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BURYING OF THE HATCHET CEREMONY: 1761

On June 25, 1761, a "Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony" was held at the Governor's farm in Halifax. During the day treaties of peace and friendship were signed between Jonathan Belcher, President of His Majesty's Council and Commander-in-Chief of the province, and the Chiefs of the Mi'kmaq Nation, called Merimichi, Jediack, Pogmouch, and Cape Breton, on behalf of themselves and their people. The ceremony proceeded thus:

"I meet you now as his Majesty's graciously honoured Servant in Government, and in
His Royal Name to receive at this Pillar, your public Vows of Obedience to build a
Covenant of peace with you as upon the immovable rock of Sincerity and Truth, to
free you from the Chains of Bondage, and to place you in the wide and fruitful Field
of English Liberty.

The Laws will be like a great Hedge about your Rights and Properties, if any break
this Hedge to hurt and injure you, the heavy weight of the laws will fall upon them,
and punish their disobedience.

In this faith I again greet you with this hand of Friendship, as a sign of putting you in
full possession of English protection and liberty, and now proceed to conclude this
Memorial by these solemn Instruments to be preserved and transmitted by you with
Charges to your children's, children, never to break the Seals, or Terms of this
Covenant..."

This speech is a classic expressions of British hypocrisy. Statements such as "putting you in full possession of English protection and liberty" must have been considered, after what their Nation Had suffered at the hands of the English, a sick joke by the assembled Chiefs. Even while the ceremony was in progress numbers of their relatives still languished inside British forts as hostages.

The Governor went on to describe the English as "merciful." This was also a mockery because the English had shown no mercy towards the Mi'kmaq. The Governor tells the Chiefs that the Crown will protect them "against the rage and cruelties of the Oppressor." Given that the English were the only oppressors the Mi'kmaq had ever known, they must have waited with great anticipation to find out how the English might protect them from the English.

Click to read about Mi'kmaq Culture

Click to read about American Indian Genocide

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