The Maritimes

The Maritime Provinces

Historically Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were considered one territory. Overall there were some similar roots causing systemic issues in each of them: doubleness, duplicity and disdain. Doubleness means accommodating or designed for two as well as characterized by duplicity, deceitfulness, speaking with a double tongue. Disdain means the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect.

Nova Scotia

John and Joyce Brinkerhoff of Kelowna joined us in Halifax. Edward Cornwallis, a British officer and colonial administrator, founded Halifax in 1749 in an effort to establish British claims to Nova Scotia territory. He built a citadel to secure the territory and oppose the French stronghold in Cape Breton Island. He had enormous disdain for the Mi'kmaq, First Nation’s people, by setting a bounty upon their heads in an attempt to rid the territory of them. He also established the plans for expulsion of the French Acadian settlers, which occurred in 1755 in Nova Scotia and PEI. This seed of violence and traumatic experiences has born fruit throughout the province’s history.

We prayed into the Halifax explosion of 1917, the sinking of the Titanic and the rescue operation from Halifax, the land expropriation of the settlement of Africville belonging to the black loyalists, and Swiss Air Flight 111. At the Halifax citadel, a massive 8 pointed star shaped fort, one of our team asked the rest of us if we saw blood flowing in the trough surrounding the upper wall. We prayed into the blood shed upon the land and she said it was gone. A few minutes later one of the tourists said to her friend, “Did you feel the atmosphere in the fort change?”

We also prayed at Pier 21, the centre for immigration to Canada, for the mistreatment and broken promises made to the new arrivals. We prayed at the memorial for the Jews on board the St. Louis that the Canadian government turned away from refuge before World War II.

Prince Edward Island

The conference that initiated the confederation of Canada was held in Charlottetown in 1864 but the Island decided it was not in their best interests to join Canada. “In 1873, Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, anxious to thwart American expansionism and facing the distraction of the Pacific Scandal, negotiated for Prince Edward Island to join Canada. The Dominion Government of Canada assumed the colony's extensive railway debts and agreed to finance a buy-out of the last of the colony's absentee landlords to free the island of leasehold tenure and from any new immigrants entering the island (accomplished through the passage of the Land Purchase Act, 1875)”.[1] PEI played Britain, USA and Canada against each other to get the best deal. Now they lay claim to being the home of Canadian Confederation.

The doubleness also manifested in Christian faith and legalism between Catholicism and Protestantism.

New Brunswick

The team again felt that there was double-dealing and duplicity within the province. The treaties with the Maliseet First Nation were ignored with the authorities saying one thing to them and doing the complete opposite. There land was sold while they were being told it wasn’t. The English brought Scots to settle the land. During the Irish Potato famine the Irish settlers came to New Brunswick. The Irish had to take menial tasks, restricted in what they could do, along with tension between their Catholicism and the Scot’s Protestantism. We prayed repentantly into these issues at the City Hall in Fredericton. We prayed along the river calling up a release of prosperity and blessing.

We also felt directed to pray about free masonry in the province. There is a disproportionately large number of masonic temples for the size of the population. The organization started the same year as the province entered confederation. The discernment was a link between the masons and the fathers of confederation.

New Brunswick was the first province to have a residential school started in 1813 and closed in 1830 due to abuse. It was a forerunner to the policy later established by Sir John A MacDonald and the churches to inculcate the children through these schools. We repented for these and other actions of our forefathers at Two Nations Crossing in Fredericton.

We are very thankful to all of you who have sent us different words of knowledge to pray in these provinces. The words again and again would confirm words we heard in our prayer times. It is remarkable to think God can speak so clearly about situations to people thousands of kilometres apart.

Does prayer change things? We think so or we wouldn’t be doing this. A number of years ago while we were praying for the nations of Europe my brother prophesied to us that we would even see answers before we left a place. As we were in Charlottetown there was a response of the two chiefs of the Mi’kmaq nation on the island reported by CBC. The link is: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-indigenous-macdonald-statue-1.4290599. Now while in Quebec City news from Halifax shares how the government is ensuring the black community receives title to their lands. The link is: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/legal-title-black-loyalists-north-preston-1.4309505

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Island - Confederation