The Micmac way of life changed when the Europeans came. They brought many new ideas to the Micmacs. It was the Europeans who first brought alcohol to the Micmacs. Alcohol was traded for furs. Most Micmacs had never had alcohol before. They were not used to the way it made them feel. Throughout their history the Micmacs had always been careful in their thoughts and actions. They found that drinking alcohol made it hard to be as careful.

The European white man also brought with him many diseases. The Micmacs had no medicine to cure these diseases. Even in the best of times, there were not many Micmacs living along the Miramichi. Those awful new diseases killed many of them. For a time it looked like those diseases would wipe out the Indian people completely. These were just some of the changes the Europeans made in the Indian way of life.