Canard, Nova Scotia corner. Canard was known to the Mi'kmaq people as Apocheechumochwakade meaning "home of the black duck". Archaeological sites indicate that the Mi'kmaq used the river mouth for shad fishing. Canard was an important Acadian village known as Rivière-aux-Canards whose population settled on both sides of the river beginning in the late 1600s and totaled 750 people by 1750. The Acadian settlement included extensive dyked farm lands along the river, several mills, its own parish. The Acadian settlement was destroyed in the 1755 Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Expulsion of the Acadians. A severe storm in November 1759 broke the
River Canard, Ontario to Detroit, where doctors amputated his left arm because it was severely wounded. He was liberated one month later, after the British took over Fort Detroit. An Ontario historical plaque marks the site of the battle and tells of the British casualties. River Canard is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, as it was part of early French colonial settlement in the 18th century related to Fort Detroit and the Detroit River. Their descendants, known as Fort Detroit French, still live in the area. They were joined in southwestern Ontario by more numerous French-speaking migrants, known as