Friends in a new land
Everyone needs friends. In 1605, the French settlers who had survived a deadly Canadian winter needed friends more than anything else. Almost half of them had died from cold and starvation in their first settlement in Acadia, on St. Croix Island. That spring, the survivors abandoned the island for a better location, travelling across the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia, where they built Port-Royal.
The trouble was the French settlers didn’t know how to prepare themselves for the harsh Canadian winters. They needed help. At Port-Royal, they soon found friends who showed them snowshoes and toboggans, plants that acted like medicines, and the best places to hunt for food. These friends were the native Mi’kmaq and their local chief, Membertou.
Membertou was a wise old man, believed to be 100 years old. One of the settlers called him “the greatest, most renowned and most formidable” of the natives. Instead of being threatened by the newcomers on his land, the chief chose to make friends. He gained the advantage of trading with the Europeans, and the settlers learned survival skills.
Membertou remained a loyal friend to the Acadian settlers for years. They even asked him to look after Port-Royal when they were suddenly called back to France in 1607. When they returned in 1610, their settlement and their friend were both waiting.
On July 26, 2007, Canada Post honoured Membertou, friend of the Acadians, with a domestic rate (52¢) stamp, the fourth in a series of five stamps celebrating the 400th anniversary of French settlement in Canada.
|
