| Following the retreat of the glaciers, PalaeoIndian people move into the Debert area in central Nova Scotia. For the Mi'kmaq today, Nova Scotia has been part of their ancestral home since time immemorial. Canso is in the "Eskikewa'kikx", one of seven traditional Mi'kmaw territories covering much of Atlantic Canada. | |
| ca. A.D. 500 | Earliest archaeological evidence of occupation on Grassy Island. Aboriginal people camping on the island leave behind a cache of projectile points |
| 1504 | Jean Denys of Honfleur, France, makes the first recorded European fishing voyage to the Newfoundland Grand Banks |
| ca. 1566 | Captain Savalet, a Basque fisherman from St. Jean de Luz, makes his first fishing voyage to the Canso area (probably Whitehaven). In 1607, Marc LesCarbot meets him in that harbour on his 42 annual voyage. |
