Motorists travelling across the Canso Causeway will be welcomed to Cape Breton Island with a new sign in Mikmaq, Pjila’si Unama’kik. Unama’kik is the word Mi’kmaq used to refer to Cape
Premier Iain Rankin and Mi’kmaq Elder Ma’git Poulette unveil the new welcome sign at the Canso Causeway at Port Hasting. (Communications Nova Scotia photo)
Breton and loosely translates to “Land of Fog”. Pjila’si in Mi’kmaq loosely means “Welcome: Come in and Sit Down”.
At a ceremony on Friday, Premier Iain Rankin, along with Mi’kmaq elders and chiefs, Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton and guests unveiled a prototype sign. The actual sign will be installed on the far east entrance to the Island next week. Premier Rankin, who is also Minister of L’nu Affairs the new signs is one way to recognize the Mi’kmaq connection to the land and home of many Mi’kmaq communities on the Island.
Chief Leroy Denny, the Chair of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey says the installation of the sign on the causeway gives all Nova Scotians and visitors a better understanding of the landscape in Mi’kma’ki.
Ma’git Poulette, a Mi’kmaw Elder from We’koqma’q says she is a survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. She says as a child of three, she was forbidden to speak her Mi’kmaw language. She lost her language and fought to relearn in and ensure her children spoke it. Poulette says today to see people welcomed to Unama’ki in her language when they cross the causeway is a dream come true.