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Canada: The Story of Us·Video

'I'm still here.' Candy Palmater on the Mi'kmaq strategy of survival

Without that treaty, 'you might be sitting down with a white historian who might be telling you about these Mi’kmaq people who once walked here and don’t anymore.'

They did everything with the thought: 'how do we avoid extinction for our people?'

Candy Palmater: Indigenous leaders in Canada

8 years ago
Duration 1:21
Candy Palmater: Indigenous leaders in Canada

In anticipation of Canada: The Story of Us, we asked influential Canadians to share their own family histories.

Comedian, actor, activist, writer and broadcaster Candy Palmater tells the story of Chief Membertou of Mi'kmaq First Nations and his choice to sign a treaty that would ensure the survival of his people.

Was signing this treaty right or wrong? "I'm still here." Candy says.

Her people did not end up a footnote recounted by a white historian.

"I actually had the opportunity to touch, to hold in my hand one of the Treaties from my territory and it was such an overwhelming feeling for me; to think about what would have been in their hearts and their minds as they were making these decisions to put their mark on the page."

Candy and her family are still here. Her people did not end up a footnote recounted by a white historian.

"I can proudly sit here and tell you my grandmother, and her grandmother before her and her grandmother before her have walked on that territory for 10,000 years."