New Brunswick
Breaking Bread
At Metepenagiag in New Brunswick, thousands of years of Mi'kmaw history are helping a new generation shape the future.
It doesn't take long for me to realize that I've stepped into an ancient story.
Even before we get to the fire, before we gently nestle freshly made dough into hot sand and cover it with ash, I am captivated by the stories of Metepenagiag and the 30 generations of history visible along the high banks of the Little Southwest Miramichi River.
“We've been here since time immemorial,” Patricia Dunnett tells me as we sit inside the cedar-clad lounge of Red Bank Lodge in Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation.
Photo: Red Bank Lodge
Photo: Red Bank Lodge
Located about 20 minutes outside of the town of Miramichi in New Brunswick, Metepenagiag is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the province, with a documented history dating back more than 3,000 years.
To fully understand the story of Red Bank and the Metepenagiag community, Patricia takes me back to the early 1970s to a man named Joe.
"My grandfather, Joe Augustine, was sitting there, reading a magazine, I think it was National Geographic, and he found a story about mounds," Patricia says. "And that just triggered a memory for him because he remembered as a young boy, going on hunting trails with his father and grandfather and seeing a mound like that in the woods."
Patricia recounts how Joe set out in 1972 with a shovel to find the mound, a decision that would ultimately bring thousands of years of Mi'kmaw history back to light and help spark a resurgence in cultural pride that still resonates through the community today.
His discovery caught the attention of archaeologists because burial mounds were not known in this part of the continent. Archaeologists began working at Metepenagiag in the 1970s, with work expanding beyond the mound to other sites in the community, including the Oxbow, an ancient village site across the river from what is now the Metepenagiag Heritage Park. Community members worked alongside professional archaeologists, learning how to excavate and document what they found.
“We came face to face with our history,” Patricia says. “And a story was coming to life.”
Layer by layer, objects left behind by generations of people who had lived here began to tell a much larger story of life along the river.
For decades, the artifacts unearthed during the digs were held in trust in Fredericton. Today, many are housed at Metepenagiag Heritage Park, which opened in 2007 and tells the story of the Augustine Mound and Oxbow National Historic Sites and the generations of Mi'kmaq who have lived along this river.
Just down the road, Red Bank Lodge sits on the banks of the Little Southwest Miramichi River. Originally built as a fishing lodge in 2001, it has evolved into a place for visitors to stay, gather and experience the community.
The rooms are spacious and welcoming, with a porch that has a view of the river. The common area has comfortable couches and a grand fireplace. The self-serve breakfast nook allows guests to help themselves to food, tea and coffee.
On the outdoor deck is a sunken hot tub with views over the river. More wellness touches are planned throughout the lodge, Patricia says.
Photo: Red Bank Lodge
Photo: Red Bank Lodge
Patricia manages both the Red Bank Lodge and the Metepenagiag Heritage Park, which sit next to each other surrounded by forest trails. She is always looking for ways to bring the two together, and to make the spaces welcoming to the community and to visitors.
“It's been an interesting journey for me," Patricia says. "Because I'm being guided along by the youth of our community.”
We head over to Metepenagiag Heritage Park and I quickly begin to understand what she means.
Marcus Laviolette was 16 or 17 when he first came to work at the Metepenagiag Heritage Park. At the time, he saw it mostly as a summer job. Today, at 23, he is one of the heritage interpreters helping visitors understand the archaeological record and the much larger story it represents.
He is also Joe Augustine's great-grandson and Patricia's cousin.
“At first, I didn't think much of it. You know, it's a summer job, go make some money, spend it and have fun," Marcus says. "But then after the first year, I started to realize that what I was doing here, what I was learning and talking about, that's more important than just me as a person.”
Marcus leads me into the exhibit, sharing the stories of his ancestors with an ease that is a pleasure to hear. There is confidence in the way he tells the stories, and an unmistakable pride in his people and culture.
“I get to be a part of something that affects people, that changes their view on who we are as Indigenous people," he says. "And that's important in this day and age to really correct any old misconceptions from 100 years ago and be like, hey, this is who we are, take a look and come stay a while and have some fun, you know?”
As we move through the exhibit, Marcus points out some of the objects that have helped piece together how his ancestors lived here: stone tools, hunting implements and fragments of pottery.
Marcus shows me how the pottery vessels were rounded at the bottom to make them easier to nestle into sand.
Later in the day, as we lean over a fire in the outdoor space behind the building, he shows me the pottery in action. A clay pot is nestled into the sand inside the firepit, holding soup for our lunch.
But before we can eat, we need to make bread. Marcus combines the ingredients in a bowl and makes a pit inside the sand. Traditionally the dough would be made with cattail root, but today we use flour.
He lowers the dough into the sand and carefully rakes more sand and ash over the top. A natural oven.
What emerges after 20 minutes is a perfectly baked loaf, soft and pillowy on the inside and surrounded by a hard crust. Patricia tells me all parts are edible, but the crust can be hard to eat, so we scoop out the insides and eat it alongside the Three Sisters Soup (corn, squash, bean).
Marcus is one of many young people Patricia sees finding new ways to connect with their culture.
Her own daughter introduced her to the idea of food sovereignty and helped develop plans for a year-round greenhouse in the community. Young cooks and foragers are looking again to foods that grow naturally on the land, while others are learning the Mi'kmaq language, drumming, dancing and singing.
“I have these youth that are creating relationships even outside of our community,” Patricia says. “And I love that.”
Marcus sees his role in that resurgence as a chance to share information and connection with the next generation.
“We see students every single year, and we get that opportunity to sort of plant that seed in their mind,” he says.
They may not think much about what they learned at Metepenagiag right away. But Marcus hopes that years from now, when questions about their own history and identity begin to surface, they will remember this place.
“They'll think back to this place and, hey, there's answers, there's information here.”
For Patricia, one of the clearest signs of that resurgence can sometimes be heard inside the Heritage Park itself.
“Sometimes I'll walk into the heritage park, even in the evening,” she says. “I'll walk in and I'll hear the park just alive with drumming and singing, and I'm like, oh, this is wonderful, this is what our people need.”
At Metepenagiag Heritage Park, visitors can explore exhibits filled with artifacts uncovered at the Augustine Mound and Oxbow sites, learn about more than 3,000 years of Mi'kmaq history and take part in cultural experiences such as the Taste of Metepenagiag experience that brought me here.
Red Bank Lodge offers rooms and private cabins overlooking the river, along with meals featuring locally inspired dishes. Together, they give visitors a chance to spend more than a few hours or days in Metepenagiag, learning about the community's history while experiencing the place where that history continues.
I was hosted at the lodge and heritage park, but all opinions remain my own.