Mi'kmaq Victims Honoured at Tuft's Cove

Mi’kmaq Victims Honoured at Tuft’s Cove

On the morning of December 6^th, 2007, members of the Mi’kmaq community gathered to honour and remember family members who perished as a result of the Halifax explosion.

The small Mi’kmaq settlement located directly opposite Halifax, on Tuft’s Cove (also known as Turtle Grove), was completely obliterated on December 16, 1917. Approximately 20 families lived along this waterfront and more than a dozen people who stood along the shoreline to watch the fire died in the blast. This small community was perhaps, the oldest permanent Mi’kmaq Community, and some say, older than the City of Halifax itself. The settlement is known to have dated back to the 1700’s.

Catherine Martin, who led the ceremony, welcomed those in attendance with the chant, Kwa’Nu’Te”. There was also a sweet grass smudging ceremony and prayer. The names of the known victims who perished that day were read by Mi’kmaq community members. A tobacco offering was sprinkled in the water at Tuft’s Cove in honour of the Mi’kmaq Community that was destroyed and the men, women and children who perished. The following names were read at the ceremony:

1. Louis Frank Brooks

2. Janet (Genevieve) Glode

3. Rosa McDonald

4. Hannah Lonecloud

5. Benjamin Labrador

6. Howard Nevin

7. Johanna (Paul) Nevin

8. Mary Paul

9. Baby-Paul

10. Madeline Sapier

11. Henry Cope

12. Louis Cope

Source:
Cheryl Nasson, Millbrook Communications Officer
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