We Were Not The Savages, first published in 1993 and repeatedly republished since, is a detailed history, based on both documentary and oral sources, of Mi'kmaq-European conflicts, treaties, legal battles, and ongoing tensions from earliest times to the present.
Paul was born on the Indian Brook Reserve of Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia. He attended Indian day schools but described himself as largely self-educated. Early in his career he was employed by the federal Department of Indian Affairs. He was later executive director of the Micmac Confederacy and other indigenous agencies as well as a Nova Scotia Justice of the Peace. He was named to the Order of Canada in 2006. He continuously revised and expanded We Were Not the Savages up to its most recent edition in 2022, when he was 84.
“While I have learned a great deal from the writings of Indigenous Peoples from all over Turtle Island, there is one book that has been my anchor: We Were Not the Savages by Mi’kmaw Elder and author Dr. Daniel N. (Danny) Paul. I have relied on his book as both a shield against the longstanding, widespread anti-Indigenous racism in society and as a powerful sword of knowledge, challenging racist and false government propaganda about our peoples.
-- from the foreword to the 2022 edition by Pamela Palmater.
John Reid's appreciation of the importance of We Were Not the Savages appears in Acadiensis online.
