The Mi'kmaq Petit Pas family stems from Claude Petit Pas and Catherine Bugaret and dates back to the early 1600s.  Several of their children like the Mius family in this time period where totally integrated with the Mi'kmaq community. 

The court case of the hanging of Jean Baptiste Guédry in Boston clearly indicates the Petit Pas family from which the Bras d'Or Indians descend was fully integrated within the Mi`kmaq community of La heve.   Jean Baptiste Guédry, the grandson of Claude Petit Pas and Catherine Bugaret, was hanged along with 3 other Indians in Boston, two of which were his brother-in-laws, Jacques Mius and Philippe Mius.  Although Jean was tried in French, we learn from the two court cases that  he also spoke the Mi'kmaq language.

Many of the sons of Claude Petit Pas & Catherine Bugaret, namely Jean, Paul, Charles, Pierre and Martin disappear from the census records. They seem to have followed the footsteps of the brothers of their mother Catherine Bugaret into the woods and like them disappeared from the French census records.

The fact the Bugaret family was BASQUE and not French may explain why the Bugaret family as well as the Petit Pas family in question so easily integrated into the Mi'kmaq community of Mi'kma'ki. The two Mi`kmaq Petit Pas lines from which the Bras d'Or Indian families stems are:

1. Claude Petit Pas and his Mi'kmaq wife Marie Thérèse.
   (Claude as well as his son Barthélemy were Indian interpretors)
   
   
2. Margaret Petit Pas and Claude Guédry [La Verdure].  Their son Jean Baptiste Guédry married a Mi`kmaq woman named Madeleine Mius.

The picture of the Howling Wolf to the right is a befitting symbol for the voice of our ancestors. Today we hear their voices howling out from the past, encouraging us to soar and to take flight once again.

The MI'KMAQ Petit Pas Family

Copyright © 2007 The Bras d'Or First Nations Community