By: Shannon Monk, KMKNO, featuring Ardelle Reynolds
As we continue our exploration of Mi’kmaw Cultural Tourism in Nova Scotia, we will be profiling Mi’kmaw cultural tourism entrepreneurs as well as Nation owned entities. I recently visited with Susan Googoo (Director of Employment and Training) and Ella Nicholas (Cultural Tourism Coordinator) from We’koqma’q First Nation to talk about cultural authenticity. After a wonderful discussion, we ended up taking a walk on the beautiful Skye River Trail. It was breathtaking, and Susan and Ella shared many wonderful stories. At the end of the walk, I told Susan I wished I had thought to bring my camera and recorder to interview her. She laughed and told me that she had just been interviewed a few weeks previously and an article had been published. So, I went online and found it! It was so beautifully written! And the photos were spectacular. Ardelle Reynolds and I had a similar conversation and experience with Susan, who is such a great host and so passionate about the trail. Susan and Ardelle both granted permission for us to share her article and photos, and we are very pleased to do so:
Beauty and culture of Cape Breton’s Skye River Trail open to all | SaltWire
Beauty and culture of Cape Breton’s Skye River Trail open to all
Ardelle Reynolds · Posted: March 22, 2021, 11:10 a.m.
Susan Googoo on the bridge over the Skye River, which flows between We’koqma’q First Nation and the village of Whycocomagh in Inverness County. The bridge is part of the Skye River Trail, a project Googoo has been working on with the community for about five years. She says it’s a place for residents and visitors to come and enjoy the natural beauty and culture of the area. ARDELLE REYNOLDS • CAPE BRETON POST
WE’KOQMA’Q — Susan Googoo often meditates on the bank of the Skye River during the warmer months. This time of year, she loves to walk the snow-covered path through the bare trees.
“It’s like walking through a storybook,” she said.
Her love of the Skye River Trail is obvious as she points out the tree stumps chewed by beavers or the way the branches have grown over the path in spots to create a woodsy tunnel. She points out the orchard of wenjusunaqsi — Mi’kmaq for apple tree — where deer come to eat the apples in the fall.
Googoo has led the effort to develop the trail, a groomed loop just over a kilometer-long that sits alongside the Skye River on the edge of We’koqma’q First Nation. The river runs between the community and the neighbouring village of Whycocomagh in Inverness County.
Googoo is We’koqma’q’s director of employment and training and says the development of the trail has created work for some 10 people who work as either heritage interpreters to run cultural programming or as maintenance staff to groom and shape the trail.
“They’ve been learning and spending time with the elders, gaining knowledge and building their confidence as workers and being part of something and growing something and they do a great job. I’m proud of them every year,” she said.
Over the past five years, the team has been gradually adding to the natural beauty of the trail with a bridge, benches and picnic tables and wooden stages and decks to hold cultural activities and performances. In the summer months, they put up a teepee near a small beach where families bring children to play in the shallow water.
This year’s additions include new signage to welcome visitors at the entrance to the trail. These large panels display cultural and geographical information about the community, a map of the trail and profiles of Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy and local artist Whitney Gould, whose artwork inspired by the riverside will be found on the eight additional panels to be added throughout the trail in the coming months.
A new medicine garden will be planted in raised beds that were built in the fall. Googoo said she’s working with elders in the community to determine which traditional medicinal plants to include in the garden.
“We’ve lost a lot of our culture and knowledge so we’re always re-learning. That’s why we go to the elders and get their advice and they’re excited to grow things here and try some things out. It’ll be a place for the community to come and learn and share.”
Googoo said there’s also potential to grow food to share with the community and to partner with other groups to expand the garden.
The long-term plan is to create cultural tours and packages that will generate revenue but Googoo said that’s not the focus.
Instead, she wants the trail to be a healing place for the community and a way to share their Mi’kmaq culture and history with tourists from all over the world.
“It might not seem like something big for others but it’s big for us when we’re trying to build relationships with different communities and wanting to share our culture,” she said.
In 2019, the community hosted a cultural walk through the trail as part of Celtic Colours International Festival.
School groups and summer camps have visited and Googoo’s team has put together various cultural experiences with drumming, singing and a medicine walk.
She’s looked to other communities in Unama’ki, especially Eskasoni and Membertou that have popular tourist attractions, for advice and collaboration.
“It’s never about competition, we always encourage each other and help each other and we all have different strengths in the different communities so just building on those and working together,” she said.
“At the end of the day I just want our people to love to come here and have a place to take a walk and now that the new panels are up I hope people will feel excited about the other stuff coming up.”
Ardelle Reynolds is an Indigenous Affairs reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
We hope you enjoyed this wonderful walk through the Skye River Trail! It was so inspiring and showcases the depth and breadth of what visitors seeking cultural tourism experiences are looking for.
We are looking for other recommendations for future articles to feature Mi’kmaw cultural tourism. Do you have suggestions, or would you like to be featured in our monthly news article? We are looking for interested Mi’kmaw cultural tourism business owners, community entities, crafters, artists, etc. If you have recommendations, please let us know!
Finally, if you have any photos that you would be willing to share with us to use for the purposes of sharing information about Mi’kmaw cultural tourism, we would be most grateful. This could be of community landmarks, physical attractions, special locations, events, cultural activities (mawiomis, feasts), cultural products (ie: photos of beadwork or quillwork or baskets, etc), buildings, and any other ideas you may have. We’d love to see them all. Your name, or the photographer’s name would always be acknowledged when using the photo.