Three years ago, I received a call from a woman who belonged to a Bedford group that was trying to protect a wooded area from residential development.
Shirley Jerram informed me that the proposed new development might put in jeopardy the Mi’kmaq petroglyphs located along the Bedford Barrens. At the time, I was aware of those petroglyphs, but I had never seen them for myself.
Jerram, a long time Bedford resident, offered to take me to the site. She led me down a wooded path; we only walked along for about a minute until she stopped and told me we were standing next to the petroglyphs. But all I saw were two flat rocks in front of me.
It’s difficult to see the two rock carvings. After staring at these two flat sheets of rock for nearly a minute, I finally saw one of the images. On one of the rocks, I could see a circle with star inside it. The second drawing looked like a woman holding something.
The carvings aren’t elaborate. In fact, they’re simple rock drawings. But when I saw them for the first time, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I immediately thought of my ancestors who carved them and their intentions for marking this particular place in such a significant way. For the first time in my life, I had this sense of belonging. It was a comforting feeling.
And from the markings around this site, I could tell I wasn’t the only aboriginal person who felt this way. There was evidence that a traditional aboriginal ceremony had recently taken place. Huge strips of now faded and soiled fabric in solid colours of white, black, yellow and red were tied around the trees circling the rocks. Ribbons with tobacco pouches were also secured around the trees.
The Mi’kmaq petroglyphs are located along a popular walking trail. The wooded area is completely surrounded by homes. While I was there, several people had walked on the petroglyphs, completely unaware of the unique and historic carvings underneath their feet.
The Mi’kmaq petroglyphs were discovered in 1983 by a hiker walking along the flat rock pathway. After the Nova Scotia Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum examined photographs, archeologists determined that the petroglyphs had been cut and drilled into the rock using stone tools that date back to approximately 1500 A.D. According to the archeologists, the petroglyphs along the Bedford Barrens predate other known petroglyphs in Atlantic Canada.
In the early 1990s, local residents formed a group to preserve the petroglyphs. They wanted to stop any further residential development to prevent damage to the site. As a result, the Nova Scotia government purchased the land where the petroglyphs are located to halt any future development directly on the site. And the group chose not to advertise the exact location of the petroglyphs as a way to protect them. At the same time, Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq leaders also signed a memorandum of understanding promising to work towards protecting the site.
But in 2002, Halifax Regional Municipality approved a land developer’s proposal to build a new subdivision in the area near the Mi’kmaq petroglyphs. At the time, Jerram was worried the construction and blasting would destroy the rock around the area, especially where the petroglyphs are located.
Last winter, my spouse and I hiked to the site to see if the petroglyphs where still there. They were. And they’re still just as difficult to see. The sun wasn’t hitting them from the right direction that day. The same traditional offerings were still there. And the site still remains wide open to local hikers seeking nature paths to explore.
With more local people living around the area, the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum wants to do more to preserve the sacred site. Its heritage and culture committee is currently looking at different ways to protect the petroglyphs and allow people to still use the hiking trail at the same time.
One of the ideas being considered is to create a public park on the green space with hiking trails that lead people around the petroglyphs instead of directly over them. That way, residents can still use the area for short hikes and aboriginal people can access the site to conduct traditional ceremonies. Right now, anyone who wants to visit the site has to cross private property to do so. The Tripartite Forum hopes to have something in place within the next five years.
I, too, would like to see this site preserved sooner rather than later so more aboriginal people can feel that same sense of belonging I felt when I first visited.
Maureen Googoo is a Mi’kmaq journalist living and working in Halifax.
