Richard Uniacke was from a prominent Halifax family which included his brother James, the first Premier of Nova Scotia following the institution of responsible government in 1848. After graduating from law school in 1810, young Richard moved to Cape Breton and in 1814 was appointed Attorney General of the island,Read More

Cape Breton Island (CBI) was annexed in 1820 without the consent of the Governor of CBI or consent of the island residents. Annexation was in response to the Crown losing a tax case 1816-1820 to two CBI mine owners, over Crown tax demands of the residents of CBI. In response,Read More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. (You can read Part I here and Part II here.)    In this, the thirdRead More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. You can read Part I here.   “[T]he annexation was not legal according to BritishRead More

“Unconstitutional and illegal” So declared 2,000 passionate and angry Cape Bretoners, in their eighth bid to get the British government to reverse its decision to annex Cape Breton to Nova Scotia in 1820. In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, I thinkRead More