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By Leo J. Deveau - January 20, 2007
At the southeast corner of Spring Garden Road and Barrington Street in Halifax, there is a cemetery that city residents know as the "Old Burying Grounds."
With over 1,000 gravestones remaining intact, dating from the grounds’ opening in the early 1750s to its close in 1831, the cemetery – belonging to St. Paul’s Anglican Church – is one of the oldest settler burial sites in North America – the other being at Annapolis Royal. Like many cemeteries, the Old Burying Grounds is a place where, if the dead could speak, listeners would be humbled by the life stories now at rest.
There is a gravestone that you will not find; nor is the name of the person listed in the official register of those who were buried in the Old Burying Grounds. However, historical records do confirm a very unique burial took place on those grounds in August of 1762. Let’s take a brief step back to those times.
Further south on Barrington, at South Street, there is an assortment of office buildings and apartments. But early in 1760, that specific area was outside the tow’s southern palisade walls. And not too far from the south gates, there once stood a large barn whose owner, John Murphy, a farmer of Irish Catholic descent, had offered it as a place of worship to a Roman Catholic missionary.
But Halifax in 1760 was not a place for Roman Catholic missionaries. In essence, the town was a British military outpost where the Anglican faith maintained its authority. Nevertheless, being an outpost, such an authority also had to compete with the most common and successful enterprises in Halifax at the time, namely brothels and the selling of rum!
It was into this world that the British powers had invited a Roman Catholic missionary. After having travelled a few days over land and by river from the ancient Mi’kmaq settlement known as Merigomish Island, located at the northeast part of mainland Nova Scotia, he arrived and was greeted at the gates of the town’s northern palisade walls. The missionary was the Abbé Pierre Antoine Simon Maillard.
The invitation Maillard had accepted came from the British Governor, Charles Lawrence, who had requested his consideration to come to Halifax to act as a British agent to conduct peace treaty negotiations with the various Mi’kmaq Communities. Lawrence had long heard about Maillard and the respect the missionary had amongst the Mi’kmaq. Maillard was a 24-year veteran of missionary life with the , from Isle Royale (present day Cape Breton), to Isle St. Jean (P.E.I.), and Bear River (southwest Nova Scotia); and had served many Acadians who had been on the move in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick due to the Deportation orders of 1755, or who had escaped from Louisbourg after its fall in 1758.
Maillard was a missionary in the Spiritan Order and a native of the French village of Chartres, home of the famed Chartres Cathedral and the labyrinth floor it contained.
Since his arrival at Fortress Louisbourg in 1735 at the age of 25, Maillard had walked his own labyrinth during his many years of missionary service – service that would outlive three popes, one British crown, and two French kings.
During that time, he had also been captured once by the British at the first siege of Fortress Louisbourg in 1745. He was sent to Boston, then deported back to France, only to arrive back on the Chebucto shore with the ill-fated Duc d’Anville fleet in 1746, a fleet that had lost ships and men due to storms and disease.
After arriving at Chebucto, he had made his way back to a missionary post at Isle de la Sainte Famille (Island of the Holy Family) or Chapel Island, near the French garrison of Port Toulouse (modern day St. Peter’s, Cape Breton). It was there that Maillard organized a cadre of literate lay catechists, the nujialasutma’tijik (literally, "those who pray"). And it was during this time that he also began his work on the famous hieroglyphic texts of prayers and services for the Mi’kmaq people.
It was in the worst winter recorded at the time, in late 1759, after 24 years of working as a missionary, and experiencing much hardship and witnessing too much bloodshed, that Maillard entered the final chapter of his life and accepted Governor Lawrence’s invitation to come to Halifax and conduct peace treaty work for the British. But for Maillard, his decision to come to Halifax was also in the service of the Mi’kmaq people he loved and had served. And the treaties he eventually secured would endure into the 21st century, becoming the legal basis for many important Mi’kmaq land claims.
After arriving at the northern gates of Halifax, and conducting many treaty negotiations, Maillard died two and a half years later at the age of 52, in August of 1762, completing 27 years of dedicated missionary life. He was buried in the Old Burying Grounds with full official honours, with British, Mi’kmaq and Acadian peoples in attendance at the first ecumenical service in North America.
Maillard gave all his belongings away, including his extensive library of books – some of which are now held at King’s College and at the New Brunswick Public Archives. There is, as yet, no gravestone that marks his place or the memory of his important service to the peoples of the province of Nova Scotia.
Leo J. Deveau lives in Wolfville. He is working on a book on the life and times of Abbé Maillard, entitled Before the Rising Sun. Leo can be contacted at: ljdeveau@chebucto.ns.ca
By Daniel N. Paul - January 27, 2009
I've always had, because of his late in life love affair with the English, some reservations about Maillard's loyalty to the Mi'kmaq. This sentence, "Thanks to him," wrote Thomas Wood*, "many Englishmen were saved from being massacred.."
The before mentioned poses two questions: Were the Mi'kmaq saved from being driven to the edge of extinction by the crulety of Englishmen by his efforts? As a result of his negotiations on their behalf with the British, were the Mi'kmaq left with a country? Answer to both is no.
This leads to another question: Was he really interested in protecting the best interests of the Mi'kmaq during this period, or was he more interested in currying favor for himself with the British in order to preserve the Roman Catholic Religion among the Mi’kmaq and Acadians?
The plight of the Mi’kmaq after his negotiations on their behalf, strongly indicates that he looked after English and Church interests first. Besides the Church, The only ones who really benefitted from his intervention were the "qualified" Protestant settlers that England had dispatched to Nova Scotia to displace the Mi'kmaq and Acadians. It is a stark horrific historical fact that from this period onward the Mi'kmaq were sorely neglected; suffering starvation, malnutrition, and unremitting racism. In fact, it was so bad that on two occasions in the 1840s, two Indian Commissioners, Joseph Howe and Abraham Gesner, predicted their entire demise.
Thus, one would surmise, if Maillard had really acted in their best interests, that he would have negotiated a peace that would have assured the inclusion of the Mi'kmaq in the Province's prosperity and left them with a country - not landless and excluded to the point that they came close to extinction.
By Leo Deveau - February 11, 2009
Sorry for this late reply, but thank-you very much for sharing your reflections on Maillard. Always appreciated - it gives me more to think about on this intriguing, but little known Nova Scotian historical personality. This is rather lengthy, so I beg your patience!
To your comments: I wouldn't call Maillard's relationship to the English a 'love affair,' but rather a choice between lesser evils. By the summer of 1759, the French powers had all but deserted him. They had other preoccupations, namely the defence of Quebec and the looming financial collapse of the government back in France.
Maillard had earlier seen the writing on the wall when Fort Louisburg had come under attack in June of 1758. He was there at the time, but had decided to leave the fort with his Mi'kmaq brothers before it got much worse - this was much to the displeasure of the French Officers. Maillard had left to head back to Chapel Island, where he was based, and than, knowing the British would eventually rout him out, they headed off to the northern Miramachi area where many Acadians and Mi'kmaq had been in hiding. That winter of 1758 into '59 was one of the coldest winters on record and many were dying of starvation and disease. Wolfe would come along later and burn the settlements out, re. 'Burnt Church,' etc.
By the fall of 1759, Maillard had returned from Miramachi to reside on the ancient Mi'kmaq lands of Merigomish Island. It was there that the British officer, Major Schomberg, caught up with him and delivered a letter from Gov. Lawrence, inviting him to come to Halifax to become a peace negotiator between them in the various Mi'kmaq tribes. The British knew very well of Maillard's respect amongst the Mi'kmaq. Halifax traders like Francklin, who also knew and traded with the Mi'kmaq, knew of Maillard and how highly regarded he was by the Mi'kmaq. If Maillard accepted the invitation from the British, he would be allowed to practice his faith and minister to his faithful in the Halifax outpost.
By the time Maillard had received the invitation from the British, he had witnessed the devastation of the Mi'kmaq (and Acadian) peoples; he had seen much sickness and death. As I mentioned above, the earlier winter of 1759 had been the worst on record and many had been dying of disease and starvation.
I truly believe he had great concern as to what would happen to the Mi'kmaq. He had seen the military strength of the British at Louisburg and he knew they now would stop at nothing to achieve their ends. Thus, by the time the British invitation had arrived, Maillard knew his time was limited. Also, by November of 1759, Maillard had received word that Quebec had fallen to the British.
Lastly, his health was becoming fragile (having already written his will once). His twenty-five years of ministering and traveling throughout the region was catching up to him. Further, by late fall of 1759 Malliard had also just completed a large hieroglyphic text of religious prayers and blessings to be used by assigned Mi'kmaq lay leaders - it was a text he had been working on since his return from France on the ill-fated Duc D'Anville's naval fleet in 1746. His work on such a text was an extraordinary act of support and confidence in the Mi'kmaq people themselves to carry on some form of Christian practice without him, or for that matter, without any clerical leadership in the foreseeable future.
I believe Rev. Thomas Wood's observation was simply an acknowledgement that without Maillard's calm approach and intelligence in negotiating between the British powers and the various Mi'kmaq chiefs and leaders, matters could have gotten out of control and had been much worse for everybody involved.
Thus, through his experience and love of the Mi'kmaq people, Maillard was able to temper and inform the British about what it would take to address some of the needs of the Mi'kmaq people, especially around their rights to fishing and hunting. Their food supply was of primary importance, almost more than land, because he had witnessed too much death brought on by starvation. But let's not kid ourselves, it was far from perfect, injustices and prejudices would continue. I believe Maillard acted in good faith as a peace negotiator. One could say the Mi'kmaq in the 1760's were saved from further violence by a peace negotiator who is largely unknown today. I do not believe he was trying to curry favor with the British. He had to calm their paranoia and fears of the Mi'kmaq.
But he had nothing to lose, but his faith. However, his faith had been tested many times previous and he had weathered his personal demons. But he knew too he didn't have the upper hand. He knew his peace-making efforts would be his final legacy to the Mi'kmaq and he had to make due with what was possible amidst frightening consequences. It was his love of the Mi'kmaq and his Christian faith that kept him going. As to what would come later he knew he had no control or influence over, but he nonetheless made it possible through the treaty rights he worked on (rights that were not always respected or followed later), but they were rights that were able to have a positive impact right up to present day.
The notions of a 'province' wasn't even in the lexicon of Maillard or the British. The British at that time didn't leave 'land' to anyone but the winners. Such was the nature of their power and the world they were all living in at the time. France would have been no different.
It would take a popular revolt lead by Joseph Howe in 1848, over ninety years after Maillard to even begin to get an elected Responsible Government (the first in the British Empire) and the beginnings of freedom of the press. (Ironically, this was also influenced somewhat by the French Revolution). By Howe's time the notion of 'provinces' had emerged (as was Confederation -which Howe initially was against). As you point out too, Howe, through his work as an Indian Commissioner, would observe how desperate things had become for the Mi'kmaq. But I don't believe the situation he observed should be attributed as a failure of Maillard's earlier peace-making efforts.
Once again, I always appreciate your reflections. Please don't hesitate to email me again with further thoughts.
Abbé Pierre Antoine Simon MaillardPriest of the Missions ÉtrangPres and missionary; born. c. 1710 in France, in the diocese of Chartres; died August 12, 1762 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Apostle to the Mi'kmaqOn World Religion Day, we can learn from the past********************
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