Just over a year ago, we told you about the passing of Elsie Basque, a woman who belonged to the Miโkmaq nation, one of the original peoples in what is today Canada.
Today, weโre bringing you happier news. ย Right now, the gala event to choose Miss Canada 2017 is being held, and one of the finalists is Magan Kateri Basque. ย She too is of the Miโkmaq nation, and has that wonderful surname, and is the holder of the Miss Cape Breton World 2017 titleholder.
Apart from wishing her the best of luck, we canโt help but make the most of this opportunity of this surname again appearing in the media to try to explain why so many native people in this part of Canada have this surname.
And weโre again asking this because we have to admit that itโs normal to wonder why a person belonging to a First Nation would have the name of a native European people as their surname.
But if we go through our own blog, we can begin to imagine theย relationships between the Basques and the native inhabitantsย of that area of modern-day Canada, who spoke Algonquian and who were there for centuries, creating aย Basque-Algonquian pidgin.
Professorย Aitor Esteban, of the University of Deusto, tells us the story of these relationships in great detail in an article published in the magazineย Euskaletxeakย (see below). ย In this article, he also discusses how itโs even common to find the surname โBasqueโ among the Miโkmaq of northern New Brunswick.
Miss World Canada – 7/2017 – Canadรก
2017 Miss World Canada Finalists!
Magan is a young Indigenous woman who continuously practices her cultural by making her own regalia and hand drum. Magan has also participated in high school activities such as basketball, softball, and dinner theatre and drama.
(Continue) (Automatic Translation)
Euskaletxeak – 2007 – Euskadi
Aniaq:ย Miโkmaq and Basques
Itโs a well-known fact that the Basques were pioneers inย whaling and cod fishing in Newfoundland and the Gulf ofย St. Lawrence since the early part of the sixteenthย century, working the waters before other countries
arrived. Champlain himself, forefather of what is now Quebรฉc,ย defined us as protagonists in fishing and trade in the areaย before other nations.Therefore, it is not unrealistic to assumeย that the first outside contacts with
(English)ย (Castellano)
Last Updated on Jun 6, 2023 by About Basque Country
