Editor's note: Since publication, the walk has been rescheduled to March 15 due to the province's circuit-breaker measures.
LENNOX ISLAND, P.E.I. — Although decades have passed since he has made the trip, Sen. Brian Francis still has vivid memories of what it’s like to make a hazardous trek across the ice just to access basic services.
“It was certainly a treacherous and dangerous journey, sometimes with deadly consequences,” he said.
When Francis was a child, travelling across the water was the only way to get from Lennox Island to the rest of Prince Edward Island.
The walk wasn’t a rare occurrence, either. It was necessary to get to medical appointments or get groceries or oil – anything residents couldn’t get on Lennox Island.
Though it never happened to Francis, he, when making the journey across, witnessed people falling through the ice into the frigid waters beneath.
“We were scared,” he said. “We were scared to death because you didn’t know whether the person would survive.”
In the summer, residents of Lennox Island could travel across by boat, but even that could be a frightening trip, depending on the weather or tides.
It wasn’t until 1973 that a causeway was built, connecting Lennox Island to East Bideford.
Though Francis had moved to Abegweit First Nation by then, he said the causeway was a “tremendous leap forward” for the community – socially, economically and culturally.
Two years ago, when they were on Lennox Island for a reconciliation project, Francis told Island singer-songwriter and activist Tara MacLean his story of having to cross the ice.
When MacLean heard the story, she knew she wanted to make the trip across herself to better understand the history. If she felt that way, she figured there were others who felt the same. So, she came up with an idea for a modern ice walk.
“It’s just a part of the history that needs to be told,” MacLean said. “Prince Edward Island is a place with people with such massive hearts, and I know that once they understand what happened, it’s going to be a very powerful moment of understanding and reconciliation.”
She passed the idea to Francis and Lennox Island Chief Darlene Bernard, who were all for it.
Bernard, like Francis, had made the trip across the ice as a child. She recalls going across on a sled to get to the hospital and going to funerals for people who had fallen through and died.
“It was always perilous, especially in springtime, when the ice got … not as strong,” said Bernard.
Alongside the event, the song Beneath the Path of Crows and its accompanying video on the ice walk, will be released as a single to raise money for Indigenous youth programs.
“The youth are our future,” Bernard said. “Their well-being is so important for our community and for the Mi’kmaq. They’re the next generation.”
The song was co-written by six people, three Indigenous and three non-Indigenous. MacLean, who also sings it, and Francis were two of these writers.
“It’s all about acknowledging and accepting the real truth about our history and coming together in terms of a meaningful reconciliation process,” said Francis.
Although having to walk across the ice is a thing of the past for Lennox Island, Francis said that’s not the case for Indigenous communities across Canada. In some places, lives are still lost from time to time when crossing ice roads.
“When you look at how isolated our First Nation communities are, to no fault of our own, that’s a reality.”
Raising awareness about Lennox Island’s history and other communities’ present realities, he said, is a large part of what he hopes the modern ice walk will achieve.
The walk will start at Port Hill on March 15 at 12:30 p.m. It’s by invitation only due to pandemic restrictions and will be live-streamed on The Ice Walk YouTube channel.
If the ice isn’t thick enough to walk on, the event will move to a symbolic walk across the causeway.
Francis said people of all backgrounds, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have been invited to the walk. Reconciliation, he said, is everyone’s responsibility.
“The important thing is to move forward towards healing, justice and reconciliation,” he said. “But I think … you have to acknowledge and understand what has happened before you can move forward in a meaningful way.”
At a glance
- The event will start at 12:30 p.m. on March 15 and is by invitation only.
- It begins at Port Hill, with a walk to Lennox Island.
- There will be a ceremonial welcome on Lennox Island, a Mi’kmaq forgiveness ceremony, speeches, presentations and performances.
- The event will finish with a feast.
Kristin Gardiner is the Journal Pioneer's rural reporter.
