Mira Road / Membertou
Community

Your Host(s) : Canada Post

Sydney River, NS (Nearby: Sydney, Sydney Forks, North Sydney, Marion Bridge, Cape Breton)

1174 KINGS ROAD
Sydney River, Nova Scotia
B1S 1P0


Nova Scotia Tourism Region : Cape Breton Island

Description From Owner:
  • Located immediately east of Sydney, and now joined with Sydney as part of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Mira Road was originally built in the 18th century by French military forces from Fortress Louisbourg.
  • It was used for commercial purposes to move goods between Louisbourg and Spanish Bay, which includes present-day Sydney Harbour. The 'Grande Chemin de Mire' was reported to be wide enough for two carriages to pass, an achievement in colonial France.
  • After French military forces were defeated and expelled from the area, Britain moved to consolidate it with the colony of Nova Scotia.
  • Settlement in the outlying areas of Sydney only began after the American Revolution when New England Loyalists moved to southern Cape Breton Island as refugees.
  • They populated the area along the Mira Road and began farming, eventually creating a community named 'Mira Road'.
  • More recent housing developments in the 1970s saw much of the farmland subdivided into housing lots and the area became a bedroom community of the City of Sydney.
  • The Cape Breton Regional Hospital was opened in the area in 1995, and with major expansions is the major referral centre for Cape Breton Island.
  • From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Road,_Nova_Scotia


Address of this page: http://ns.ruralroutes.com/MiraRoad



Need driving directions? Enter your location:

Mira Road / Membertou,

Have something to say about Mira Road / Membertou?

Tell us, and we'll tell the world!

Your name:
Your email address:
Your phone number:
(optional)   
Your Review:
  • Donald Marshall

  • Donald Marshall

    Justice denied by racism

    His wasn't just the usual case of an innocent person spending the best years of his life in prison.

    The case of Donald Marshall, Jr. (1953-2009) had much further-reaching effects, because a Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled, "the police and judiciary acted unprofessionally and incompetently," and that "racism was a factor in the wrongful conviction."

    In 1971, 16-year-old Marshall, a Mi'kmaw from Membertou, was convicted of stabbing to death Sandy Seale, a young Black man, and sentenced to life in prison, despite his insistence of innocence.

    Eleven years later the case was reviewed and Rob Ebsary was charged and convicted of manslaughter in the case.

    It was eight years before Marshall received any compensation for the 11 years of his life that had been lost.

    In 1996 Marshall was convicted of selling fish without a commercial licence, a conviction overturned three years later by the Supreme Court.

    That decision required the federal government to grant commercial fishing licences to Mi'kmaw communities throughout Atlantic Canada.


Visitors to this page: 593     Emails sent through this page: 1     This record last updated: March 19, 2022

Nearby: