Fonds F0568 - William Wicken fonds

William Craig Wicken studied history at McGill University, earning a B.A. in 1983, a M.A. in 1985, and a Ph.D. in 1994 for his thesis, "Encounters with tall sails and tall tales : Mi'kmaq society, 1500-1760." His doctorate led to employment as a contract researcher with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1993, and from 1993 to 1995 as a researcher with the Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Research Centre in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, on the Aboriginal Title Project that was established by the Confederacy of Mainland Micmacs and the Union of Nova Scotia Indians. Wicken was appointed an Assistant Professor with York University's Department of History in 1996, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2000. His knowledge of Mi'kmaq society and land treaties led to the frequent engagement of his services since 1995 to prepare historical reports and affidavits, and to testify as an expert witness in several legal cases in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland involving commercial fishing, moose hunting, selling tobacco without charging federal taxes, and harvesting and selling timber from Crown lands. He has reported on this work through conference presentations, articles in scholarly journals and books, and his monograph, "Mi'kmaq treaties on trial : history, land and Donald Marshall Junior" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), winner of the Canadian Historical Association's annual Clio Award for the best book on Atlantic Canada.