Canada-U.S. tensions could impact annual Mi’kmaw blueberry harvest

Fewer Mi’kmaw people could go to the United States for the annual berry harvest due to cross-border tensions.

If fewer Maritimers are visiting the United States these days, that may well include people who live in First Nations communities.

“I am hearing a great discussion of people - our people - not travelling and vacationing in the United States this year,” said Jeff Ward, general manager of the Membertou Heritage Park.

Ward said that might include fewer people going south of the border this summer to pick blueberries to be sold back home, which has been a Mi’kmaw tradition dating back generations - particularly, trips to Maine.

He said some people have concerns about being held up at the border when crossing back into Canada.

“There’s always that issue of being challenged with the Jay Treaty, and it’s that kind of issue that our elders - it’s instilling fear into our elders,” Ward said.

Mi’kmaw educator and lawyer Jarvis Googoo, however, plans to travel to the United States soon - he is registered to run the Chicago Marathon in October.

He added that he is not yet aware of many people he knows cancelling trips across the border to pick blueberries.

Googoo pointed out, however, that as far as some Indigenous people are concerned there is no border between the two countries.

“Is (a given place) colonially in Canada and the United States?” Googoo asked rhetorically. “Yes, it is. But, you know, that’s 1867 or 1776. I’m talking about thousands of years well before that.”

Ward said that while fewer people travelling to the U.S. might mean more visitation - from everyone - to Mi’kmaw communities in the Maritimes this summer, there is another reason from an Indigenous perspective that the current tension between the two countries is regrettable.

“At this time of reconciliation, we want to bring our nations together and work together as one and it feels like it’s not happening again,” Ward said.

The Mi’kmaw blueberry harvest typically takes place in late summer and into early fall.

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