CORA (PERRIER) PETRILLI

When I was growing up, the word Mi'kmaq wasn't even to be mentioned. People would call us Jack-o-tars and Mi'kmaqs. My father would get really, really mad. He would say, "There's no Mi'kmaq in us."

I'd ask my grandmother and my grandfather why people treated us different. I said, "Is it because we're Mi'kmaq?"

My grandmother said, "There's no Mi'kmaq in us. My father was French, and my mother came from Ireland."