Citizenship 9 • Unit 2 Review & Study Guide — Indigenous Treaties & Donald Marshall Jr.

Module 1 • Deep Time & Ancient Migrations

1. The First Peoples, Deep Time & Ancient Migration

Beringia: During the last Ice Age (up to ~13,000–20,000 years ago), massive continental glaciers locked up enormous amounts of ocean water. Global sea levels dropped by roughly 100 metres, exposing a vast land plain between Siberia and Alaska.
Scale of Beringia: It was not a narrow bridge or fragile crossing; it was a massive, habitable tundra plain up to 1,600 km (1,000 miles) wide.
Migration Motive: Ancient hunter-gatherers crossed Beringia following migrating herds of Ice Age megafauna—specifically woolly mammoths, steppe bison, and caribou.
The Traditional "Clovis First" Theory: For decades, archaeologists taught that the first humans arrived in North America around 13,000–13,500 years ago by walking through an inland "ice-free corridor" between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.
The "Eva of Naharon" Contradiction: In the early 2000s, divers discovered the 13,600+ year-old human skeletal remains of a woman nicknamed "Eva" in a flooded underwater cave system in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
Why Eva matters: Her remains dated older than (or matched) the Clovis timeline and were located thousands of miles south in Central America long before the northern inland ice corridor was passable. This proved conclusively that humans were already living across the Americas before Clovis, shattering the "Clovis First" model.
The "Kelp Highway" (Coastal Migration Theory): Suggests that early seafaring peoples migrated southward by boat along the Pacific coastline, living off rich kelp-forest ecosystems (fish, shellfish, seals, sea mammals, edible seaweed).
Submerged Evidence: When glaciers melted at the end of the Ice Age, sea levels rose ~100 metres, drowning ancient Pacific coastal settlements. The primary physical evidence of early coastal migration is now underwater.
Two Ways of Knowing: Scientific archaeology (excavation, radiocarbon dating, testing hypotheses against physical evidence) sits respectfully beside Indigenous Knowledge (oral traditions, genealogies, presence "since time immemorial" / Wskitqamu). Neither invalidates the other.

💡 Key Archeological Takeaway "Clovis First" is now recognized as scientifically incomplete. The discovery of ancient remains such as Eva of Naharon and Pacific coastal evidence demonstrates that Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Americas far longer and across more diverse migration routes than early textbook models claimed.

Module 2 • Indigenous Territory & Treaties

2. Mi'kma'ki & The Peace and Friendship Treaties (1725–1779)

Mi'kma'ki: The ancestral, unsurrendered, and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaw nation, encompassing modern-day Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, eastern New Brunswick, the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, and parts of western Newfoundland.
The Nature of Peace and Friendship Treaties: Signed between the British Crown and the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy between 1725 and 1779.
Unlike Western Canadian "Numbered Treaties", the Mi'kmaq NEVER surrendered, sold, or ceded their land or sovereign rights.

They were solemn, government-to-government peace agreements and military alliances designed to prevent conflict and secure coexistence.
"Unceded Land": Nova Scotia is unceded territory because Mi'kmaw title to the land was never signed away in any treaty, never sold, and never extinguished by conquest.
The 1752 Treaty (Governor Peregrine Hopson & Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope): Formally guaranteed the Mi'kmaq the "free liberty of hunting and fishing as usual" without hindrance or government interference.
The 1760–1761 Treaties & The "Truckhouse Clause": The British Crown promised to establish government-operated trading posts ("truckhouses") where the Mi'kmaq could bring their harvested furs, fish, and goods to trade for European commodities.
The Meaning of "Necessaries": In 1760, "necessaries" meant the basic essentials of life—food, warm clothing, shelter materials, ammunition, and harvesting tools required to sustain families and communities.
Royal Proclamation of 1763: Issued by King George III; recognized Indigenous land rights across British North America, declaring that Indigenous territory could only be acquired by the Crown through formal, public treaties, strictly forbidding private settlers from seizing Indigenous land.
"We Are All Treaty People": A foundational civic concept. Treaties are reciprocal two-way agreements. Non-Indigenous Canadians' legal right to settle, build communities, own property, and govern in Nova Scotia derives directly from the promises made by the British Crown in the Peace and Friendship Treaties.

⚖️ Constitutional Principle Peace and Friendship Treaties are living covenants of coexistence. Non-Indigenous presence in Nova Scotia is legally grounded upon the promises Crown representatives made to the Mi'kmaq. When non-Indigenous citizens live and work in Nova Scotia, they are active beneficiaries of those treaties.

Module 3 • Systemic Justice & Exoneration

3. Donald Marshall Jr. & The 1971 Wrongful Conviction

May 28, 1971 (Wentworth Park, Sydney, NS): 17-year-old Donald Marshall Jr. and his Black acquaintance Sandy Seale encountered two men in the park. One of the men, Roy Ebsary, suddenly stabbed Sandy Seale in the stomach. Marshall was slashed on the arm while trying to intervene and ran to get help. Seale tragically died of his injuries.
Police Tunnel Vision & Systemic Racism: The Sydney police immediately targeted 17-year-old Donald Marshall Jr. solely because he was an Indigenous teenager in the park. Investigators ignored the real killer and failed to interview nearby residents.
Coerced Testimony: Police interrogated teenage witnesses for hours, threatening them with charges until they signed fabricated statements claiming they saw Marshall stab Seale.
11 Years Wrongfully Imprisoned: In November 1971, an all-white jury convicted Marshall of non-capital murder. He was sentenced to life in prison and served 11 years in maximum-security federal penitentiaries (Dorchester and Springhill) for a murder he did not commit, before being exonerated in 1982/1983.
Roy Ebsary: The actual killer had a known history of carrying knives and violent outbursts. He was eventually tried and convicted of manslaughter in the 1980s.
The 1989 Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr. Prosecution: The landmark public inquiry led by Chief Justice T. Alexander Hickman concluded that systemic racism infected every level of the Nova Scotia justice system—police, Crown prosecutors, defense counsel, trial judges, and the provincial government.
Major Structural Reforms:
Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service (PPS): Created in 1990 as an independent body to take prosecution and charging decisions away from police officers.

Indigenous Court-Worker Programs & Judicial Training: Programs established to assist Indigenous individuals navigating courts and educate judges on systemic bias.

Groundwork for Gladue: The Inquiry's findings directly influenced national criminal justice reforms and sentencing alternatives across Canada.

🔍 The Hickman Royal Commission Finding "The criminal justice system failed Donald Marshall, Jr. at virtually every turn from his arrest and wrongful conviction for murder in 1971 up to, and even beyond, his acquittal by the Court of Appeal in 1983. That failure was caused by racism and systemic administrative failure."

Module 4 • Criminal Justice Reform

4. Gladue Rights & Restorative Justice

Criminal Code Section 718.2(e) (Enacted 1996): Canadian sentencing law instructing judges that "all available sanctions, other than imprisonment, that are reasonable in the circumstances, should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders."
The 1999 R. v. Gladue Supreme Court Decision: Confirmed that judges are legally required to consider the unique systemic and historical factors affecting Indigenous people at sentencing hearings.
Systemic Factors Evaluated:
Intergenerational trauma resulting from the residential school system.

The Sixties Scoop and widespread displacement through child welfare systems.

Systemic poverty, racism, loss of language, and community dislocation.
The Gladue Report: A comprehensive, independent biographical report prepared for the sentencing judge detailing the offender's life history, systemic barriers, and community-based restorative healing options.
Restorative Justice: Focuses on repairing relationships, healing harm, and community reintegration rather than purely retributive punishment (warehousing offenders in prison).

⚖️ Gladue is Not an "Automatic Get-Out-of-Jail Card" Gladue does not create an automatic reduction in sentence or exempt Indigenous people from accountability. Instead, it requires judges to look at the whole human being in context, addressing root causes of crime through culturally responsive rehabilitation rather than compounding systemic harm.

Module 5 • Constitutional Treaty Rights Case

5. Donald Marshall Jr. & The 1993 Eel Catch (R. v. Marshall)

August 1993 (Pomquet Harbour, Antigonish County): Donald Marshall Jr. caught 463 pounds of adult eels out of season without a federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) commercial licence, selling them for $787.10 to support himself and his partner Jane McMillan.
The Charges: DFO charged Marshall under the federal Fisheries Act with:
1. Fishing during a closed season.

2. Fishing without a commercial licence.

3. Selling fish without a commercial licence.
Marshall's Legal Defense: Marshall admitted catching and selling the eels, but pled not guilty, arguing that as a Mi'kmaw person, he was exercising his constitutionally protected treaty rights under the 1760 Peace and Friendship Treaty.
Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982:
"The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed."

Section 35 entrenched treaty rights as supreme constitutional law, placing them above ordinary federal statutes like the Fisheries Act.
Hierarchy of Law: In Canadian constitutional law, when a federal regulation conflicts with a Section 35 treaty right, the treaty right takes precedence unless the government can prove a compelling conservation justification.
Provincial Court Convictions: The Nova Scotia Provincial Court and Court of Appeal initially convicted Marshall, ruling that the 1760 Treaty did not grant an ongoing commercial right to sell fish. Marshall appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Module 6 • Supreme Court Ruling & Moderate Livelihood

6. The 1999 Supreme Court Ruling & "Moderate Livelihood"

September 17, 1999 (R. v. Marshall): The Supreme Court of Canada overturned Marshall's conviction and acquitted him on all counts.
The Core Ruling: The Court ruled that the 1760 Truckhouse Clause was not merely a historical trading mechanism, but a continuing covenant protecting the Mi'kmaw right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife to trade commercially.
Definition of "Moderate Livelihood":
The Court defined it as securing "necessaries" in a modern context: food, clothing, housing, basic amenities, and modest economic security.

It does NOT grant a right to open-ended, unlimited commercial wealth accumulation, corporate fleet building, or industrial-scale resource extraction.
The "Undefined Trap": The Supreme Court never defined an exact dollar figure, catch quota, trap limit, or seasonal timetable for what constitutes a "moderate livelihood". They urged First Nations and the federal government to negotiate.
November 1999 ("Marshall 2" Clarification): Following protests from non-Indigenous commercial fishers, the Supreme Court issued an unusual clarification stating that the federal government (DFO) retains the power to regulate Indigenous treaty fisheries, but ONLY for genuine conservation purposes and only after meaningful government-to-government consultation.

⚠️ The "Undefined Trap" Because the Supreme Court gave no specific formula or catch numbers for a "moderate livelihood," the ruling created a 25-year regulatory vacuum. First Nations assert their right to self-regulate based on Section 35, while commercial associations and DFO enforce standard seasonal restrictions, resulting in ongoing friction on the water.

Module 7 • Modern Conflicts & Civic Action

7. Modern Consequences & Civic Responsibility

The 2020 St. Mary's Bay Lobster Dispute (Saulnierville, NS): In September 2020, Sipekne'katik First Nation launched their own self-regulated "moderate livelihood" lobster fishery outside the federal commercial DFO season, issuing band-authorized tags based on their 1760 treaty rights.
Commercial non-Indigenous fishers protested, arguing that fishing outside the federal season threatened lobster breeding cycles and created unfair two-tier rules.

Tensions escalated into blockades, protests at wharves, the destruction of lobster traps, and the arson of a lobster storage facility.

The conflict highlighted that 21 years after the Marshall decision, the Canadian government had still failed to negotiate a workable moderate livelihood framework.
Sovereign Trading Posts / Cannabis Dispensaries (2025–26): Mi'kmaw entrepreneurs opened trading posts on unceded reserve land under the 1760 Truckhouse Clause, clashing with RCMP enforcement under the federal Cannabis Act.
What a Grade 9 Student Can Do (Civic Responsibility):
1. Knowledge & Awareness: Understand that treaties are legally binding constitutional contracts, not voluntary guidelines.

2. Respecting Treaty Harvesting: Recognize that Indigenous people fishing for food, social, ceremonial, or moderate livelihood purposes are exercising legal constitutional rights, not "poaching".

3. Challenging Misinformation: Actively push back against racist stereotypes and inaccurate social media claims about Indigenous rights.

4. Recognizing Mi'kma'ki: Acknowledge unceded land meaningfully in community spaces, government, and civic life.

🤝 The Bottom Line for Active Citizens Reconciliation is not a past event—it is an everyday civic practice. Donald Marshall Jr. stood trial twice: once as an innocent teen framed by a racist justice system, and again as an adult fighting for the treaty rights of all Mi'kmaw people. Understanding his legacy is foundational to active citizenship in Nova Scotia.

Part 2 • Assessment Anchors & Blooket Master Key

40 Core Review Questions & Correct Answer Key

These 40 questions correspond directly to the companion Excel/CSV Blooket game file (Cit9_Treaties_Marshall_Review_Blooket_40Q.xlsx).

Showing 40 of 40 questions

#	Topic / Question Focus	Correct Answer (Fact / Legal Principle)	Slot
1	How Beringia emerged during Ice Age	Lowering sea levels ~100m trapped in continental glaciers	2
2	Beringia physical scale	Vast tundra plain up to 1,600 km wide	1
3	Motivation of ancient hunters	Following migrating herds of large game animals (mammoths, bison, caribou)	3
4	Traditional Clovis First claim	First human arrival ~13,000–13,500 yrs ago via northern ice corridor	4
5	Where Eva of Naharon was found	Flooded underwater cave system in Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico	1
6	Why Eva shattered Clovis First	Predated Clovis & thousands of miles south pre-ice-free corridor	1
7	Kelp Highway hypothesis	Boat migration along Pacific coast foraging marine ecosystems	2
8	Why coastal camps are hard to find	Melting glaciers drowned ancient shorelines under 100m of ocean	3
9	Ancestral homeland of Mi'kmaq	Mi'kma'ki (NS, PEI, eastern NB, Gaspé, western NL)	3
10	Why called Peace & Friendship	Established peace without ceding, selling, or surrendering land	4
11	Meaning of unceded territory	Land was never sold, signed away, or surrendered by treaty	4
12	1752 Treaty core right	Freedom to hunt and fish as usual without hindrance	1
13	Purpose of 1760 Truckhouse Clause	Crown trading posts where Mi'kmaq traded harvested goods for necessaries	2
14	Meaning of necessaries in 1760	Basic essentials of life: food, clothing, shelter, tools	3
15	"We Are All Treaty People" meaning	Settlers' right to live in Mi'kma'ki comes from treaty promises	4
16	Royal Proclamation of 1763	Indigenous land could only be acquired via formal Crown treaties	1
17	1971 Wentworth Park tragedy	Sandy Seale stabbed by Roy Ebsary; Marshall wounded seeking help	2
18	Why police targeted Marshall	Racial bias & tunnel vision assuming Indigenous guilt	3
19	How wrongful conviction was obtained	Coerced false statements from intimidated teenage witnesses	4
20	Actual killer of Sandy Seale	Roy Ebsary, local man with history of carrying knives	1
21	Time Marshall spent in prison	11 years in maximum-security federal penitentiaries	2
22	1989 Royal Commission conclusion	Systemic racism infected every level of the Nova Scotia justice system	3
23	Structural reform in Nova Scotia	NS Public Prosecution Service created (police lose charging power)	4
24	National sentencing reform from Inquiry	Gladue Rights and Principles for Indigenous offenders	1
25	What Gladue Rights are	Judges must consider systemic trauma & prison alternatives (s. 718.2e)	2
26	Systemic factors reviewed under Gladue	Residential schools, intergenerational trauma, foster care, discrimination	3
27	Function of a Gladue Report	Details life history, systemic trauma, and community healing options	4
28	Focus of restorative justice	Healing harm, repairing relationships, community accountability	1
29	Marshall's 1993 Pomquet Harbour catch	463 lbs adult eels sold for $787 to support himself & partner	2
30	Federal statute Marshall was charged under	Fisheries Act (fishing out of season, no commercial licence)	3
31	Marshall's legal defense in eel trial	Exercising constitutional treaty rights under the 1760 Treaty	4
32	Section 35 of Constitution Act 1982	Recognizes & affirms treaty rights as supreme constitutional law	1
33	Conflict between regulation & treaty	Constitutional treaty right outranks ordinary statute/regulation	2
34	NS Provincial Court ruling	Convicted Marshall (ruled 1760 treaty had no continuing commercial right)	3
35	1999 Supreme Court ruling (R. v. Marshall)	Acquitted Marshall; affirmed right to hunt/fish for moderate livelihood	4
36	"Moderate livelihood" definition	Securing modern necessaries (food, shelter, amenities), not corporate wealth	2
37	Flaw / Undefined trap in 1999 decision	Never defined exact dollar figure, catch quota, or seasons	3
38	"Marshall 2" clarification	DFO can regulate for conservation after meaningful consultation	4
39	2020 St. Mary's Bay dispute spark	Sipekne'katik launched self-regulated fishery outside DFO commercial season	1
40	Grade 9 civic responsibility	Learning treaties, honoring unceded land, rejecting stereotypes	2