Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior

J.R. (Jim) Miller is Canada Research Chair of History at the University
of Saskatchewan. He is the author of Skyscrapers Hide in the Heavens: A
History of Indian-White Relations in Canada and coeditor of the Canadian
Historical Review.

The Marshall decision that aroused such passion between non-Native
fishers and the Mi’kmaq in the autumn of 1999 has given rise to
considerable scholarly examination. Among the historians who have been
part of that analysis is William Wicken of York University. Wicken was
one of two principal historical researchers and expert witnesses who
appeared on behalf of the Mi’kmaq in the trials that led ultimately to
the Supreme Court of Canada’s Marshall decision in favor of Mi’kmaq
gathering rights based on 18th-century treaties.

In Mi’kmaq Treaties on Trial, Wicken has combined historical
examination of the evolution of the Mi’kmaq–European encounters down
to the treaties of 1760–61 that figured in the trial with a
first-person account of the presentation and interpretation of
historical evidence by experts and judges. The result is a unique study
that explains both the Mi’kmaq understanding of the treaties on which
their defence in the Marshall case was based and the experience of
highly trained scholars in the adversarial forum of our judicial system.
Mi’kmaq Treaties on Trial throws light on two important topics: the
history of the Mi’kmaq and their treaties, and the public role of the
historian.

Canadians interested in these important issues will enjoy and profit
from Wicken’s impressive scholarship and passionate commitment to the
cause that he believes history supports.