Sipuk

Sipuk, “at the river,” is a Mi'kmaw name associated with the Sydney area on Cape Breton Island. The river flows into a sheltered harbor on the island's eastern side, within the Mi'kmaw homeland of Unama'ki. British authorities founded Sydney on the harbor in 1785, after Cape Breton became a separate colony. Its position linked the new settlement to the Atlantic approaches and the waterways of the island, long used by Mi'kmaq communities.