Mi'kmaw playwright recounts family's Halifax Explosion story from 'nearly forgotten' Turtle Grove

AMi'kmawplaywright is 'picking up the pieces' of her family's history 100 years after their traditionalMi'kmaqcommunity faced the full forceof the Halifax Explosion.

OnDec. 6, 1917,the Norwegiansteamship Imowas cruising through Halifax Harbour,carrying Belgian relief supplies, when itrammed intothe French munitions boatMont-Blanc, which was carrying TNT and fuel destined for war efforts. The collision started a fire, and the resulting explosion killed nearly 2,000 people in the blink of an eye.

Along the shore, less than two kilometres from the explosion's epicentre, sat the smallMi'kmaqvillage ofTurtle Grove, or Kepe'kek, in the area known today as Tuft's Cove in Dartmouth.

A tragic story

In her play,Picking Up the Pieces,Mi'kmaw Catherine Martin relives thestory of hergreat-aunt Rachel Cope, who lived with her husband John and their manychildren in Turtle Grove.

The play listens in onCope as she explains to her granddaughter Douzaythe devastation their family faced after the explosion.Martin plays both the roles of her great-aunt and the spirit of her great-great-grandmother.

"Needless to say, it isan emotional experience," Martin said, adding that she didn't intend on playing the role herself.

The play is part of an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia called Kepe'kek from the Narrows of the Great Harbour.The photo-based exhibit, running until January 2018,showcasesthe work of Indigenous artists focused on the Indigenouscommunity. Martin was asked by organizers to perform as well, which Martin agreesadds to its depth.

"It's a tragic story, and it's an important story for me to understand," she said.

"That some of them survived is a miracle. TheMi'kmaqtradition is one of oral history. Because many died that day and since, theirstory was nearly lost."

Borninto chaos

Martin saidthe play is based on an interview her great-aunt and -uncleRachel and JohnCopegave to a family memberin 1946. A friend of hers, writing a book on the community, had come across a transcript and gave her a copy to be checked byher family.

In the record, the deaths of 29Mi'kmaqfrom Turtle Grove and surrounding villages are listed. At least five of them were family members, Martin said, including her great-unclesGeorge Francis "Nanan" Copeand ThomasHenryCope,ages three and 12, respectively.

Other entrieson thelist of the dead read:

• William Paul, 4hrs[old]. Son of William Paul and Mary Catherine Paul. The child of Bill and Mary died about four hours after birth ... two or three hours after Father Underwood baptized him.
• William Howard Nevin: 1 [year old], son of Richard Nevin and Madeline (Doucette). Was blown away. Found still alive some distance from the ruins of the Nevinhouse died a few days later.

The interview record is just one of"the pieces" Martin's picked upon her journey to understand the lives of her ancestors. As she scanned the list of the dead, Martin said she started to realize what her great-aunt Rachel had gone through.

"She was on Nevin's hill, near the school house with her brother Henry and her cousin Louis," she said.

"They went to get a look at the burning boat and were up there when it happened. Louis died instantly;Henry died soon after. Rachel lived to tell the tale."

Feeling the horror

Martin said she was told that Rachel rarely talked about the tragedy, so she's thankful to have seen the record. Stepping into Rachel's persona for theplay, her interviewin mind,took her back in time, Martin said.

"I really began to feel the horror. Thosethat weren'tby killed the explosion, got swept away by the waves ...children, many of them. What could they do?"

That realityhits Martin hard, shesaid, because her family has a "strange relationship" with tragic fires.

Her grandfather's brother died in an accident involving a fire and hot scalding water, Martinsaid.In the 1970s, heruncle Gilbertwas killed in an accidental house fire,and in 2011, her son, Thomas Gabriel Martin, died in an accidental car fire outside Halifax.

"What is it with fire?" Martin asks herself.

"It all started with the explosion, but maybe it goes back further.You try to find ... more than whatever is right in front of you. Why am I on this journey now?"

Honouring the dead

For 10 years, Martin has been holding a shoreline drum ceremony onDec. 6at Tuft's Cove, speaking the names of those who died in the explosion and making tobaccoofferings to the water, honouring their lives and helping them to "continue their spiritualjourneys."

Martin said that threeyears ago,she found out one of the names she washonouringbelonged to her great-uncle, Henry.

"That was no coincidence," she said.

"Ifeel that my [ancestors] are really guiding me to tell thisstory....I've been picking up these pieces here and there. Sand and gravel, you know?Trying to figure it all out."

Martin saidtelling the storiesof Turtle Grove is another wayto help educate the public on the Mi'kmaq's shared history with Nova Scotians. She saidshe believes that few records remain about Turtle Grove because of racism and discrimination theMi'kmaqfaced in that period, "and that we still face today," she added.

The land surrounding Turtle Grove is on the table for major redevelopment. Martin saidshewantsto have the land and waterlineexamined by archeologists before that happens.

More fragmentsofMi'kmaqhistory, the legacy of the Halifax Explosion, and her family,may still be resting there.