Divided by a highway, a Mi’kmaq nation paves its road to revival in Nova Scotia
Author: Jessica Leeder
Date: February 26, 2018
Source: The Globe and Mail
In the 1960s, the TransCanada highway split the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation apart, hiding it from the world and hampering its economy. Jessica Leeder reports on how a new interchange and municipal partnerships could turn things around
Hundreds and some days several thousands of vehicles drive through Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation on the northern edge of Nova Scotia, just west of the heavily tourist-travelled gateway to Cape Breton Island.
Few actually see it, though.
Paqtnkek (pronounced buck-n-keg) is not technically invisible. But passersby have no direct way of accessing the reserve – they haven’t for more than 50 years since the TransCanada highway was put in.
The road, which is lined by forest, was built to run through Paqtnkek territory but without access points into it; the highway not only severed the reserve in two, but its lack of interchanges meant that to access the undeveloped southern section of the reserve, a person would have to walk from the northern side across a busy, four-lane highway.
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