional birch bark wigwam.

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"The building of the wigwam itself is a passing on of Mi'kmaq traditions but it's also you can see it's drawing quite a crowd and it's an interpretive event in itself," said Jesse Francis, manager of strategic initiatives for the Mi'kmaq Confederacy and Parks Canada.

"The big goal of the project is to bring alive Mi'kmaq history of the site and of P.E.I. generally."

'Great teacher'

Nova Scotia Mi'kmaqelderTodd Labrador is leading the project, along with local elders and young people.

"Todd is a great teacher and loves to teach and has a lot of traditional knowledge and it really draws people in, seeing the way he works," said Francis.

The wigwam project started earlier this week, as Labrador demonstrated the traditional way of gathering birch bark and roots to build the wigwam.

"We have a lot of things right here in the forest but a lot of people don't know what's there," said Labrador.

"You know they walk over the forest floor and they don't know that all the rope they need is beneath their feet."

Youth and elders

Labrador learned wigwam building from his father who learned from his grandfather. He built his first in 1987.

"For me, it's important to keep those old ways going and pass them on," said Labrador.

"Once you have knowledge then you have a responsibility, now I want to make sure it keeps going."

This is the fifth wigwam Labrador has built. He also builds birch bark canoes.

"It's so special to see interest growing, to come here and see this many people involved, from youth to the elders," he said.

"To keep these things going, these traditions going, we need youth and elders, so it's really nice to see that here."

'It means the world'

"It means the world to me," said Mi'kmaq elder Methilda Knockwood-Snache.

"My mother, she's gone now, she'd be 95 now, she'd be so happy because she grew up in a wigwam."

Knockwood-Snache, along with Junior Peter-Paul, will spend the summer at the site, doing presentations on Mi'kmaq games, songs, traditional medicines and more.

"My granddaughter is there tying the birch bark on, she's always been interested and I've always been teaching her that way," she said.

'A lot of closeness

This is the second wigwam for Peter-Paul, who built the first when he was 13, with his grandfather.

"Ever since I started working here on the site and doing this, I feel a lot of closeness to my ancestors," said Peter-Paul.

Michael Sark, 14, lives at nearby Rocky Point and has spent the week working on the wigwam.

"I'm young and I really want to learn about this type of stuff when I'm older so I can teach younger generations," said Sark.

"I'm going to be pretty proud of myself for helping out with this."

The wigwam will remain on site for the summer, then will be covered up for the winter.

"For now, it's a one year project but Parks Canada and the Mi'kmaq Confederacy work together in an ongoing basis," said Francis.

"I think it's safe to say there will be projects of one form of another continue next year, we hope they will involve the wigwam."

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