Reporting in Mi'kma'ki
Reporting in Mi’kma’ki is a Mi’kmaw-led experiential journalism course
Mi’kmaw musician determined to pass on authentic Mi’kmaw culture to next generation
By Linden Thomas and María Ingrahm
Michael R. Denny recalls the magic of entering his uncle Po’pi Poulette’s basket shop at eleven years old to watch him create a wooden instrument the Mi’kmaq call the ji’kmaqn.
“Without that memory and [him] showing me how to do it, I wouldn't be able to [make ji’kmaqnn],” says Denny.
Denny is a renowned Mi’kmaw musician, part of a drum group called The Stoney Bear Singers and powwow arena director from Eskasoni in Unama’ki (Cape Breton). He is also the chair of the cultural committee for the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG).
He hopes to showcase the vibrancy of Mi’kmaw culture to the thousands attending NAIG while also sustaining traditional knowledge for future generations of Mi’kmaq.
Michael R. Denny shares the significance of the Mi'kmaw traditional instrument: the ji’kmaqn.
A ji’kmaqn is a traditional Mi’kmaw rattle, most notably used to keep rhythm during the Ko’jua dance. Ji’kmaqnn are made out of black or white ash trees; wood that splits easily into sections when hit with a mallet. They are traditionally made as a byproduct of basket splints.
“[The ji’kmaqn] played a big part in our identity because that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” says Denny, “It only exists here.”
Denny still has the ji’kmaqn that his uncle made when he taught him. Patched with black duct tape, this is the ji’kmaqn that Denny used when he first learned to sing Ko’jua.
A display of ji’kmaqnn and traditional rattles including the ji’kmaqn made by Denny’s uncle Po’pi Poulette when Denny was eleven years old. (Photo Credit: María Ingrahm)
The Ko’jua will be a big part of the NAIG opening ceremonies and the cultural village, which will be set up at the Halifax Commons.
For Denny, the Ko’jua embodies the spirit of both culture and sport. Denny says in traditional Ko’jua competitions, singers and dancers would perform until there was only one dancer left.
“It was a good way to show up that competition spirit,” Denny says. “It’s all within our culture.”
This is the first year that NAIG has included a cultural committee of knowledge holders, Elders, and educators. The goal is to represent sport and culture equally at the games.
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As culture chair Denny wants “not only to represent the Mi’kmaw people, but to ensure that what you saw was accurate and authentic.”
The cultural committee considered setting up teepees in their cultural village, but Denny intervened, insisting they build birch bark wigwams, known in Mi’kmaw as wikuoms.
“We really wanted to draw upon the knowledge that’s still alive in Mi’kma’ki,” says Denny.
While highlighting that the event is being hosted in Mi’kma’ki, NAIG will also celebrate the diversity of Indigenous cultural traditions across Turtle Island.
There are 80 members on the cultural committee from throughout the seven districts of Mi’kma’ki as well as Inuit and Métis.
“It's quite a diverse group of people,” Denny says. “Many different people who are recognized within their own communities.”
Denny says there will be opportunities for all Indigenous communities in attendance to perform something from their culture at the main stage each night. They will also be able to showcase crafts and traditions at the NAIG cultural village.
NAIG 2023 has been on Denny’s mind since he joined the cultural committee in 2020 when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be Kjipuktuk's (Halifax's) largest-ever multi-sport and cultural event.
For Denny, NAIG is about so much more than sports. He hopes that the cultural traditions and crafts that are showcased will continue to be practiced and celebrated by the young Mi’kmaw people that NAIG will bring together. He hopes that they will be able to heal.
“Our small nation in this little corner of North America” he says. “We exist, our language is strong, our culture is here, our culture is strong, and our young people are the same way.”