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Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, 1866

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Mi'kmaq intended friendly and reciprocal relationship with British crown, according to historian John G. Reid. Mi'kmaw leaders who represented their people in Halifax negotiations in 1760 had clear goals: to make peace, establish secure and well-regulated trade in commodities such as furs. In return, they offered friendship and tolerance of limited British settlement, although without any formal land surrender. Documents did not establish territorial limits on the expansion of British settlements, but assured access to natural resources.

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Mi'kmaq facts for kids

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Mi'kmaq

Grand Council Flag of the Mi'kmaq Nation. Although the flag is meant to be displayed hanging vertically as shown here, it is quite commonly flown horizontally, with the star near the upper hoist.
Total population
(65,000)
Regions with significant populations
Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec), United States (Maine)
Languages
English, Mi'kmaq, French
Religion
Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic), Mi'kmaq traditionalism and spirituality, others
Related ethnic groups
other Algonquian peoples

Mi'kma'ki: Divided into seven districts. Not shown is "Taqamgug", the eighth district that includes the entire island of Newfoundland. Taqamgug was historically part of Onamag before the 1700s/1800s.
The Mi'kmaq or Mi'gmaq (also Micmac, L'nu, Mi'kmaw or Mi'gmaw) are a First Nations people indigenous to Canada's Maritime Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. They call their national territory Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi). Others today live in Newfoundland and the northeastern region of Maine. The nation has a population of about 40,000 (plus about 25,000 in the Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland), of whom nearly 11,000 speak Mi'kmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.
The Santé Mawiómi, or Grand Council, was the traditional senior level of government for the Mi'kmaq people until Canada passed the Indian Act (1876) to require First Nations to establish representative elected governments. After implementation of the Indian Act, the Grand Council took on a more spiritual function. The Grand Council was made up of chiefs of the seven district councils of Mi'kma'ki.
On September 26, 2011 the Government of Canada announced the recognition of Canada's newest Mi'kmaq First Nations Band, the Qalipu First Nations in Newfoundland and Labrador. The new band, which is landless, has accepted 25,000 applications to become part of the band. The number of applications received by the application deadline on November 30, 2012 exceeded 100,000; as of January 2013, the majority of those had not yet been processed. The deadline was extended to January 31, 2014, and then to February 10, 2014. Its members are recognized as Status Indians, joining other organized Mi'kmaq bands recognized in southeast Canada.
Contents

Etymology

History

Pre-contact culture

Food and hunting

Hunting moose

First contacts

Geography

Housing

17th and 18th centuries

Colonial wars

Treaties

Burials

American Revolution

19th century

Royal Acadian School

MicMac Missionary Society

Mic-Mac hockey sticks

20th and 21st centuries

World Wars

Treaty Day

Tripartite Forum

Mi’kmaq Kina’ matnewey

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland

Celebrations

Herbalism

Religion and folklore

Spiritual sites

First Nation subdivisions

Demographics

Commemorations

Notable Mi'kmaq

Academics

Activists

Artists

Athletes

Military

Other

Maps

In popular culture

Etymology
The ethnonym has traditionally been spelled Micmac in English, but the people themselves have used different spellings: Mi’kmaq (singular Mi’kmaw) in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Miigmaq (Miigmao) in New Brunswick, Mi’gmaq by the Listuguj Council in Quebec, and Mìgmaq (Mìgmaw) in some native literature.

Until the 1980s, "Micmac" remained the most common spelling in English. Although still used, for example in Ethnologue, this spelling has fallen out of favour in recent years. Most scholarly publications now use the spelling Mi'kmaq, and it has been adopted by media as the spelling Micmac is now considered to be "colonially tainted". The Mi'kmaq prefer to use one of the three current Mi'kmaq orthographies when writing the language.
Lnu (the adjectival and singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural is Lnúk, Lnu’k, Lnu’g, or Lnùg) is the term the Mi'kmaq use for themselves, their autonym, meaning "human being" or "the people".
Various explanations exist for the origin of the term Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaw Resource Guide states that "Mi'kmaq" means "the family":

The definite article "the" suggests that "Mi'kmaq" is the undeclined form indicated by the initial letter "m". When declined in the singular it reduces to the following forms: nikmaq - my family; kikmaq - your family; wikma - his/her family. The variant form Mi'kmaw plays two grammatical roles: 1) It is the singular of Mi'kmaq and 2) it is an adjective in circumstances where it precedes a noun (e.g. mi'kmaw people, mi'kmaw treaties, mi'kmaw person, etc.)

The Anishinaabe refer to the Mi'kmaq as Miijimaa(g), meaning "The Brother(s)/Ally(ies)", with the use of the nX prefix m-, opposed to the use of n1 prefix n- (i.e. Niijimaa(g), "my brother(s)/comrade(s)") or the n3 prefix w- (i.e. Wiijimaa(g), "brother(s)/compatriot(s)/comrade(s)").

Other hypotheses include the following:

The name "Micmac" was first recorded in a memoir by de La Chesnaye in 1676. Professor Ganong in a footnote to the word megamingo (earth), as used by Marc Lescarbot, remarked "that it is altogether probable that in this word lies the origin of the name Micmac." As suggested in this paper on the customs and beliefs of the Micmacs, it would seem that megumaagee the name used by the Micmacs, or the Megumawaach, as they called themselves, for their land, is from the words megwaak, "red", and magumegek, "on the earth", or as Rand recorded, "red on the earth," megakumegek, "red ground," "red earth." The Micmacs, then, must have thought of themselves as the Red Earth People, or the People of the Red Earth. Others seeking a meaning for the word Micmac have suggested that it is from nigumaach, my brother, my friend, a word that was also used as a term of endearment by a husband for his wife... Still another explanation for the word Micmac suggested by Stansbury Hagar in "Micmac Magic and Medicine" is that the word megumawaach is from megumoowesoo, the name of the Micmacs' legendary master magicians, from whom the earliest Micmac wizards are said to have received their power.

Members of the Mi'kmaq historically referred to themselves as Lnu, but used the term níkmaq (my kin) as a greeting. The French initially referred to the Mi'kmaq as Souriquois" and later as Gaspesiens or (through English) "Mickmakis". The British originally referred to them as Tarrantines.

History

Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, 1866
Pre-contact culture
Archaeologist Dean Snow states that the fairly deep linguistic split between the Mi'kmaq and the Eastern Algonquians to the southwest, suggests the Mi'kmaq developed an independent prehistoric sequence emphasizing maritime orientation, as the area had relatively few major river systems. According to ethnologist T. J. Brasser, with a climate unfavorable for agriculture, small semi-nomadic bands of a few patrilineally related families subsisted on fishing and hunting. Their weakly developed leadership did not extend beyond hunting parties.
Food and hunting
The Mi'kmaq lived in an annual cycle of seasonal movement between living in dispersed interior winter camps and larger coastal communities during the summer. The spawning runs of March began the convergence on smelt spawning streams. This was followed by harvesting spawning herring, gathering waterfowl eggs, and hunting geese. By May, the seashore offered abundant cod and shellfish, and coastal breezes brought relief from the biting black flies, stouts, midges and mosquitoes of the interior. Autumn frost killed the biting insects during the September harvest of spawning American eels, allowing dispersal back into the interior in smaller groups to hunt moose and caribou. The most important animal hunted by the Mi'kmaq was the moose, which was used in every part: for example, the meat was processed for food, the skin for clothing, tendons and sinew for cordage, bones for carving and tools. Other animals hunted/trapped included deer, caribou, bear, rabbit, beaver, porcupine and small animals. Bear teeth and claws were used in regalia. Porcupine quills were used in decorative beadwork done by women. The weapon used most for hunting was the bow and arrow. The Mi'kmaq made their bows from maple. The Mi'kmaq people would store lobsters in the ground for later consumption. The Mi’kmaq ate fish of all kinds, such as salmon, sturgeon, lobster, squid, shellfish, and eels, as well as seabirds and their eggs. They hunted marine mammals: porpoises, whales, walrus, and seals.
Hunting moose
Throughout the Maritimes moose was the most important animal to the Mi'kmaq. It was their second main source of meat, clothing and cordage, which were all crucial commodities. The Mi'kmaq usually hunted moose in groups of 3 to 5 men. Before the moose hunt, the Mi'kmaq would starve their dogs for two days to make them fierce in helping to finish off the moose. To kill the moose, they would injure it first, by using a bow and arrow or other weapons. After it was down, they would move in to finish it off with spears and their dogs. The guts would be fed to the dogs. During this whole process, the men would try to direct the moose in the direction of the camp, so that the women would not have to go as far to drag the moose back. A boy became a man in the eyes of the community after he had killed his first moose. It was only then that he earned the right to marry. Once moose were introduced to the island of Newfoundland, the practice of hunting moose with dogs was used in the Bay of Islands region of the province.
First contacts
The Mi'kmaq territory was the first portion of North America to be heavily used for European resource extraction. Reports by John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Portuguese explorers encouraged visits by Portuguese, Spanish, Basque, French, and English fishermen and whalers beginning in the early years of the 16th century. Early European fishermen salted their catch at sea and sailed directly home; but they set up camps ashore for dry-curing cod as early as 1520; this became the preferred preservation method during the second half of the century. These camps traded with Mi'kmaq fishermen; and trading rapidly expanded to include furs. By 1578 there were 350 European ships operating around the Saint Lawrence estuary. Most were independent fishermen, but increasing numbers were exploring the fur trade.

Mi'Kmaq Women Selling Baskets, Halifax, Nova Scotia, by Mary R. McKie c. 1845
Trading furs for European trade goods changed Mi'kmaq social perspectives. Desire for trade goods encouraged the men devoting a larger portion of the year away from the coast trapping in the interior. Trapping non-migratory animals, such as beaver, increased awareness of territoriality. Trader preferences for good harbors resulted in greater numbers of Mi'kmaq gathering in fewer summer rendezvous locations. This in turn encouraged their establishing larger bands led by the ablest trade negotiators.
Geography
The Mi'kmaq territory was divided into seven traditional districts. Each district had its own independent government and boundaries. The independent governments had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders, and other worthy community leaders. The district council was charged with performing all the duties of any independent and free government by enacting laws, justice, apportioning fishing and hunting grounds, making war and suing for peace.
The Eight Mi'kmaq districts (including Taqamkuk which is often not counted) are:

Epekwitk aq Piktuk (Epegwitg aq Pigtug)

Eskikewa'kik (Esge'gewa'gi)

Kespek (Gespe'gewa'gi)

Kespukwitk (Gespugwitg)

Siknikt (Signigtewa'gi)

Sipekni'katik (Sugapune'gati)

Taqamkuk (Gtaqamg)

Unama'kik (Unama'gi)

Note : The orthography between parentheses is the one used in the Gespe'gewa'gi area.

In addition to the district councils, there was a Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi. The Grand Council was composed of Keptinaq (captains in English), who were the district chiefs. There were also Elders, the Putús (Wampum belt readers and historians, who also dealt with the treaties with the non-natives and other Native tribes), the women's council, and the Grand Chief. The Grand Chief was a title given to one of the district chiefs, who was usually from the Mi'kmaq district of Unamáki or Cape Breton Island. This title was hereditary and usually passed on to the Grand Chief's eldest son. The Grand Council met on a little island on the Bras d'Or lake in Cape Breton called Mniku. Today the site is within the reserve called Chapel Island or Potlotek. To this day, the Grand Council still meets at Mniku to discuss current issues within the Mi'kmaq Nation. Taqamkuk was defined as part of Unama'kik historically and became a separate district at an unknown point in time.

Housing

Mi'kmaq encampment, Sydney, Cape Breton Island

Mi'kmaq at Turtle Grove (Tufts Cove) settlement, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ca. 1871.
Mi'kmaq people lived in structures called wigwams. They cut down saplings, which were usually spruce, and curved them over a circle drawn on the ground. These saplings were lashed together at the top, and then covered with birch bark. The Mi'kmaq had two different sizes of wigwams. The smaller size could hold 10-15 people and the larger size 15-20 people. Wigwams could be either conical or domed in shape.
On June 24, 1610, Grand Chief Membertou converted to Catholicism and was baptised. He concluded an alliance with the French Jesuits which affirmed the right of Mi'kmaq to choose Catholicism and\or Mi'kmaq tradition. The Mi'kmaq, as trading allies with the French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst.
17th and 18th centuries
Colonial wars

Mi'kmaq people (1865)
Main page: Military history of the Mi’kmaq people
In the wake of King Phillips War between English colonists and Native Americans in southern New England (which included the first military conflict between the Mi'kmaq and New England), the Mi'kmaq became members of the Wapnáki (Wabanaki Confederacy), an alliance with four other Algonquian-language nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet.
The Wabanaki Confederacy were allied with French colonists in Acadia. Over a period of seventy-five years, during six wars in Mi'kma'ki (Acadia and Nova Scotia), the Mi'kmaq fought to keep the British from taking over the region (See the four French and Indian Wars as well as Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War). France lost military control of Acadia in 1710, and political claim (apart from Cape Breton) by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht with England. But, the Mí'kmaq were not included in the treaty and never conceded any land to the British.
In 1715, the Mi'kmaq were told that the British now claimed their ancient territory by the Treaty of Utrecht, which the Mi'kmaq were no party to. They formally complained to the French commander at Louisbourg about the French king transferring the sovereignty of their nation when he did not possess it. They were only then informed that the French had claimed legal possession of their country for a century, on account of laws decreed by kings in Europe, that no land could be legally owned by any non-Christian, and that such land was therefore freely available to any Christian prince who claimed it. Mi'kmaw historian Daniel Paul observes that

If this warped law were ever to be accorded recognition by modern legalists they would have to take into consideration that, after Grand Chief Membertou and his family converted to Christianity in 1610, the land of the Mi'kmaq had become exempt from being seized because the people were Christians. However, it's hard to imagine that a modern government would fall back and try to use such uncivilized garbage as justification for non-recognition of aboriginal title.

Along with Acadians, the Mi'kmaq used military force to resist the founding of British (Protestant) settlements by making numerous raids on Halifax, Dartmouth, Lawrencetown and Lunenburg. During the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between France and Britain in Europe, the Mi'kmaq assisted the Acadians in resisting the British during the Expulsion. The military resistance was reduced significantly with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) in Cape Breton.

Treaties
The Mí'kmaq signed a series of peace and friendship treaties with Great Britain. The first was after Father Rale's War (1725). In 1725 the British signed a treaty (or "agreement") with the Mi'kmaq,but the rights of the Mi'kmaq defined in it to hunt and fish on their lands have often been disputed by the authorities.
The nation historically consisted of seven districts, which was later expanded to eight with the ceremonial addition of Great Britain at the time of the 1749 treaty.
Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope signed a Peace Treaty in 1752 on behalf of the Shubenacadie Mi'kmaq. With the signing of various treaties, the 75 years of regular warfare ended in 1761 with the Burying the Hatchet ceremony.
According to historian John G. Reid, although the treaties of 1760-61 contain statements of Mi'kmaw submission to the British crown, he believes that the Mi'kmaw intended a friendly and reciprocal relationship. This is based on what is known of the surrounding discussions, combined with the strong evidence of later Mi'kmaw statements. The Mi'kmaw leaders who represented their people in the Halifax negotiations in 1760 had clear goals: to make peace, establish secure and well-regulated trade in commodities such as furs, and begin an ongoing friendship with the British crown. In return, they offered their own friendship and a tolerance of limited British settlement, although without any formal land surrender. To fulfill the reciprocity intended by the Mi'kmaq, any additional British settlement of land would have to be negotiated, and accompanied by giving presents to the Mi'kmaq. (There was a long history of the French giving Mi'kmaq people presents to be accommodated on their land, starting with the first colonial contact.) The documents summarizing the peace agreements failed to establish specific territorial limits on the expansion of British settlements, but assured the Mi’kmaq of access to the natural resources that had long sustained them along the regions’ coasts and in the woods. Their conceptions of land use were quite different. The Mi'kmaq believed they could share the land, with the British growing crops, and their people hunting as usual and getting to the coast for seafood.

Mi'kmaq People (1873)
The arrival of the New England Planters and United Empire Loyalists in greater number put pressure on land use and the treaties. This migration into the region created significant economic, environmental and cultural pressures on the Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaq tried to enforce the treaties through threat of force. At the beginning of the American Revolution, many Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes supported the Americans against the British. They participated in the Maugerville Rebellion and the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1776. (Mí'kmaq delegates concluded the first international treaty, the Treaty of Watertown, with the United States soon after it declared its independence in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Mi'kmaq government, although many individual Mi'kmaq did privately join the Continental army as a result.) In June 1779, Mi’kmaq in the Miramichi valley of New Brunswick attacked and plundered some of the British in the area. The following month, British Captain Augustus Harvey, in command of the HMS Viper, arrived and battled with the Mi’kmaq. One Mi’kmaq was killed and 16 were taken prisoner to Quebec. The prisoners were eventually taken to Halifax. They were released on 28 July 1779 after signing the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown.
As their military power waned in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq people made explicit appeals to the British to honour the treaties and reminded them of their duty to give "presents" to the Mi'kmaq in order to occupy Mi'kma'ki. In response, the British offered charity or, the word most often used by government officials, "relief". The British said the Mi'kmaq must give up their way of life and begin to settle on farms. Also, they were told they had to send their children to British schools for education.
The Treaties did not gain legal status until they were enshrined into the Canadian Constitution in 1982. Every October 1, "Treaty Day" is now celebrated by people in Nova Scotia.
Burials
During this time period two colonial figures were honoured at their deaths by the Mi'kmaq. Two hundred Mi'kmaq chanted their death song at the burial of Governor Michael Francklin. They also celebrated the life of Pierre Maillard.
American Revolution
During the American Revolution, some Mi'kmaq supported the British while others did not. In 1780, they gave shelter to the 84th Regiment of Foot that had been shipwrecked off Cape Breton.
19th century

Grand Chief Jacques-Pierre Peminuit Paul (3rd from left with beard) meets Governor General of Canada, Marquess of Lorne, Red Chamber, Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1879
Royal Acadian School
Walter Bromley was a British officer and reformer who established the Royal Acadian School and supported the Mi'kmaq over the thirteen years he lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1813-1825). Bromley devoted himself to the service of the Mi’kmaq people. The Mi'kmaq were among the poor of Halifax and in the rural communities. According to historian Judith Finguard, his contribution to give public exposure to the plight of the Mi’kmaq “particularly contributes to his historical significance.” Finguard writes:

Bromley’s attitudes towards the Indians were singularly enlightened for his day…. Bromley totally dismissed the idea that native people were naturally inferior and set out to encourage their material improvement through settlement and agriculture, their talents through education, and their pride through his own study of their languages.

MicMac Missionary Society
Silas Tertius Rand in 1849 help found the Micmac Missionary Society, a full-time Mi'kmaq mission. Basing his work in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, where he lived from 1853 until his death in 1889, he travelled widely among Mi'kmaq communities, spreading the faith, learning the language, and recording examples of the Mi'kmaq oral tradition. Rand produced scriptural translations in Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, compiled a Mi'kmaq dictionary and collected numerous legends, and through his published work, was the first to introduce the stories of Glooscap to the wider world. The mission was dissolved in 1870. After a long period of disagreement with the Baptist church, he eventually returned to the church in 1885.
Mic-Mac hockey sticks
Main page: Mic-Mac hockey stick

Mi'kmaq making hockey sticks from hornbeam trees (Ostrya virginiana) in Nova Scotia about 1890.
The Mi'kmaq practice of playing hockey appeared in recorded colonial histories from as early as the 18th century. Since the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq were credited with inventing the ice hockey stick. The oldest known hockey stick was made between 1852 and 1856. Recently, it was appraised at $4 million US and sold for $2.2 million US. The stick was carved by Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, who made it from hornbeam, also known as ironwood.
In 1863, the Starr Manufacturing Company in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia began to sell the Mic-Mac hockey sticks nationally and internationally. Hockey became a popular sport in Canada in the 1890s. Throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, the Mic-Mac Hockey Stick was the best-selling hockey stick in Canada. By 1903, apart from farming, the principal occupation of the Mi'kmaq on reserves throughout Nova Scotia, and particularly on the Shubenacadie, Indian Brook and Millbrook Reserves, was producing the Mic-Mac Hockey Stick. The department of Indian Affairs for Nova Scotia noted in 1927, that the Mi'kmaq remained the "experts" at making hockey sticks. The Mi'kmaq continued to make hockey sticks until the 1930s, when the product was industrialized.
20th and 21st centuries
Jerry Lonecloud (1854–1930) worked with historian and archivist Harry Piers to document the ethnography of the Mi'kmaq people in the early 20th century. Lonecloud wrote the first Mi'kmaq memoir, which his biographer entitled "Tracking Dr. Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper". Historian Ruth Holmes Whitehead wrote, "Ethnographer of the Micmac nation could rightly have been his epitaph, his final honour."
World Wars

Chief Gabriel Sylliboy - first to fight for Treaty Rights in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, 1929
In 1914, over 150 Mi'kmaw men signed up during World War I. During the First World War, thirty-four out of sixty-four male Mi’kmaq from Lennox Island First Nation, Prince Edward Island enlisted in the armed forces, distinguishing themselves particularly in the Battle of Amiens. In 1939, over 250 Mi’kmaq volunteered in World War II. (In 1950, over 60 Mi'kmaq enlisted to serve in the Korean War.)
Treaty Day

Monument to the Treaty of 1752, Shubenacadie First Nation, Nova Scotia
Gabriel Sylliboy was the first Mi'kmaq elected as Grand Chief (1919) and the first to fight for treaty recognition - specifically, the Treaty of 1752 - in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (1929).
In 1986, the first Treaty Day was celebrated by Nova Scotians on October 1 in recognition of the Treaties signed between the British Empire and the Mi'kmaq people. The first treaty was signed in 1725 after Father Rale's War. The final treaties of 1760-61, marked the end of 75 years of regular warfare between the Mi'kmaq and the British (see the four French and Indian Wars as well as Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War). The treaty making process of 1760-61, ended with the Burying the Hatchet ceremony (Nova Scotia) (1761).
The treaties were only formally recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada once they were enshrined in the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The first Treaty Day occurred the year after the Supreme Court upheld the Peace Treaty of 1752 signed by Jean-Baptiste Cope and Governor Peregrine Hopson. Since that time there have been numerous judicial decisions that have upheld the other treaties in the Supreme Court, the most recognized being the Donald Marshall case.
Tripartite Forum
In 1997, the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum was established.
On August 31, 2010, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a historic agreement with the Mi'kmaq Nation, establishing a process whereby the federal government must consult with the Mi'kmaq Grand Council before engaging in any activities or projects that affect the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. This covers most, if not all, actions these governments might take within that jurisdiction. This is the first such collaborative agreement in Canadian history including all the First Nations within an entire province.
Mi’kmaq Kina’ matnewey
The Nova Scotia government and the Mi’kmaq community have made the Mi’kmaq Kina’ matnewey, which is the most successful First Nation Education Program in Canada. In 1982, the first Mi’kmaq-operated school opened in Nova Scotia. By 1997, all Mi’kmaq on reserves were given the responsibility for their own education. There are now 11 band-run schools in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia now has the highest rate of retention of aboriginal students in schools in the country. More than half the teachers are Mi’kmaq. From 2011 to 2012 there was a 25% increase in Mi’kmaq students going to university. Atlantic Canada has the highest rate of aboriginal students attending university in the country.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
In 2005, Nova Scotian Mi'kmaq Nora Bernard led the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history, representing an estimated 79,000 survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. The Canadian government settled the lawsuit for upwards of 5 billion dollars.
On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an apology to the residential school survivors.
In the fall of 2011 there was an Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission that travelled to various communities in Atlantic Canada, who were all served by the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. For 37 years (1930-1967), 10% of Mi'kmaq children attended the institution.
Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland
Main page: Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band
Celebrations
In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, October is celebrated as Mi'kmaq History Month. The entire Mi'kmaq Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1. This was date when the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752 was signed by Jean-Baptiste Cope of Shubenacadie and the king's representative. It was stated that the natives would be given gifts annually,"as long as they continued in Peace."
Herbalism
They use the leaves of Ranunculus acris for headaches.
Religion and folklore

A dancer in the Mi'kmaq celebration
Many Mi'kmaq practice the Catholic faith, some only practice traditional Mi'kmaq religion, while many have adopted both religions. There is one myth [source required] explaining that the Mi'kmaq once believed that evil and wickedness among men is what causes them to kill each other. This causes great sorrow to the creator-sun-god, who weeps tears that become rains sufficient to trigger a deluge. The people attempt to survive the flood by traveling in bark canoes, but only a single old man and woman survive to populate the earth.
The Mi'kmaq people had three levels of oral traditions: religious myths, legends, and folklore. Myths are used to tell the stories of the earliest possible time, which includes their creation stories. Other myths account for the organization of the world and society; for instance, how men and women were created and why they are different from one another. These myths were powerful symbolically and as the expression of how things came to be and should be. The most well known Mi'kmaq myth is of Glooscap.
Legends are oral traditions related to particular places. Legends can involve the recent or distant past, but are most important in linking people and specific places in the land.
The people also tell folktales, which involve all the people. They are understood to be fictional. These traditional tales also give moral or social lessons to youth, and are told for amusement about the way people are. Good storytellers were highly prized by the Mi'kmaq, as they are in every culture, which develop many means to tell their stories.
Spiritual sites
One spiritual capital of the Mi'kmaq nation is Mniku, the gathering place of the Míkmaq Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi, Chapel Island in Bras d'Or Lake of Nova Scotia. The island is also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Mi'kmaq (Robinson 2005). The island has been declared a historic site.
First Nation subdivisions
Mi'kmaw names in the following table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Mi'kmaw orthographies in use are Míkmaw pictographs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography. The latter has been adopted throughout Nova Scotia and in most Mi'kmaw communities.CommunityProvince/StateTown/ReserveEst. Pop.Mi'kmaq name
Abegweit First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Scotchfort, Rocky Point, Morell | 396 | Epekwitk
Acadia First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Yarmouth | 996 | Malikiaq
Annapolis Valley First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Cambridge Station | 219 | Kampalijek
Aroostook Band of Micmac |  Maine | Presque Isle | 920 | Ulustuk
Bear River First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Bear River | 272 | Lsetkuk
Buctouche First Nation |  New Brunswick | Buctouche | 80 | Puktusk
Burnt Church First Nation |  New Brunswick | Esgenoôpetitj 14 | 1,488 | Eskinuopitijk
Chapel Island First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Chapel Island | 576 | Potlotek
Eel Ground First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel Ground | 844 | Natuaqanek
Eel River Bar First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel River Bar | 589 | Ugpi'gangij
Elsipogtog First Nation |  New Brunswick | Big Cove | 3000+ | Lsipuktuk
Eskasoni First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Eskasoni | 3,800+ | Wékistoqnik
Fort Folly First Nation |  New Brunswick | Dorchester | 105 | Amlamkuk Kwesawék
Micmacs of Gesgapegiag |  Quebec | Gesgapegiag | 1,174 | Keskapekiaq
Nation Micmac de Gespeg |  Quebec | Fontenelle | 490 | Kespék
Glooscap First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Hantsport | 360 | Pesikitk
Indian Island First Nation |  New Brunswick | Indian Island | 145 | Lnui Menikuk
Lennox Island First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Lennox Island | 700 | Lnui Mnikuk
Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation |  Quebec | Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation | 3,166 | Listikujk
Membertou First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Sydney | 1,051 | Maupeltuk
Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation |  New Brunswick | Red Bank | 527 | Metepnákiaq
Miawpukek First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Conne River | 2,366 | Miawpukwek
Qalipu First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | 21,429 | Qalipu
Millbrook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Truro | 1400 | Wékopekwitk
Pabineau First Nation |  New Brunswick | Bathurst | 214 | Kékwapskuk
Paq'tnkek First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Afton | 500 | Paqtnkek
Pictou Landing First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Trenton | 547 | Puksaqtéknékatik
Indian Brook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Indian Brook (Shubenacadie) | 2,120 | Sipekníkatik
Wagmatcook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Wagmatcook | 623 | Waqmitkuk
Waycobah First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Whycocomagh | 900 | Wékoqmáq
DemographicsYearPopulationVerification
1500 |      4,500 | Estimation
1600 |      3,000 | Estimation
1700 |      2,000 | Estimation
1750 |      3,000 | Estimation
1800 |      3,100 | Estimation
1900 |      4,000 | Census
1940 |      5,000 | Census
1960 |      6,000 | Census
1972 |    10,000 | Census
1998 |    15,000 | SIL
2006 |    20,000 | Census
The pre-contact population is estimated at 3,000–30,000. In 1616, Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000, but he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses during the 16th century. Smallpox and other endemic European infectious diseases, to which the Mi'kmaq had no immunity, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population. It reached its lowest point in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again, before becoming apparently stable during the 19th century. During the 20th century, the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5%.
Commemorations
The Mi'kmaq people have been commemorated in numerous ways, including the HMCS Micmac (R10), and place names such as Lake Micmac, and the Mic Mac Mall.
Notable Mi'kmaq
See also: List of Grand Chiefs (Mi'kmaq)
Academics

Pamela Palmater, professor at Ryerson University

Activists

Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, activist (1946–1976)

Nora Bernard, Canadian Indian residential school system activist

Donald Marshall, Jr., wrongly convicted of murder

Daniel N. Paul, Elder, author, tribal historian, columnist, and human rights activist

Gabriel Sylliboy, Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq Nation, 1918 to 1964

Artists

Alice Azure, poet

Natasha Henstridge, actor

Rita Joe, poet

Athletes

Patti Catalano, marathon runner

Sandy McCarthy, played for the Calgary Flames ice hockey team

Everett Sanipass, played for the Quebec Nordiques ice hockey team

Karlee Waldvogel, plays for the University of Ottawa GeeGees soccer team as a goalkeeper, reserve player for the Western New York Flash.

Military

Étienne Bâtard (18th century)

Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope

Joseph Francis, Vietnam War Veteran, Bronze Star with the Combat V for valour, Purple Heart for being wounded in combat, enrolled in the National Purple Heart Hall of Fame

Sam Gloade

Paul Laurent

Other

Judge Timothy Gabriel - first Mi'kmaw judge in Nova Scotia

Peter Paul Toney Babey, a Mi'kmaq chief

Indian Joe, a scout around the time of the American Revolutionary War

Noel Jeddore, Saqmaw forced into exile (1865–1944)

Noel Knockwood, Grand Council member and spiritual leader of the Mi'kmaq people

Jerry Lonecloud, entertainer, ethnographer and medicine man

Henri Membertou, Grand Chief and spiritual leader (c.1525-1611)

Lawrence Paul, a chief of Millbrook First Nation

Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):

Mi'kmaq

Maliseet, Passamaquoddy

Eastern Abenaki (Penobscot, Kennebec, Arosaguntacook, Pigwacket/Pequawket)

Western Abenaki (Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Sokoki, Pennacook

In popular culture
The history of the Mi'kmaq feature in the Syfy television series Haven.
The Mi'kmaq are mentioned as well in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary.
In the 2013 Canadian movie "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" the story centers around a Mi'kmaq Indian reservation in 1976 in the context of the residential school system. It is based on the historical abuse of the First Nations people, particularly those in the residential school system.

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Mi'kmaq people lived in structures called wigwams. They cut down saplings, which were usually spruce, and curved them over a circle drawn on the ground. These saplings were lashed together at the top, and then covered with birch bark. The Mi'kmaq had two different sizes of wigwams. The smaller size could hold 10-15 people and the larger size 15-20 people. Wigwams could be either conical or domed in shape.

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The Mi'kmaq started fishing for lobster way before the European's arrived. Lobsters were so common that they would be easy to find because they would wash up on the shores. The Mi'kmaq loved the lobsters, They called them "Wolum Keeh". They used them as food, fertilizer, and decoration. In 1995 Hilton McCully wrote in his book that he got 140 lobster in one catch. Now it is so rare to find them. A long time ago, People would feed lobster to prisoners because they were so common. The Mi'kmaq are the largest group of first nations.

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History of Lobster Fishing and Processing
The Very Beginning / The Start of the Industry / The 20th Century

Shipbuilding was the largest industry in northern Nova Scotia during the 1800s, employing thousands of people from Pugwash to Pictou. When this industry began to fail at the turn of the century the people of the shore communities looked towards the lobster fishery to make their living.

The lobster fishery has changed considerably over the years.It has been the livelihood of the north shore people for the last century. It has suffered through bad times and flourished in good times. For over thirty years hundreds of lobster canneries dotted the coastline of the Northumberland Strait where thousands of fishermen would bring their catches to be processed.These small plants would employ fishermen and cannery workers, both local men and women and those from away.It was a wide-spread and profitable business, but unfortunately short-lived.

With increased technology and new and efficient ways of storing, transporting and marketing lobster, the old canneries were replaced with fewer, larger ones and the lobster fishery was changed forever.
The Very Beginning
Even before the Europeans arrived on the shores to settle in the " New World", the Mic Mac (Mi'kmaq) and Maleseet Indians of Atlantic Canada had been fishing the seas for lobster for hundreds of years. Long ago, lobsters were so plentiful that they often were found on the beach at low tide, and would wash up on shore in large storms.The tasty crustacean was known as "Wolum Keeh" to the Mic Macs, and was a source of food, fertilizer, and ornamental material.Hilton McCully wrote in his 1995 book, Pictou Island, "in the harbour of Cibou (Sydney, Cape Breton) in 1597, one haul of a little dragnet brought up 140 lobsters." It is quite amazing to think that in just 400 years the lobster population has declined so greatly that if you were to throw a net out now you would be lucky to get any at all!

Long ago, before traps were used, lobsters were fished from the shallow waters by spearing or gaffing.Fishermen hunted for lobsters by torch light on calm evenings, spearing them as they crawled around in search of food.During the day they would spread a slick of oil over the surface of the water darkening the water below, and then throw out cod heads for bait.The lobsters would swarm around the bait and the fishermen would spear them.Although there was no real commercial market for lobster at this time, some fishermen did sell their catch to make money.Because the lobsters were worth more if there were no spear marks in them, the fishermen began using wire cages to trap the animals so they could get a better price.These wire cages were adapted from the Europeans who used them to catch crayfish and Spiny lobsters. There was such an abundance of lobster long ago that it was not a valued commodity and was considered a poor man's food.It wasn't until the second half of the 19 th Century that the lobster industry began to flourish.
The Start of the Industry
After the invention of the stamp can in 1847 the process of packing cooked food in hermetically sealed tins for future use spread quickly.New Englanders first canned seafood in Eastport Maine in 1843.It was also New Englanders who were the first successful exploiters of Pictou County lobster.The Boston company, Shedd & Knox built a lobster factory at the East end of Pictou Islandin the 1870s.Others soon followed suit.

It was during these early years that the fishermen would row out in dories or in sailboats and set their traps.Two men normally manned a boat and fished about 200 traps.They would set out before dawn and come back to the wharf anytime between 10 and noon.Before the turn of the century the fishermen owned their traps and boats and the rest of their equipment as well, but in later years they would rent it from the canneries that hired them.Fishermen sold their catch by count and not by pound to the packers. For example, forty to fifty cents would be paid to the fishermen for one hundred lobsters, regardless of their size.It was possible for two, hard working fishermen to land four to five tons of lobster a season, from mid-April to mid-summer.

During these early days the industry was not organized or regulated by the government. The government introduced restrictions on the use of soft-shelled lobsters and berried females as well as size restrictions in 1871.A year later they restricted fishing in July and August. Even though there were regulations in place, and the industry seemed to be somewhat organized, the processing part of the industry was still somewhat inefficient.

Before commercial factories became prevalent on the north shore, lobster was processed infishermen's homes.They would bring their catch back to their houses where their wives would help them boil them in large pots on the stove.The meat would be extracted and then packed in cans that would be fitted with can covers and sealed with a band of solder. Holes were made in the cans where brine would be forced through and then these would be sealed up as well.The cans contained one pound of lobster meat and were packed in cases of forty-eight.It was a process that had a high spoilage rate, but was the only means available to market lobster at this time.In fact, it was assumed that lobster "was green in the sea, red in the pot and black in the can".

As the years progressed and the lobster fishing industry changed, the crude and wasteful means of processing lobster in the past were replaced with more sanitary and efficient ways.The number of canneries present in Canada rose from 44 in 1872 to 900 by 1900 and continued to increase through the early part of the century.

The 20th Century
Processing
In the early part of the 20 th century there were 10-13 canneries in the River John area.Some of these canneries were Seaman's, Burnaham& Morril, McGee's, Broidy's and MacLellan's. Local women and those from away would work side by side in the processing room, picking the meat from the shells, washing it and putting it in cans.Money to be made in the lobster factories was considerably better then doing housework.The men at the factories were in charge of boiling the lobster, breaking it apart and in later years, when shipping live came into vogue, were in charge of the live tanks and floating docks.These first small commercial factories packed an average 3, 000 cases (144, 000lbs) during a season.

As the years slipped by, these small canneries began to close down and the lobster processing industry began to consolidate in Pictou, Caribou and Lismore. By the 1930's the number of canneries had dwindled down to only a handful.One of the ones left, Maritime Packers Limited, turned out to be one of the most successful exploiters of lobster in northern Nova Scotia..

Over the last 100 years the lobster industry has endured changes in processing, equipment, regulations and fishing methods.Because of these changes, and other various factors, the market for lobster has changed over the years as well. In the early 1900s lobster was considered a poor man's food.Stories told around River John tell of how the children who brought lobster sandwiches to school were considered the "poor kids" in town.Today many people consider lobster a delicacy.In fact, you have to pay a considerable amount of money to have a good lobster feast these days.

The biggest change that occurred in the lobster market was the development of the demand for live lobster. When people started demanding fresh, live lobster, the lobster processors responded.Soon after shipping live became the norm, different varieties of fresh, frozen lobster meat became available on the market. Quality controlled plants with more efficient packing and shipping methods, as well as high-tech machinery and advanced holding systems, allowed for better products to be developed and marketed. Some examples of the products developed; fresh, frozen lobster tails, vacuum packed whole lobster, fresh, frozen meat in cans, and lobster tomalley and roe.It was gradual changes such as these, which have lead to the development of the industry we have today.
Boats
Not only did the lobster processing part of the industry change throughout the years, but the equipment and gear that the fishermen used changed as well. The sails used to power the fishing boats in the late 1800s and early 1900s were not removed when gasoline engines first appeared in boats around 1910, but remained on board for back-up.The sails were still needed in case the motor broke down, which often happened.Although the motors allowed fishermen to go farther from shore they were very temperamental.The early make and brake engines did not have a clutch and they could not idle.They could go either formal or backwards but had to be stopped completely and re-started to change direction.Most of the boats around the North Shore had Fraser Marine Engines that were made in New Glasgow at the Doc Fraser Foundry.

By the late 1920s fishermen started using car motors in their boats.These motors had starters and could idle.With the advancements made in motorized boats fishermen were able to fish farther, set more traps and therefore make more money.However, even though they had better equipment and were being paid a better price per pound, their costs to maintain their equipment was higher, and the number of people fishing was greater.The standard of living in generalincreased, pulling the cost of living up with it.So, all in all, the only advantages that arose for the fishermen were those involved with the actual fishing process:they didn't have to use manpower to maneuver their boats.However, they still had to haul their traps by hand and rely on traditional methods of navigation.Electric haulers did not appear in fishing boats until the mid 1900s and radar, Global Positioning Systems, and all other types of electronic equipment did not appear in fishing boats until the 1970's and 1980's.

Boats evolved over the years, changing in style, size, strength and speed.With advancements in technology fishermen relied less and less on landmarks to mark their positions, muscle power to haul their traps and self-made gadgets to measure the depth of the water.Not only did the boats they fished on and gear they worked with change, but their lifestyle changed as well.By the 1970'stechnology had made the job faster, the day shorter and the work easier.Instead of coming home late in the afternoon fishermen could be home by noon.Today, lobster fishing boats are decked out with radar, colour monitor depth sounders, GPS (global positioning systems), haulers, CBs and radios.

Traps

Long ago, before traps were used, lobsters were fished from shallow waters by spearing or gaffing.Fishermen hunted for lobsters by torch light on calm evenings, spearing them as they crawled around in search of food.Although there was not a commercial market for lobster at this time, some fishermen did sell their catch, which was worth more if it bore no spear marks.Switching to a wire cage to trap the lobsters fixed this problem and brought the fishermen a better price.

Not long after the wire cages were brought in, hoop nets became the norm.The rims were made of cast off cart-wheels and netting was stretched over them. These traps were good for shallow water because of the abundance of canner lobsters. (Small lobsters between ½ and 1lb). This was beneficial to the fishermen because they were paid per count and not per pound, so the more lobsters that could be caught in the trap the better it was for the fishermen.

Most lobster traps today are made of metal or a combination of wood and metal and are manufactured in a factory.The original wooden lath trap is said to have originated in Cape Cod in 1810.New England fishermen in the United States used it for years before American companies introduced it to the Canadian fishery through their Atlantic coast canneries.There have been many variations of the lath trap over the years, varying in the number and shape of openings and compartments.There were double headers, three headers, jail, parlor, wheeler and diamond traps.

The traditional wooden lath lobster trap that is still quite common today consists of two main sections, the kitchen and the parlor.A lobster first enters the trap through funnel shaped structures called doors (also called funnels).After successfully entering through one of these doors the lobster enters the kitchen where the bait is tied.When a lobster tries to escape from the kitchen it is led through another door into the parlor.Small vents in the parlor allow undersize lobsters to escape, but larger lobsters are stuck there to await their fate. The "doors" are shaped in such a way that it is easy for the lobsters to get in but difficult for them to get out.

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The American Lobster: History of Lobster Fishing & Processing

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History of Lobster Fishing and Processing The Very Beginning / The Start of the Industry / The 20th Century Shipbuilding was the largest industry in northern Nova Scotia during the 1800s, employing thousands of people from Pugwash to Pictou.

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Mi'kmaq were among the poor of Halifax and in the rural communities. In 1780, they gave shelter to the 84th Regiment of Foot that had been shipwrecked off Cape Breton. Bromley's attitudes towards the Indians were singularly enlightened for his day. He totally dismissed the idea that native people were naturally inferior.

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The Mi'kmaq territory was divided into seven traditional districts. Each district had its own independent government and boundaries. The independent governments had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders, and other worthy community leaders. The district council was charged with performing all the duties of any independent and free government by enacting laws, justice, apportioning fishing and hunting grounds, making war and suing for peace.

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Commemorations
The Mi'kmaq people have been commemorated in numerous ways, including the HMCS Micmac (R10), and place names such as Lake Micmac, and the Mic Mac Mall.
Notable Mi'kmaq
See also: List of Grand Chiefs (Mi'kmaq)
Academics

Pamela Palmater, professor at Ryerson University

Activists

Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, activist (1946–1976)

Nora Bernard, Canadian Indian residential school system activist

Donald Marshall, Jr., wrongly convicted of murder

Daniel N. Paul, Elder, author, tribal historian, columnist, and human rights activist

Gabriel Sylliboy, Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq Nation, 1918 to 1964

Artists

Alice Azure, poet

Natasha Henstridge, actor

Rita Joe, poet

Athletes

Patti Catalano, marathon runner

Sandy McCarthy, played for the Calgary Flames ice hockey team

Everett Sanipass, played for the Quebec Nordiques ice hockey team

Karlee Waldvogel, plays for the University of Ottawa GeeGees soccer team as a goalkeeper, reserve player for the Western New York Flash.

Military

Étienne Bâtard (18th century)

Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope

Joseph Francis, Vietnam War Veteran, Bronze Star with the Combat V for valour, Purple Heart for being wounded in combat, enrolled in the National Purple Heart Hall of Fame

Sam Gloade

Paul Laurent

Other

Judge Timothy Gabriel - first Mi'kmaw judge in Nova Scotia

Peter Paul Toney Babey, a Mi'kmaq chief

Indian Joe, a scout around the time of the American Revolutionary War

Noel Jeddore, Saqmaw forced into exile (1865–1944)

Noel Knockwood, Grand Council member and spiritual leader of the Mi'kmaq people

Jerry Lonecloud, entertainer, ethnographer and medicine man

Henri Membertou, Grand Chief and spiritual leader (c.1525-1611)

Lawrence Paul, a chief of Millbrook First Nation

Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):

Mi'kmaq

Maliseet, Passamaquoddy

Eastern Abenaki (Penobscot, Kennebec, Arosaguntacook, Pigwacket/Pequawket)

Western Abenaki (Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Sokoki, Pennacook

In popular culture
The history of the Mi'kmaq feature in the Syfy television series Haven.
The Mi'kmaq are mentioned as well in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary.
In the 2013 Canadian movie "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" the story centers around a Mi'kmaq Indian reservation in 1976 in the context of the residential school system. It is based on the historical abuse of the First Nations people, particularly those in the residential school system.

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The arrival of the New England Planters and United Empire Loyalists put pressure on land use and the treaties. Mi'kmaq believed they could share the land, with the British growing crops, and their people hunting as usual and getting to the coast for seafood. The documents summarizing the peace agreements failed to establish specific territorial limits on the expansion of British settlements.

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First Nation subdivisions

Mi'kmaw names in the following table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Mi'kmaw orthographies in use are Míkmaw pictographs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography. The latter has been adopted throughout Nova Scotia and in most Mi'kmaw communities.

CommunityProvince/StateTown/ReserveEst. Pop.Mi'kmaq name
Abegweit First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Scotchfort, Rocky Point, Morell | 396 | Epekwitk
Acadia First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Yarmouth | 996 | Malikiaq
Annapolis Valley First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Cambridge Station | 219 | Kampalijek
Aroostook Band of Micmac |  Maine | Presque Isle | 920 | Ulustuk
Bear River First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Bear River | 272 | Lsetkuk
Buctouche First Nation |  New Brunswick | Buctouche | 80 | Puktusk
Burnt Church First Nation |  New Brunswick | Esgenoôpetitj 14 | 1,488 | Eskinuopitijk
Chapel Island First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Chapel Island | 576 | Potlotek
Eel Ground First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel Ground | 844 | Natuaqanek
Eel River Bar First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel River Bar | 589 | Ugpi'gangij
Elsipogtog First Nation |  New Brunswick | Big Cove | 3000+ | Lsipuktuk
Eskasoni First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Eskasoni | 3,800+ | Wékistoqnik
Fort Folly First Nation |  New Brunswick | Dorchester | 105 | Amlamkuk Kwesawék
Micmacs of Gesgapegiag |  Quebec | Gesgapegiag | 1,174 | Keskapekiaq
Nation Micmac de Gespeg |  Quebec | Fontenelle | 490 | Kespék
Glooscap First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Hantsport | 360 | Pesikitk
Indian Island First Nation |  New Brunswick | Indian Island | 145 | Lnui Menikuk
Lennox Island First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Lennox Island | 700 | Lnui Mnikuk
Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation |  Quebec | Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation | 3,166 | Listikujk
Membertou First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Sydney | 1,051 | Maupeltuk
Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation |  New Brunswick | Red Bank | 527 | Metepnákiaq
Miawpukek First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Conne River | 2,366 | Miawpukwek
Qalipu First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | 21,429 | Qalipu
Millbrook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Truro | 1400 | Wékopekwitk
Pabineau First Nation |  New Brunswick | Bathurst | 214 | Kékwapskuk
Paq'tnkek First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Afton | 500 | Paqtnkek
Pictou Landing First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Trenton | 547 | Puksaqtéknékatik
Indian Brook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Indian Brook (Shubenacadie) | 2,120 | Sipekníkatik
Wagmatcook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Wagmatcook | 623 | Waqmitkuk
Waycobah First Nation | First Nation subdivisions

Mi'kmaw names in the following table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Mi'kmaw orthographies in use are Míkmaw pictographs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography. The latter has been adopted throughout Nova Scotia and in most Mi'kmaw communities.

CommunityProvince/StateTown/ReserveEst. Pop.Mi'kmaq name
Abegweit First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Scotchfort, Rocky Point, Morell | 396 | Epekwitk
Acadia First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Yarmouth | 996 | Malikiaq
Annapolis Valley First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Cambridge Station | 219 | Kampalijek
Aroostook Band of Micmac |  Maine | Presque Isle | 920 | Ulustuk
Bear River First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Bear River | 272 | Lsetkuk
Buctouche First Nation |  New Brunswick | Buctouche | 80 | Puktusk
Burnt Church First Nation |  New Brunswick | Esgenoôpetitj 14 | 1,488 | Eskinuopitijk
Chapel Island First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Chapel Island | 576 | Potlotek
Eel Ground First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel Ground | 844 | Natuaqanek
Eel River Bar First Nation |  New Brunswick | Eel River Bar | 589 | Ugpi'gangij
Elsipogtog First Nation |  New Brunswick | Big Cove | 3000+ | Lsipuktuk
Eskasoni First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Eskasoni | 3,800+ | Wékistoqnik
Fort Folly First Nation |  New Brunswick | Dorchester | 105 | Amlamkuk Kwesawék
Micmacs of Gesgapegiag |  Quebec | Gesgapegiag | 1,174 | Keskapekiaq
Nation Micmac de Gespeg |  Quebec | Fontenelle | 490 | Kespék
Glooscap First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Hantsport | 360 | Pesikitk
Indian Island First Nation |  New Brunswick | Indian Island | 145 | Lnui Menikuk
Lennox Island First Nation |  Prince Edward Island | Lennox Island | 700 | Lnui Mnikuk
Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation |  Quebec | Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation | 3,166 | Listikujk
Membertou First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Sydney | 1,051 | Maupeltuk
Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation |  New Brunswick | Red Bank | 527 | Metepnákiaq
Miawpukek First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Conne River | 2,366 | Miawpukwek
Qalipu First Nation |  Newfoundland and Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | 21,429 | Qalipu
Millbrook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Truro | 1400 | Wékopekwitk
Pabineau First Nation |  New Brunswick | Bathurst | 214 | Kékwapskuk
Paq'tnkek First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Afton | 500 | Paqtnkek
Pictou Landing First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Trenton | 547 | Puksaqtéknékatik
Indian Brook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Indian Brook (Shubenacadie) | 2,120 | Sipekníkatik
Wagmatcook First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Wagmatcook | 623 | Waqmitkuk
Waycobah First Nation |  Nova Scotia | Whycocomagh | 900 | Wékoqmáq

Demographics

YearPopulationVerification
1500 |      4,500 | Estimation
1600 |      3,000 | Estimation
1700 |      2,000 | Estimation
1750 |      3,000 | Estimation
1800 |      3,100 | Estimation
1900 |      4,000 | Census
1940 |      5,000 | Census
1960 |      6,000 | Census
1972 |    10,000 | Census
1998 |    15,000 | SIL
2006 |    20,000 | Census

The pre-contact population is estimated at 3,000–30,000. In 1616, Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000, but he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses during the 16th century. Smallpox and other endemic European infectious diseases, to which the Mi'kmaq had no immunity, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population. It reached its lowest point in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again, before becoming apparently stable during the 19th century. During the 20th century, the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5%.

Nova Scotia | Whycocomagh | 900 | Wékoqmáq

Demographics

YearPopulationVerification
1500 |      4,500 | Estimation
1600 |      3,000 | Estimation
1700 |      2,000 | Estimation
1750 |      3,000 | Estimation
1800 |      3,100 | Estimation
1900 |      4,000 | Census
1940 |      5,000 | Census
1960 |      6,000 | Census
1972 |    10,000 | Census
1998 |    15,000 | SIL
2006 |    20,000 | Census

The pre-contact population is estimated at 3,000–30,000. In 1616, Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000, but he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses during the 16th century. Smallpox and other endemic European infectious diseases, to which the Mi'kmaq had no immunity, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population. It reached its lowest point in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again, before becoming apparently stable during the 19th century. During the 20th century, the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5%.

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The Eight Mi'kmaq districts (including Taqamkuk which is often not counted) are:
Epekwitk aq Piktuk
Eskikewa'kik
Kespek
Kespukwitk
Siknikt
Sipekni'katik
Taqamkuk
Unama'kik
https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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The Mi'kmaq usually hunted moose in groups of 3 to 5 men. Before the moose hunt, the Mi'kmaq would starve their dogs for two days to make them fierce in helping to finish off the moose. To kill the moose, they would injure it first, by using a bow and arrow or other weapons. After it was down, they would move in to finish it off with spears and their dogs. The guts would be fed to the dogs.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi’kmaq.

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Traditional Territory

Mi'kmaq are among the original inhabitants of the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of Gaspé and the Maritime Provinces east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki) and is made up of seven districts: Unama'gi (Unama'kik), Esge'gewa'gi (Eskikewa'kik), Sugapune'gati (Sipekni'katik), Epegwitg aq Pigtug (Epekwitk aq Piktuk), Gespugwi'tg (Kespukwitk), Signigtewa'gi (Siknikt) and Gespe'gewa'gi (Kespek). Mi'kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi'gma'gi, since time immemorial. Mi'kmaq continue to occupy this area as well as settlements in Newfoundland and New England, especially Boston. Oral history and archeological evidence place the Mi'kmaq in Mi'gma'gi for more than 10,000 years. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Traditional Life

In the pre-contact world of Mi'gma'gi, oral and archeological history tells of seasonally patterned habitation and resource harvesting - spring and summer spent on the coast, fall and winter inland. The people of Mi'gma'gi relied on the variety of resources available, using everything from shellfish to sea mammals to land mammals small and large for nutrition, clothing, dwellings and tools. They also used the bountiful timber of the region to construct canoes, snowshoes and shelters, usually in combination with animal skins and sinews. The Mi'kmaq relied wholly on their surroundings for survival, and thus developed strong reverence for the environment that sustained them.

Population

Mi'gma'gi is home to 30 Mi'kmaq nations, 29 of which are located in Canada - the Aroostook Micmac Band of Presque Isle, Maine, has more than 1,200 members. All but two communities (the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and La Nation Micmac de Gespeg in Fontenelle, Québec) possess reserve lands. Many Mi'kmaq people live off-reserve, either in Mi'gma'gi or elsewhere. More still may not be included by registered population counts, as they are not recognized as status Indians under the .

Social and Political Organization

Historically, Mi'kmaq settlements were characterized by individual or joint households scattered about a bay or along a river. Communities were related by alliance and kinship. Leadership, based on prestige rather than power, was largely concerned with effective management of the fishing and hunting economy.

Mi'kmaq share close ties with other local peoples, including the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. With the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, the Mi'kmaq make up the Wabanaki Confederacy, a confederation of nations politically active at least from contact with Europeans to the present.

A Mi'kmaq Chief waits to be presented to their Majesties during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada at Halifax, NS (courtesy Canada Science and Technology Museum/CN Collection/CN003696).

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council ( Sante' Mawio'mi) is the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq peoples, established before the arrival of Europeans. The council survives to this day, although its political powers have been restricted by federal legislation, such as the Indian Act. In the 1600s and 1700s, the council discussed political issues and entered into treaties with the British. Today, the Mi'kmaq Grand Council members advocate for the promotion and preservation of Mi'kmaq people, language and culture.

Representatives from across Mi'kmaq territory sit on the council. In the past, the Grand Chief ( Kji Sagamaw or Kji Saqmaw) was the head of state for the collective Mi'kmaq political body, which consisted of captains ( keptins or kji'keptan), who led the council, wampum readers ( putu's or putus), who maintained treaty and traditional laws, and soldiers ( smagn'is), who protected the people. Today, the chief, captains and wampum readers still run the council, though their roles have been curtailed by the federal government to focus primarily on Mi'kmaq spirituality and culture. Other organizations, like the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative ( Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), advocate politically for the recognition and implementation of treaty rights. ( See also Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).

Culture

Mi'kmaq moccasins, circa 1830.

Like other Indigenous peoples in the Eastern Woodlands region, Mi'kmaq practised art intrinsically linked to the natural world. Contemporary Mi'kmaq artists like Alan Syliboy have reinterpreted Mi'kmaq artistic traditions, like rock painting and ornate quillwork clothing. ( See also Indigenous Art in Canada).

Music is another important element of Mi'kmaq culture. Many traditional songs and chants are still sung during spiritual rituals, feasts, mawiomi (gatherings), cultural ceremonies and powwows. In some cases, Mi'kmaq chants consisted of vocables (spoken syllables) as a means of expressing emotion, rather than words with meanings.

Did You Know?
In April 2019, a video of Cape Breton Mi'kmaq teenager Emma Stevens singing "Blackbird" in Mi'kmaq went viral. The cover of the Beatles' classic was produced by Emma's teacher Carter Chiasson, translated by teacher Katani Julian and her father, Albert "Golydada" Julian, and recorded by Emma and fellow students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni First Nation, Cape Breton. They translated the song into Mi'kmaq to bring awareness to the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages during the UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019. The video took off around the world, receiving high praise from public figures, including the original songwriter, Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a tweet from the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Language

Mi'kmaq is among the Wabanaki cluster of Eastern Algonquian languages, which include the various Abenaki dialects, and the Penobscot and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy languages. According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi'kmaq. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada).

Mi'kmaq is written alphabetically. It has single- and double-letter constants as well as five vowels that make both long and short sounds. Mi'kmaq has a history of pictographs being used, but this writing system was modified by missionaries learning the language to teach Catholicism in the 1600s. Mi'kmaq had as many as 17 different dialects, including the unique Québec dialect Restigouche, but linguistic contact with French and English speakers has eroded the prevalence of the language and smoothed dialectical differences.

Despite challenges, language programs, including high school immersion programs, have helped to revitalize the language. In 1970, there were approximately 6,000 Mi'kmaq speakers, compared to the nearly 9,000 reported in 2016. However, these numbers may be misleading. While the National Household Survey asks speakers to self-report "an understanding" of a language, linguists measure health of a language by the number of fluent speakers. In 1999, a report by the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Language Centre of Excellence indicated fewer than 3,000 fluent speakers.

Nevertheless, Mi'kmaq is the only Indigenous language in significant active use in Mi'gma'gi (Maliseet had less than 800 speakers in 2011), and as such, is an important symbol of cultural strength and perseverance for the community.

On 7 April 2022, the Government of Nova Scotia introduced the Mi'kmaw Language Act. This legislation enshrines the Mi'kmaq language as the province's first language. It also supports efforts to protect and revitalize the language. The Act is seen as a step toward reconciliation.

Religion and Spirituality

Mi'kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi'kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth. Analysis of the Mi'kmaq language enhances the fundamental importance of this worldview. Rather than a sequential, time-based verb tense structure (as in English), the Mi'kmaq language is experiential, relying on the evidence of the speaker to convey meaning.

Mi'kmaq culture and traditional religion is based on legendary figures like Glooscap (also written Kluscap) who is said to have formed the Annapolis Valley by sleeping on the land and using Prince Edward Island as his pillow. The Great Spirit is the creator of the world and all its inhabitants, a concept that was not destroyed when Catholic settlers and missionaries began to influence Mi'kmaq spirituality and religion in the 17th century. ( See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
Origin Stories
The Mi'kmaq, like most Indigenous groups, use stories to tell about the past and about their spirituality. Mi'kmaq oral tradition explains that the world was created in seven stages. The Creator made the sky, the sun, Mother Earth and then the first humans: Glooscap and his grandmother, nephew and mother. From sparks of fire that Glooscap commanded to come forth, came seven men and seven women - the founding families of the seven Mi'gma'gi districts. There are many other origin stories that describe how things came to be and how to live a good life.

Vistas: Little Thunder, Nance Ackerman & Alan Syliboy, National Film Board of Canada
Christianity
In 1610, Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief ( sagamo or sagamore), became the first Indigenous person to be baptized as a Catholic in New France, beginning a pattern of intense conversion and intermingling of customs. Mi'kmaq peoples, who had readily adapted to European trade goods, were likewise receptive to religious practices.

It has been said that the Concordat of 1610 - a formal agreement between the Mi'kmaq and the Vatican marked by the creation of a treaty wampum - combined trade, treaty and religion in relations between the Mi'kmaq and the French. The Concordat allegedly made the Mi'kmaq Catholic subjects, and therefore legitimized trade and other relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Acadia or Mi'gma'gi. However, historians and elders dispute this claim.

While some Mi'kmaq are Christian, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is still practised. There is a concerted effort on the part of Mi'kmaq people to protect and promote their religious beliefs and customs.

Chapel of the Mi'kmaq on the Conne River, Newfoundland and Labrador (1908).

Colonial History

Due to their proximity to the Atlantic, the Mi'kmaq were among the first peoples in North America to interact with European explorers, fishermen and traders. As a result, they quickly suffered depopulation and socio-cultural disruption. Some historians estimate that European diseases ( See Epidemic) resulted in a loss of up to half the Mi'kmaq population from about 1500 to 1600.

As a result of sporadic contact and trade with European fishermen, the Mi'kmaq who encountered the first sustained European settlements in what is now Canada were familiar with the people, their goods and their trade habits. Additionally, Mi'kmaq oral history tells of a Mi'kmaq woman's ancient premonition that people would arrive in Mi'gma'gi on floating islands, and a legendary spirit who travelled across the ocean to find "blue-eyed people." The foretelling of the arrival of Europeans meant Mi'kmaq were prepared when they first encountered fishermen off their shores.

Mi'kmaq participated in the fur trade by serving as intermediaries between Europeans and groups farther west, as fur-bearing animals quickly became scarce in the face of high demand. This fundamentally altered the lifestyle of the Mi'kmaq, who focused on trapping and trading furs rather than subsistence hunting and gathering.
Treaties
Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi'kmaq into the fray. The Mi'kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi'kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760-61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties. ( See also Indigenous Peoples: Treaties).

These treaties between sovereign nations recognize the inherent Indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq, and form the basis for modern treaty claims and renegotiations. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it established Indigenous rights in much of Canada, did not mention Maritime colonies. For this reason, most post-treaty European and Loyalist settlers ignored, or were ignorant of, Mi'kmaq rights.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi'kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi'kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
19th and 20th Century Struggles
Life under British, and later Canadian, governance was not kind to the Mi'kmaq, who were subjected to conscious attempts to alter their lifestyle. Most moves to establish them as agriculturalists failed because of badly conceived programs and encroachments upon reserve lands. Economic patterns that privileged employment as labourers effected irreversible change: crafts, coopering, the porpoise fishery, and road, rail and lumber work integrated the Mi'kmaq into the 19th- and 20th-century economy, but left them socially isolated.

As with many Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Mi'kmaq are strongly affected by the lasting trauma of residential schools. Adding to this cultural, generational and economic dislocation, in the 1940s, the Department of Indian Affairs forced more than 2,000 Mi'kmaq people living in numerous small communities to relocate to government-designated reserves. The moves, undertaken for the sole purpose of streamlining government administration were fraught with mismanagement and experimental tactics, and had disastrous effects on the communities. Homes, churches and industries were abandoned and replaced with poor conditions and economic dependency.

Did you know?
Despite facing discrimination in Canada and a lack of civil rights ( Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous peoples were not granted the right to vote until 1960), more than 200 Mi'kmaq warrior-soldiers ( sma'knisk) served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the First World War. Many were wounded or killed in battle ( see Indigenous Peoples and the First World War). In addition, Mi'kmaq soldier Corporal Samuel Glode (Gloade) was highly decorated for bravery on the Western Front. Glode was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for disarming 450 land mines and bombs in 1918, saving many Canadian lives.

Contemporary Life and Activism

In 2015, there were 13 Mi'kmaq nations in Nova Scotia with a total registered population of 16,268. New Brunswick's nine nations included 8,210 registered people, while the two nations in each of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had populations of 1,294 and 26,966, respectively. The three Québec nations had a total population of 6,025. Before 2011, the population of registered Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland and Labrador was significantly lower; in that year, the federal government recognized the status of more than 23,000 Mi'kmaq people, who formed the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation.

The formation of the Qalipu is one example of continued activism among Mi'kmaq people. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the rights of Donald Marshall, Jr., and thus all Mi'kmaq peoples, to a "moderate livelihood" through hunting and fishing rights. Marshall had been convicted in 1996 of fishing out of season, but the court ruled that the Peace and Friendship Treaties, signed in 1760 and 1761, guaranteed Mi'kmaq these rights.

The decision sparked what is known as the Burnt Church Crisis, where tensions reached a boiling point between Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous fishermen, who argued that unchecked harvesting in the lobster fishery would lead to devastation of stocks. Despite the pacifist lobbying of organizations like the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association among their own members, some non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed Mi'kmaq traps and other equipment. The situation threatened to devolve into violence. The federal government brought the crisis to somewhat of a close by buying licences and equipment from some non-Indigenous fishermen and entering into agreements with several Mi'kmaq communities to regulate a commercial fishery. Other Mi'kmaq communities did not reach agreements and continue to petition the federal government to recognize treaty rights.

Ongoing tensions over lobster fishing between non-Indigenous and Sipekne'katik (Mi'kmaq) fishers escalated in October 2020. A lobster pound was burned down in Middle West Pubnico the night of 17 October. The Mi'kmaq have called on the federal government, which is responsible for fisheries, to provide clear guidance on what a "moderate livelihood" involves.

In October 2013, members of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick organized a demonstration against natural gas fracking being conducted on Crown land near their community. The protests centred on environmental arguments against fracking and the unceded nature of the territory in question. Protesters erected blockades on Highway 11 and several organizers were arrested. Non-violent protesters faced off against RCMP officers, producing iconic images and reigniting debate over the scope of Aboriginal title and the politics of environmental stewardship within an industrial economy.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kmaw, Micmac or L'nu, "the people" in Mi'kmaq) are Indigenous peoples who are among the original inhabitants in the Atlantic Provinces o...

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20th and 21st centuries

Jerry Lonecloud (1854–1930) worked with historian and archivist Harry Piers to document the ethnography of the Mi'kmaq people in the early 20th century. Lonecloud wrote the first Mi'kmaq memoir, which his biographer entitled "Tracking Dr. Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper". Historian Ruth Holmes Whitehead wrote, "Ethnographer of the Micmac nation could rightly have been his epitaph, his final honour."

World Wars

Chief Gabriel Sylliboy - first to fight for Treaty Rights in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, 1929

In 1914, over 150 Mi'kmaw men signed up during World War I. During the First World War, thirty-four out of sixty-four male Mi’kmaq from Lennox Island First Nation, Prince Edward Island enlisted in the armed forces, distinguishing themselves particularly in the Battle of Amiens. In 1939, over 250 Mi’kmaq volunteered in World War II. (In 1950, over 60 Mi'kmaq enlisted to serve in the Korean War.)

Treaty Day

Monument to the Treaty of 1752, Shubenacadie First Nation, Nova Scotia

Gabriel Sylliboy was the first Mi'kmaq elected as Grand Chief (1919) and the first to fight for treaty recognition - specifically, the Treaty of 1752 - in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (1929).

In 1986, the first Treaty Day was celebrated by Nova Scotians on October 1 in recognition of the Treaties signed between the British Empire and the Mi'kmaq people. The first treaty was signed in 1725 after Father Rale's War. The final treaties of 1760-61, marked the end of 75 years of regular warfare between the Mi'kmaq and the British (see the four French and Indian Wars as well as Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War). The treaty making process of 1760-61, ended with the Burying the Hatchet ceremony (Nova Scotia) (1761).

The treaties were only formally recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada once they were enshrined in the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The first Treaty Day occurred the year after the Supreme Court upheld the Peace Treaty of 1752 signed by Jean-Baptiste Cope and Governor Peregrine Hopson. Since that time there have been numerous judicial decisions that have upheld the other treaties in the Supreme Court, the most recognized being the Donald Marshall case.

Tripartite Forum

In 1997, the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum was established.

On August 31, 2010, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a historic agreement with the Mi'kmaq Nation, establishing a process whereby the federal government must consult with the Mi'kmaq Grand Council before engaging in any activities or projects that affect the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. This covers most, if not all, actions these governments might take within that jurisdiction. This is the first such collaborative agreement in Canadian history including all the First Nations within an entire province.

Mi’kmaq Kina’ matnewey

The Nova Scotia government and the Mi’kmaq community have made the Mi’kmaq Kina’ matnewey, which is the most successful First Nation Education Program in Canada. In 1982, the first Mi’kmaq-operated school opened in Nova Scotia. By 1997, all Mi’kmaq on reserves were given the responsibility for their own education. There are now 11 band-run schools in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia now has the highest rate of retention of aboriginal students in schools in the country. More than half the teachers are Mi’kmaq. From 2011 to 2012 there was a 25% increase in Mi’kmaq students going to university. Atlantic Canada has the highest rate of aboriginal students attending university in the country.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

In 2005, Nova Scotian Mi'kmaq Nora Bernard led the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history, representing an estimated 79,000 survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. The Canadian government settled the lawsuit for upwards of 5 billion dollars.

On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an apology to the residential school survivors.

In the fall of 2011 there was an Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission that travelled to various communities in Atlantic Canada, who were all served by the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. For 37 years (1930-1967), 10% of Mi'kmaq children attended the institution.

Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland

Main page: Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band

Celebrations

In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, October is celebrated as Mi'kmaq History Month. The entire Mi'kmaq Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1. This was date when the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752 was signed by Jean-Baptiste Cope of Shubenacadie and the king's representative. It was stated that the natives would be given gifts annually,"as long as they continued in Peace."

Herbalism

They use the leaves of Ranunculus acris for headaches.

Religion and folklore

A dancer in the Mi'kmaq celebration

Many Mi'kmaq practice the Catholic faith, some only practice traditional Mi'kmaq religion, while many have adopted both religions. There is one myth [source required] explaining that the Mi'kmaq once believed that evil and wickedness among men is what causes them to kill each other. This causes great sorrow to the creator-sun-god, who weeps tears that become rains sufficient to trigger a deluge. The people attempt to survive the flood by traveling in bark canoes, but only a single old man and woman survive to populate the earth.

The Mi'kmaq people had three levels of oral traditions: religious myths, legends, and folklore. Myths are used to tell the stories of the earliest possible time, which includes their creation stories. Other myths account for the organization of the world and society; for instance, how men and women were created and why they are different from one another. These myths were powerful symbolically and as the expression of how things came to be and should be. The most well known Mi'kmaq myth is of Glooscap.

Legends are oral traditions related to particular places. Legends can involve the recent or distant past, but are most important in linking people and specific places in the land.

The people also tell folktales, which involve all the people. They are understood to be fictional. These traditional tales also give moral or social lessons to youth, and are told for amusement about the way people are. Good storytellers were highly prized by the Mi'kmaq, as they are in every culture, which develop many means to tell their stories.

Spiritual sites

One spiritual capital of the Mi'kmaq nation is Mniku, the gathering place of the Míkmaq Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi, Chapel Island in Bras d'Or Lake of Nova Scotia. The island is also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Mi'kmaq (Robinson 2005). The island has been declared a historic site.

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https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/micmac-mikmaq

Mi’kmaq spirituality is influenced by the natural world. The Mi’kmaq believe that living was good and the right thing to do, having a balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and different creatures that live on the earth.

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Traditional Territory

Mi'kmaq are among the original inhabitants of the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of Gaspé and the Maritime Provinces east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki) and is made up of seven districts: Unama'gi (Unama'kik), Esge'gewa'gi (Eskikewa'kik), Sugapune'gati (Sipekni'katik), Epegwitg aq Pigtug (Epekwitk aq Piktuk), Gespugwi'tg (Kespukwitk), Signigtewa'gi (Siknikt) and Gespe'gewa'gi (Kespek). Mi'kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi'gma'gi, since time immemorial. Mi'kmaq continue to occupy this area as well as settlements in Newfoundland and New England, especially Boston. Oral history and archeological evidence place the Mi'kmaq in Mi'gma'gi for more than 10,000 years. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Traditional Life

In the pre-contact world of Mi'gma'gi, oral and archeological history tells of seasonally patterned habitation and resource harvesting - spring and summer spent on the coast, fall and winter inland. The people of Mi'gma'gi relied on the variety of resources available, using everything from shellfish to sea mammals to land mammals small and large for nutrition, clothing, dwellings and tools. They also used the bountiful timber of the region to construct canoes, snowshoes and shelters, usually in combination with animal skins and sinews. The Mi'kmaq relied wholly on their surroundings for survival, and thus developed strong reverence for the environment that sustained them.

Population

Mi'gma'gi is home to 30 Mi'kmaq nations, 29 of which are located in Canada - the Aroostook Micmac Band of Presque Isle, Maine, has more than 1,200 members. All but two communities (the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and La Nation Micmac de Gespeg in Fontenelle, Québec) possess reserve lands. Many Mi'kmaq people live off-reserve, either in Mi'gma'gi or elsewhere. More still may not be included by registered population counts, as they are not recognized as status Indians under the .

Social and Political Organization

Historically, Mi'kmaq settlements were characterized by individual or joint households scattered about a bay or along a river. Communities were related by alliance and kinship. Leadership, based on prestige rather than power, was largely concerned with effective management of the fishing and hunting economy.

Mi'kmaq share close ties with other local peoples, including the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. With the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, the Mi'kmaq make up the Wabanaki Confederacy, a confederation of nations politically active at least from contact with Europeans to the present.

A Mi'kmaq Chief waits to be presented to their Majesties during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada at Halifax, NS (courtesy Canada Science and Technology Museum/CN Collection/CN003696).

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council ( Sante' Mawio'mi) is the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq peoples, established before the arrival of Europeans. The council survives to this day, although its political powers have been restricted by federal legislation, such as the Indian Act. In the 1600s and 1700s, the council discussed political issues and entered into treaties with the British. Today, the Mi'kmaq Grand Council members advocate for the promotion and preservation of Mi'kmaq people, language and culture.

Representatives from across Mi'kmaq territory sit on the council. In the past, the Grand Chief ( Kji Sagamaw or Kji Saqmaw) was the head of state for the collective Mi'kmaq political body, which consisted of captains ( keptins or kji'keptan), who led the council, wampum readers ( putu's or putus), who maintained treaty and traditional laws, and soldiers ( smagn'is), who protected the people. Today, the chief, captains and wampum readers still run the council, though their roles have been curtailed by the federal government to focus primarily on Mi'kmaq spirituality and culture. Other organizations, like the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative ( Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), advocate politically for the recognition and implementation of treaty rights. ( See also Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).

Culture

Mi'kmaq moccasins, circa 1830.

Like other Indigenous peoples in the Eastern Woodlands region, Mi'kmaq practised art intrinsically linked to the natural world. Contemporary Mi'kmaq artists like Alan Syliboy have reinterpreted Mi'kmaq artistic traditions, like rock painting and ornate quillwork clothing. ( See also Indigenous Art in Canada).

Music is another important element of Mi'kmaq culture. Many traditional songs and chants are still sung during spiritual rituals, feasts, mawiomi (gatherings), cultural ceremonies and powwows. In some cases, Mi'kmaq chants consisted of vocables (spoken syllables) as a means of expressing emotion, rather than words with meanings.

Did You Know?
In April 2019, a video of Cape Breton Mi'kmaq teenager Emma Stevens singing "Blackbird" in Mi'kmaq went viral. The cover of the Beatles' classic was produced by Emma's teacher Carter Chiasson, translated by teacher Katani Julian and her father, Albert "Golydada" Julian, and recorded by Emma and fellow students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni First Nation, Cape Breton. They translated the song into Mi'kmaq to bring awareness to the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages during the UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019. The video took off around the world, receiving high praise from public figures, including the original songwriter, Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a tweet from the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Language

Mi'kmaq is among the Wabanaki cluster of Eastern Algonquian languages, which include the various Abenaki dialects, and the Penobscot and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy languages. According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi'kmaq. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada).

Mi'kmaq is written alphabetically. It has single- and double-letter constants as well as five vowels that make both long and short sounds. Mi'kmaq has a history of pictographs being used, but this writing system was modified by missionaries learning the language to teach Catholicism in the 1600s. Mi'kmaq had as many as 17 different dialects, including the unique Québec dialect Restigouche, but linguistic contact with French and English speakers has eroded the prevalence of the language and smoothed dialectical differences.

Despite challenges, language programs, including high school immersion programs, have helped to revitalize the language. In 1970, there were approximately 6,000 Mi'kmaq speakers, compared to the nearly 9,000 reported in 2016. However, these numbers may be misleading. While the National Household Survey asks speakers to self-report "an understanding" of a language, linguists measure health of a language by the number of fluent speakers. In 1999, a report by the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Language Centre of Excellence indicated fewer than 3,000 fluent speakers.

Nevertheless, Mi'kmaq is the only Indigenous language in significant active use in Mi'gma'gi (Maliseet had less than 800 speakers in 2011), and as such, is an important symbol of cultural strength and perseverance for the community.

On 7 April 2022, the Government of Nova Scotia introduced the Mi'kmaw Language Act. This legislation enshrines the Mi'kmaq language as the province's first language. It also supports efforts to protect and revitalize the language. The Act is seen as a step toward reconciliation.

Religion and Spirituality

Mi'kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi'kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth. Analysis of the Mi'kmaq language enhances the fundamental importance of this worldview. Rather than a sequential, time-based verb tense structure (as in English), the Mi'kmaq language is experiential, relying on the evidence of the speaker to convey meaning.

Mi'kmaq culture and traditional religion is based on legendary figures like Glooscap (also written Kluscap) who is said to have formed the Annapolis Valley by sleeping on the land and using Prince Edward Island as his pillow. The Great Spirit is the creator of the world and all its inhabitants, a concept that was not destroyed when Catholic settlers and missionaries began to influence Mi'kmaq spirituality and religion in the 17th century. ( See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
Origin Stories
The Mi'kmaq, like most Indigenous groups, use stories to tell about the past and about their spirituality. Mi'kmaq oral tradition explains that the world was created in seven stages. The Creator made the sky, the sun, Mother Earth and then the first humans: Glooscap and his grandmother, nephew and mother. From sparks of fire that Glooscap commanded to come forth, came seven men and seven women - the founding families of the seven Mi'gma'gi districts. There are many other origin stories that describe how things came to be and how to live a good life.

Vistas: Little Thunder, Nance Ackerman & Alan Syliboy, National Film Board of Canada
Christianity
In 1610, Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief ( sagamo or sagamore), became the first Indigenous person to be baptized as a Catholic in New France, beginning a pattern of intense conversion and intermingling of customs. Mi'kmaq peoples, who had readily adapted to European trade goods, were likewise receptive to religious practices.

It has been said that the Concordat of 1610 - a formal agreement between the Mi'kmaq and the Vatican marked by the creation of a treaty wampum - combined trade, treaty and religion in relations between the Mi'kmaq and the French. The Concordat allegedly made the Mi'kmaq Catholic subjects, and therefore legitimized trade and other relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Acadia or Mi'gma'gi. However, historians and elders dispute this claim.

While some Mi'kmaq are Christian, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is still practised. There is a concerted effort on the part of Mi'kmaq people to protect and promote their religious beliefs and customs.

Chapel of the Mi'kmaq on the Conne River, Newfoundland and Labrador (1908).

Colonial History

Due to their proximity to the Atlantic, the Mi'kmaq were among the first peoples in North America to interact with European explorers, fishermen and traders. As a result, they quickly suffered depopulation and socio-cultural disruption. Some historians estimate that European diseases ( See Epidemic) resulted in a loss of up to half the Mi'kmaq population from about 1500 to 1600.

As a result of sporadic contact and trade with European fishermen, the Mi'kmaq who encountered the first sustained European settlements in what is now Canada were familiar with the people, their goods and their trade habits. Additionally, Mi'kmaq oral history tells of a Mi'kmaq woman's ancient premonition that people would arrive in Mi'gma'gi on floating islands, and a legendary spirit who travelled across the ocean to find "blue-eyed people." The foretelling of the arrival of Europeans meant Mi'kmaq were prepared when they first encountered fishermen off their shores.

Mi'kmaq participated in the fur trade by serving as intermediaries between Europeans and groups farther west, as fur-bearing animals quickly became scarce in the face of high demand. This fundamentally altered the lifestyle of the Mi'kmaq, who focused on trapping and trading furs rather than subsistence hunting and gathering.
Treaties
Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi'kmaq into the fray. The Mi'kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi'kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760-61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties. ( See also Indigenous Peoples: Treaties).

These treaties between sovereign nations recognize the inherent Indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq, and form the basis for modern treaty claims and renegotiations. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it established Indigenous rights in much of Canada, did not mention Maritime colonies. For this reason, most post-treaty European and Loyalist settlers ignored, or were ignorant of, Mi'kmaq rights.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi'kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi'kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
19th and 20th Century Struggles
Life under British, and later Canadian, governance was not kind to the Mi'kmaq, who were subjected to conscious attempts to alter their lifestyle. Most moves to establish them as agriculturalists failed because of badly conceived programs and encroachments upon reserve lands. Economic patterns that privileged employment as labourers effected irreversible change: crafts, coopering, the porpoise fishery, and road, rail and lumber work integrated the Mi'kmaq into the 19th- and 20th-century economy, but left them socially isolated.

As with many Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Mi'kmaq are strongly affected by the lasting trauma of residential schools. Adding to this cultural, generational and economic dislocation, in the 1940s, the Department of Indian Affairs forced more than 2,000 Mi'kmaq people living in numerous small communities to relocate to government-designated reserves. The moves, undertaken for the sole purpose of streamlining government administration were fraught with mismanagement and experimental tactics, and had disastrous effects on the communities. Homes, churches and industries were abandoned and replaced with poor conditions and economic dependency.

Did you know?
Despite facing discrimination in Canada and a lack of civil rights ( Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous peoples were not granted the right to vote until 1960), more than 200 Mi'kmaq warrior-soldiers ( sma'knisk) served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the First World War. Many were wounded or killed in battle ( see Indigenous Peoples and the First World War). In addition, Mi'kmaq soldier Corporal Samuel Glode (Gloade) was highly decorated for bravery on the Western Front. Glode was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for disarming 450 land mines and bombs in 1918, saving many Canadian lives.

Contemporary Life and Activism

In 2015, there were 13 Mi'kmaq nations in Nova Scotia with a total registered population of 16,268. New Brunswick's nine nations included 8,210 registered people, while the two nations in each of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had populations of 1,294 and 26,966, respectively. The three Québec nations had a total population of 6,025. Before 2011, the population of registered Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland and Labrador was significantly lower; in that year, the federal government recognized the status of more than 23,000 Mi'kmaq people, who formed the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation.

The formation of the Qalipu is one example of continued activism among Mi'kmaq people. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the rights of Donald Marshall, Jr., and thus all Mi'kmaq peoples, to a "moderate livelihood" through hunting and fishing rights. Marshall had been convicted in 1996 of fishing out of season, but the court ruled that the Peace and Friendship Treaties, signed in 1760 and 1761, guaranteed Mi'kmaq these rights.

The decision sparked what is known as the Burnt Church Crisis, where tensions reached a boiling point between Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous fishermen, who argued that unchecked harvesting in the lobster fishery would lead to devastation of stocks. Despite the pacifist lobbying of organizations like the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association among their own members, some non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed Mi'kmaq traps and other equipment. The situation threatened to devolve into violence. The federal government brought the crisis to somewhat of a close by buying licences and equipment from some non-Indigenous fishermen and entering into agreements with several Mi'kmaq communities to regulate a commercial fishery. Other Mi'kmaq communities did not reach agreements and continue to petition the federal government to recognize treaty rights.

Ongoing tensions over lobster fishing between non-Indigenous and Sipekne'katik (Mi'kmaq) fishers escalated in October 2020. A lobster pound was burned down in Middle West Pubnico the night of 17 October. The Mi'kmaq have called on the federal government, which is responsible for fisheries, to provide clear guidance on what a "moderate livelihood" involves.

In October 2013, members of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick organized a demonstration against natural gas fracking being conducted on Crown land near their community. The protests centred on environmental arguments against fracking and the unceded nature of the territory in question. Protesters erected blockades on Highway 11 and several organizers were arrested. Non-violent protesters faced off against RCMP officers, producing iconic images and reigniting debate over the scope of Aboriginal title and the politics of environmental stewardship within an industrial economy.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kmaw, Micmac or L'nu, "the people" in Mi'kmaq) are Indigenous peoples who are among the original inhabitants in the Atlantic Provinces o...

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Silas Tertius Rand in 1849 help found the Micmac Missionary Society, a full-time Mi'kmaq mission. Basing his work in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, where he lived from 1853 until his death in 1889, he travelled widely among Mi'kmaq communities, spreading the faith, learning the language, and recording examples of the Mi'kmaq oral tradition. Rand produced scriptural translations in Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, compiled a Mi'kmaq dictionary and collected numerous legends, and through his published work, was the first to introduce the stories of Glooscap to the wider world. The mission was dissolved in 1870. After a long period of disagreement with the Baptist church, he eventually returned to the church in 1885.

Mic-Mac hockey sticks

The Mi'kmaq practice of playing hockey appeared in recorded colonial histories from as early as the 18th century. Since the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq were credited with inventing the ice hockey stick. The oldest known hockey stick was made between 1852 and 1856. Recently, it was appraised at $4 million US and sold for $2.2 million US. The stick was carved by Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, who made it from hornbeam, also known as ironwood.

In 1863, the Starr Manufacturing Company in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia began to sell the Mic-Mac hockey sticks nationally and internationally. Hockey became a popular sport in Canada in the 1890s. Throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, the Mic-Mac Hockey Stick was the best-selling hockey stick in Canada. By 1903, apart from farming, the principal occupation of the Mi'kmaq on reserves throughout Nova Scotia, and particularly on the Shubenacadie, Indian Brook and Millbrook Reserves, was producing the Mic-Mac Hockey Stick. The department of Indian Affairs for Nova Scotia noted in 1927, that the Mi'kmaq remained the "experts" at making hockey sticks. The Mi'kmaq continued to make hockey sticks until the 1930s, when the product was industrialized.

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Mi'kmaq are the largest first nation traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mikmaq

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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"Marshall didn’t have a fishing licence and was catching eels off-season. But his ancestors had fished in the waters off Nova Scotia for thousands of years, and he believed he had a treaty right to sell his catch to support himself and his wife." He later got arrested for fishing out of season and fishing without a licence.

Credits: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/mi-kmaq-lobster-dispute-a-conflict-brewing-since-the-1700s-1.5153568

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TORONTO -- One summer morning in 1993, Mi'kmaq fisher Donald Marshall Junior loaded up a small boat with fishing gear and set off into the cold waters off Cape Breton to catch eels.

Marshall didn't have a fishing licence and was catching eels off-season. But his ancestors had fished in the waters off Nova Scotia for thousands of years, and he believed he had a treaty right to sell his catch to support himself and his wife.

Marshall caught a sizeable haul of 463 pounds of eels that day, which he sold for $787.10.

Not long after, police arrested Marshall and charged him with three offences: selling eels without a licence, fishing without a licence, and fishing during the closed season with illegal nets.

Marshall's arrest marked the beginning of a years-long legal battle that worked its way up the courts and culminated in a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada for Mi'kmaq fishers, affirming their treaty right to fish for a "moderate livelihood" wherever and whenever they want.

The case was a major success for Mi'kmaq fishers. But the language was open to interpretation.

The ruling didn't clearly define what constituted a "moderate livelihood." The ruling also specified that the Mi'kmaq don't have a right to "open-ended accumulation of wealth" but instead were limited to trading for "necessaries" -- a term directly lifted from a 260-year-old treaty.

The court's legal jargon has been criticized as unspecific by both Mi'kmaq fishers and non-Indigenous fishers. But legal experts say the language was intended to put the ball in the government's court to work out a long-term solution.

The 1999 case faced renewed national attention this fall after the Sipekne'katik First Nation launched its own self-regulated lobster fishery on Sept. 17, the 21st anniversary of the Marshall ruling. The launch was more than two months before non-Indigenous fishers drop their first lobster traps on Nov. 30, when lobster fishing season begins.

Non-Indigenous fishers accused the Mi'kmaq fishers of defying federal rules and disregarding sustainability initiatives. Mi'kmaq fishers pointed to the 1999 Supreme Court ruling and argued that their small operation was well within the definition of a "moderate livelihood" and wasn't at risk of depleting the lobster population.

Following violent confrontations that have led to arrests, destroyed fishing equipment, accusations of police inaction and a burned-down lobster pound, both groups have called on Ottawa to step up and settle the matter once and for all.

'PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP' TREATIES

More than 250 years before Marshall set out to catch eels, leaders from the the Mi'kmaq Nation had begun signing treaties with colonial authorities in Nova Scotia.

Today, these treaties are described as "peace and friendship treaties," although they did little to stop violent conflicts as European settlers continued to claim more and more land.

The first treaty was signed in 1726, but when clashes broke out over colonists moving further into Indigenous territory, both parties returned to the negotiating table.

In 1752, a new peace treaty was signed that affirmed previous peace treaties, declared an end to hostilities and -- most importantly -- spelled out provisions on Indigenous trading rights.

The most consequential treaties in laying out today's legal framework were signed in Halifax in 1760 and 1761, when the British Crown approved a number of promises with the Mi'kmaq Nation, including rules around who the Mi'kmaq could trade with.

The 1760-61 treaties are not clear on rules around fishing, but instead focus on truckhouses, a gathering place where trade with the British was allowed. The Mi'kmaq also agreed that they would not trade with non-government individuals.

A KEY CLARIFICATION

The Supreme Court closely studied those 1760-1761 treaties in its 1999 decision and found that the documents in fact affirmed the right of Mi'kmaq people to hunt, fish and gather for sustenance and to trade for what the 1760 document deemed "necessaries."

In effect, the ruling affirmed fishing rights for the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy bands, all of whom live in Eastern Canada.

Two months after the Marshall decision, the Supreme Court issued an important clarification. The court said that the treaty rights in its decision were not unlimited, and that it was possible for Indigenous fisheries to be regulated. These regulations would need to be justified with public objectives in mind, such as conserving fish.

This clarification has often been cited by non-Indigenous fishers who have argued that Indigenous fishers must face some form of regulation. Specifically, these groups say they want Indigenous fishers to follow the same federally-regulated seasons as non-indigenous fishers.

Without a clear federal system in place, the Mi'kmaq are operating their own self-regulated lobster fishery.

WHAT IS A 'MODERATE LIVELIHOOD'?

The term "moderate livelihood" was used by the court as a 20th-century interpretation of the idea that the Mi'kmaq had a right to trade wildlife for "necessaries."

The court specifically spells out a "moderate livelihood" as basics, including "food, clothing and housing, supplemented by a few amenities" but not the accumulation of wealth.

"It addresses day-to-day needs. This was the common intention in 1760," the court said in its decision.

The language is intentionally non-committal because the court wanted the federal government to work with the Mi'kmaq to hammer out a clear solution, according to Dwight Newman, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan who specializes in Indigenous rights.

"We can critique them after the fact for that, but I think they hoped for negotiation between the federal government and the First Nations to give further definition to that," Newman told CTVNews.ca in an interview on Tuesday.

The problem, Newman says, is that Ottawa hasn't stepped up to the plate to settle the issue.

"So now we're at the point where these First Nations have been waiting 20 years and they've decided to take some initiative on their own to bring the matter to the fore."

Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack said if the federal government won't negotiate with the Mi'kmaq to help define moderate livelihood, they'll define it themselves.

"The treaty's between both of us," he said. "They haven't been upholding it like they should, so if they're not capable of doing that, we'll get it defined ourselves."

Former Grand Chief for Northern Manitoba Sheila North said that while the dispute is, on the surface, about fishing rights, it fits into a larger history of Indigenous people fighting for their rights to the land.

"Hunting and livelihoods are at the heart of it. Indigenous people have been denied these rights for many generations. That's why a lot of people are sick, that's why we keep calling Indigenous people and communities the most vulnerable during this pandemic time, because they haven't been given the right and access to live out what they have a treaty right to, living off the land and supporting their families through these practices that have been there for many, many generations," she said.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to work with both the Mi'kmaq fishers and non-Indigenous fishers to come up with a solution. The federal government has also vowed to provide more resources to increase policing in the region after a fire destroyed a lobster pound used by Mi'kmaq fishers.

"We need to have an approach that doesn't just recognize inherent treaty rights, but implements their spirit and intent," Trudeau said. "That's why we will work with commercial fishers and the Canadians to ensure that this is done fairly. I understand that this is challenging, but this isn't an inconvenience, but an obligation. If we are truly to be the country that we like to think of ourselves as, this is the road we must walk."

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole accused the Liberals of "inaction," although previous Liberal and Conservative governments had years to step in and settle the dispute since the 1999 ruling.

"The Indigenous community and the non-Indigenous community agree on one thing: the inaction of this government is unacceptable," O'Toole said during an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called on the government to make new commitments "today."

"This is an emergency because ... there is a real threat that this violence will escalate and people will lose their lives and that cannot happen and so we need immediate action right now."

The fishing rights conflict is an interesting "bookend" to 2020 in terms of Indigenous rights, Newman said, pointing out that the year began with rail blockades over the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' opposition to a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.

In that case, the group struck a deal with Ottawa. Newman said he hopes the situation is resolved peacefully.

"Everyone should be concerned about acts of violence," Newman said. "Hopefully, the government can find a way forward."

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Members of the Potlotek First Nation, head out into St. Peters Bay from the wharf in St. Peter's, N.S. as they participate in a self-regulated commercial lobster fishery on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, which is Treaty Day. THE CANADIAN PRESS /Andrew Vaughan

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Mi'kmaq lobster dispute: A conflict brewing since the 1700s

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TORONTO -- One summer morning in 1993, Mi'kmaq fisher Donald Marshall Junior loaded up a small boat with fishing gear and set off into the cold waters off Cape Breton to catch eels. Marshall didn't have a fishing licence and was catching eels off-season.

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Autumn frost killed the biting insects during the September harvest of spawning American eels, allowing dispersal back into the interior in smaller groups to hunt moose and caribou. The most important animal hunted by the Mi'kmaq was the moose, which was used in every part: for example, the meat was processed for food, the skin for clothing, tendons and sinew for cordage, bones for carving and tools.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi’kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi’kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/micmac-mikmaq

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Traditional Territory

Mi'kmaq are among the original inhabitants of the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of Gaspé and the Maritime Provinces east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki) and is made up of seven districts: Unama'gi (Unama'kik), Esge'gewa'gi (Eskikewa'kik), Sugapune'gati (Sipekni'katik), Epegwitg aq Pigtug (Epekwitk aq Piktuk), Gespugwi'tg (Kespukwitk), Signigtewa'gi (Siknikt) and Gespe'gewa'gi (Kespek). Mi'kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi'gma'gi, since time immemorial. Mi'kmaq continue to occupy this area as well as settlements in Newfoundland and New England, especially Boston. Oral history and archeological evidence place the Mi'kmaq in Mi'gma'gi for more than 10,000 years. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Traditional Life

In the pre-contact world of Mi'gma'gi, oral and archeological history tells of seasonally patterned habitation and resource harvesting - spring and summer spent on the coast, fall and winter inland. The people of Mi'gma'gi relied on the variety of resources available, using everything from shellfish to sea mammals to land mammals small and large for nutrition, clothing, dwellings and tools. They also used the bountiful timber of the region to construct canoes, snowshoes and shelters, usually in combination with animal skins and sinews. The Mi'kmaq relied wholly on their surroundings for survival, and thus developed strong reverence for the environment that sustained them.

Population

Mi'gma'gi is home to 30 Mi'kmaq nations, 29 of which are located in Canada - the Aroostook Micmac Band of Presque Isle, Maine, has more than 1,200 members. All but two communities (the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and La Nation Micmac de Gespeg in Fontenelle, Québec) possess reserve lands. Many Mi'kmaq people live off-reserve, either in Mi'gma'gi or elsewhere. More still may not be included by registered population counts, as they are not recognized as status Indians under the .

Social and Political Organization

Historically, Mi'kmaq settlements were characterized by individual or joint households scattered about a bay or along a river. Communities were related by alliance and kinship. Leadership, based on prestige rather than power, was largely concerned with effective management of the fishing and hunting economy.

Mi'kmaq share close ties with other local peoples, including the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. With the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, the Mi'kmaq make up the Wabanaki Confederacy, a confederation of nations politically active at least from contact with Europeans to the present.

A Mi'kmaq Chief waits to be presented to their Majesties during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada at Halifax, NS (courtesy Canada Science and Technology Museum/CN Collection/CN003696).

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council ( Sante' Mawio'mi) is the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq peoples, established before the arrival of Europeans. The council survives to this day, although its political powers have been restricted by federal legislation, such as the Indian Act. In the 1600s and 1700s, the council discussed political issues and entered into treaties with the British. Today, the Mi'kmaq Grand Council members advocate for the promotion and preservation of Mi'kmaq people, language and culture.

Representatives from across Mi'kmaq territory sit on the council. In the past, the Grand Chief ( Kji Sagamaw or Kji Saqmaw) was the head of state for the collective Mi'kmaq political body, which consisted of captains ( keptins or kji'keptan), who led the council, wampum readers ( putu's or putus), who maintained treaty and traditional laws, and soldiers ( smagn'is), who protected the people. Today, the chief, captains and wampum readers still run the council, though their roles have been curtailed by the federal government to focus primarily on Mi'kmaq spirituality and culture. Other organizations, like the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative ( Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), advocate politically for the recognition and implementation of treaty rights. ( See also Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).

Culture

Mi'kmaq moccasins, circa 1830.

Like other Indigenous peoples in the Eastern Woodlands region, Mi'kmaq practised art intrinsically linked to the natural world. Contemporary Mi'kmaq artists like Alan Syliboy have reinterpreted Mi'kmaq artistic traditions, like rock painting and ornate quillwork clothing. ( See also Indigenous Art in Canada).

Music is another important element of Mi'kmaq culture. Many traditional songs and chants are still sung during spiritual rituals, feasts, mawiomi (gatherings), cultural ceremonies and powwows. In some cases, Mi'kmaq chants consisted of vocables (spoken syllables) as a means of expressing emotion, rather than words with meanings.

Did You Know?
In April 2019, a video of Cape Breton Mi'kmaq teenager Emma Stevens singing "Blackbird" in Mi'kmaq went viral. The cover of the Beatles' classic was produced by Emma's teacher Carter Chiasson, translated by teacher Katani Julian and her father, Albert "Golydada" Julian, and recorded by Emma and fellow students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni First Nation, Cape Breton. They translated the song into Mi'kmaq to bring awareness to the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages during the UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019. The video took off around the world, receiving high praise from public figures, including the original songwriter, Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a tweet from the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Language

Mi'kmaq is among the Wabanaki cluster of Eastern Algonquian languages, which include the various Abenaki dialects, and the Penobscot and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy languages. According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi'kmaq. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada).

Mi'kmaq is written alphabetically. It has single- and double-letter constants as well as five vowels that make both long and short sounds. Mi'kmaq has a history of pictographs being used, but this writing system was modified by missionaries learning the language to teach Catholicism in the 1600s. Mi'kmaq had as many as 17 different dialects, including the unique Québec dialect Restigouche, but linguistic contact with French and English speakers has eroded the prevalence of the language and smoothed dialectical differences.

Despite challenges, language programs, including high school immersion programs, have helped to revitalize the language. In 1970, there were approximately 6,000 Mi'kmaq speakers, compared to the nearly 9,000 reported in 2016. However, these numbers may be misleading. While the National Household Survey asks speakers to self-report "an understanding" of a language, linguists measure health of a language by the number of fluent speakers. In 1999, a report by the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Language Centre of Excellence indicated fewer than 3,000 fluent speakers.

Nevertheless, Mi'kmaq is the only Indigenous language in significant active use in Mi'gma'gi (Maliseet had less than 800 speakers in 2011), and as such, is an important symbol of cultural strength and perseverance for the community.

On 7 April 2022, the Government of Nova Scotia introduced the Mi'kmaw Language Act. This legislation enshrines the Mi'kmaq language as the province's first language. It also supports efforts to protect and revitalize the language. The Act is seen as a step toward reconciliation.

Religion and Spirituality

Mi'kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi'kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth. Analysis of the Mi'kmaq language enhances the fundamental importance of this worldview. Rather than a sequential, time-based verb tense structure (as in English), the Mi'kmaq language is experiential, relying on the evidence of the speaker to convey meaning.

Mi'kmaq culture and traditional religion is based on legendary figures like Glooscap (also written Kluscap) who is said to have formed the Annapolis Valley by sleeping on the land and using Prince Edward Island as his pillow. The Great Spirit is the creator of the world and all its inhabitants, a concept that was not destroyed when Catholic settlers and missionaries began to influence Mi'kmaq spirituality and religion in the 17th century. ( See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
Origin Stories
The Mi'kmaq, like most Indigenous groups, use stories to tell about the past and about their spirituality. Mi'kmaq oral tradition explains that the world was created in seven stages. The Creator made the sky, the sun, Mother Earth and then the first humans: Glooscap and his grandmother, nephew and mother. From sparks of fire that Glooscap commanded to come forth, came seven men and seven women - the founding families of the seven Mi'gma'gi districts. There are many other origin stories that describe how things came to be and how to live a good life.

Vistas: Little Thunder, Nance Ackerman & Alan Syliboy, National Film Board of Canada
Christianity
In 1610, Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief ( sagamo or sagamore), became the first Indigenous person to be baptized as a Catholic in New France, beginning a pattern of intense conversion and intermingling of customs. Mi'kmaq peoples, who had readily adapted to European trade goods, were likewise receptive to religious practices.

It has been said that the Concordat of 1610 - a formal agreement between the Mi'kmaq and the Vatican marked by the creation of a treaty wampum - combined trade, treaty and religion in relations between the Mi'kmaq and the French. The Concordat allegedly made the Mi'kmaq Catholic subjects, and therefore legitimized trade and other relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Acadia or Mi'gma'gi. However, historians and elders dispute this claim.

While some Mi'kmaq are Christian, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is still practised. There is a concerted effort on the part of Mi'kmaq people to protect and promote their religious beliefs and customs.

Chapel of the Mi'kmaq on the Conne River, Newfoundland and Labrador (1908).

Colonial History

Due to their proximity to the Atlantic, the Mi'kmaq were among the first peoples in North America to interact with European explorers, fishermen and traders. As a result, they quickly suffered depopulation and socio-cultural disruption. Some historians estimate that European diseases ( See Epidemic) resulted in a loss of up to half the Mi'kmaq population from about 1500 to 1600.

As a result of sporadic contact and trade with European fishermen, the Mi'kmaq who encountered the first sustained European settlements in what is now Canada were familiar with the people, their goods and their trade habits. Additionally, Mi'kmaq oral history tells of a Mi'kmaq woman's ancient premonition that people would arrive in Mi'gma'gi on floating islands, and a legendary spirit who travelled across the ocean to find "blue-eyed people." The foretelling of the arrival of Europeans meant Mi'kmaq were prepared when they first encountered fishermen off their shores.

Mi'kmaq participated in the fur trade by serving as intermediaries between Europeans and groups farther west, as fur-bearing animals quickly became scarce in the face of high demand. This fundamentally altered the lifestyle of the Mi'kmaq, who focused on trapping and trading furs rather than subsistence hunting and gathering.
Treaties
Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi'kmaq into the fray. The Mi'kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi'kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760-61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties. ( See also Indigenous Peoples: Treaties).

These treaties between sovereign nations recognize the inherent Indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq, and form the basis for modern treaty claims and renegotiations. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it established Indigenous rights in much of Canada, did not mention Maritime colonies. For this reason, most post-treaty European and Loyalist settlers ignored, or were ignorant of, Mi'kmaq rights.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi'kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi'kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
19th and 20th Century Struggles
Life under British, and later Canadian, governance was not kind to the Mi'kmaq, who were subjected to conscious attempts to alter their lifestyle. Most moves to establish them as agriculturalists failed because of badly conceived programs and encroachments upon reserve lands. Economic patterns that privileged employment as labourers effected irreversible change: crafts, coopering, the porpoise fishery, and road, rail and lumber work integrated the Mi'kmaq into the 19th- and 20th-century economy, but left them socially isolated.

As with many Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Mi'kmaq are strongly affected by the lasting trauma of residential schools. Adding to this cultural, generational and economic dislocation, in the 1940s, the Department of Indian Affairs forced more than 2,000 Mi'kmaq people living in numerous small communities to relocate to government-designated reserves. The moves, undertaken for the sole purpose of streamlining government administration were fraught with mismanagement and experimental tactics, and had disastrous effects on the communities. Homes, churches and industries were abandoned and replaced with poor conditions and economic dependency.

Did you know?
Despite facing discrimination in Canada and a lack of civil rights ( Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous peoples were not granted the right to vote until 1960), more than 200 Mi'kmaq warrior-soldiers ( sma'knisk) served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the First World War. Many were wounded or killed in battle ( see Indigenous Peoples and the First World War). In addition, Mi'kmaq soldier Corporal Samuel Glode (Gloade) was highly decorated for bravery on the Western Front. Glode was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for disarming 450 land mines and bombs in 1918, saving many Canadian lives.

Contemporary Life and Activism

In 2015, there were 13 Mi'kmaq nations in Nova Scotia with a total registered population of 16,268. New Brunswick's nine nations included 8,210 registered people, while the two nations in each of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had populations of 1,294 and 26,966, respectively. The three Québec nations had a total population of 6,025. Before 2011, the population of registered Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland and Labrador was significantly lower; in that year, the federal government recognized the status of more than 23,000 Mi'kmaq people, who formed the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation.

The formation of the Qalipu is one example of continued activism among Mi'kmaq people. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the rights of Donald Marshall, Jr., and thus all Mi'kmaq peoples, to a "moderate livelihood" through hunting and fishing rights. Marshall had been convicted in 1996 of fishing out of season, but the court ruled that the Peace and Friendship Treaties, signed in 1760 and 1761, guaranteed Mi'kmaq these rights.

The decision sparked what is known as the Burnt Church Crisis, where tensions reached a boiling point between Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous fishermen, who argued that unchecked harvesting in the lobster fishery would lead to devastation of stocks. Despite the pacifist lobbying of organizations like the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association among their own members, some non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed Mi'kmaq traps and other equipment. The situation threatened to devolve into violence. The federal government brought the crisis to somewhat of a close by buying licences and equipment from some non-Indigenous fishermen and entering into agreements with several Mi'kmaq communities to regulate a commercial fishery. Other Mi'kmaq communities did not reach agreements and continue to petition the federal government to recognize treaty rights.

Ongoing tensions over lobster fishing between non-Indigenous and Sipekne'katik (Mi'kmaq) fishers escalated in October 2020. A lobster pound was burned down in Middle West Pubnico the night of 17 October. The Mi'kmaq have called on the federal government, which is responsible for fisheries, to provide clear guidance on what a "moderate livelihood" involves.

In October 2013, members of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick organized a demonstration against natural gas fracking being conducted on Crown land near their community. The protests centred on environmental arguments against fracking and the unceded nature of the territory in question. Protesters erected blockades on Highway 11 and several organizers were arrested. Non-violent protesters faced off against RCMP officers, producing iconic images and reigniting debate over the scope of Aboriginal title and the politics of environmental stewardship within an industrial economy.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kmaw, Micmac or L'nu, "the people" in Mi'kmaq) are Indigenous peoples who are among the original inhabitants in the Atlantic Provinces o...

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During this time period two colonial figures were honoured at their deaths by the Mi'kmaq. Two hundred Mi'kmaq chanted their death song at the burial of Governor Michael Francklin. They also celebrated the life of Pierre Maillard.

During the American Revolution, some Mi'kmaq supported the British while others did not. In 1780, they gave shelter to the 84th Regiment of Foot that had been shipwrecked off Cape Breton.

Walter Bromley was a British officer and reformer who established the Royal Acadian School and supported the Mi'kmaq over the thirteen years he lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1813-1825). Bromley devoted himself to the service of the Mi’kmaq people. The Mi'kmaq were among the poor of Halifax and in the rural communities. According to historian Judith Finguard, his contribution to give public exposure to the plight of the Mi’kmaq “particularly contributes to his historical significance.” Finguard writes:

Bromley’s attitudes towards the Indians were singularly enlightened for his day…. Bromley totally dismissed the idea that native people were naturally inferior and set out to encourage their material improvement through settlement and agriculture, their talents through education, and their pride through his own study of their languages.

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According to historian John G. Reid, although the treaties of 1760-61 contain statements of Mi'kmaw submission to the British crown, he believes that the Mi'kmaw intended a friendly and reciprocal relationship. This is based on what is known of the surrounding discussions, combined with the strong evidence of later Mi'kmaw statements. The Mi'kmaw leaders who represented their people in the Halifax negotiations in 1760 had clear goals: to make peace, establish secure and well-regulated trade in commodities such as furs, and begin an ongoing friendship with the British crown. In return, they offered their own friendship and a tolerance of limited British settlement, although without any formal land surrender. To fulfill the reciprocity intended by the Mi'kmaq, any additional British settlement of land would have to be negotiated, and accompanied by giving presents to the Mi'kmaq. (There was a long history of the French giving Mi'kmaq people presents to be accommodated on their land, starting with the first colonial contact.) The documents summarizing the peace agreements failed to establish specific territorial limits on the expansion of British settlements, but assured the Mi’kmaq of access to the natural resources that had long sustained them along the regions’ coasts and in the woods. Their conceptions of land use were quite different. The Mi'kmaq believed they could share the land, with the British growing crops, and their people hunting as usual and getting to the coast for seafood.

The arrival of the New England Planters and United Empire Loyalists in greater number put pressure on land use and the treaties. This migration into the region created significant economic, environmental and cultural pressures on the Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaq tried to enforce the treaties through threat of force. At the beginning of the American Revolution, many Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes supported the Americans against the British. They participated in the Maugerville Rebellion and the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1776. (Mí'kmaq delegates concluded the first international treaty, the Treaty of Watertown, with the United States soon after it declared its independence in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Mi'kmaq government, although many individual Mi'kmaq did privately join the Continental army as a result.) In June 1779, Mi’kmaq in the Miramichi valley of New Brunswick attacked and plundered some of the British in the area. The following month, British Captain Augustus Harvey, in command of the HMS Viper, arrived and battled with the Mi’kmaq. One Mi’kmaq was killed and 16 were taken prisoner to Quebec. The prisoners were eventually taken to Halifax. They were released on 28 July 1779 after signing the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown.

The arrival of the New England Planters and United Empire Loyalists in greater number put pressure on land use and the treaties. This migration into the region created significant economic, environmental and cultural pressures on the Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaq tried to enforce the treaties through threat of force. At the beginning of the American Revolution, many Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes supported the Americans against the British. They participated in the Maugerville Rebellion and the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1776. (Mí'kmaq delegates concluded the first international treaty, the Treaty of Watertown, with the United States soon after it declared its independence in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Mi'kmaq government, although many individual Mi'kmaq did privately join the Continental army as a result.) In June 1779, Mi’kmaq in the Miramichi valley of New Brunswick attacked and plundered some of the British in the area. The following month, British Captain Augustus Harvey, in command of the HMS Viper, arrived and battled with the Mi’kmaq. One Mi’kmaq was killed and 16 were taken prisoner to Quebec. The prisoners were eventually taken to Halifax. They were released on 28 July 1779 after signing the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown.

As their military power waned in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq people made explicit appeals to the British to honour the treaties and reminded them of their duty to give "presents" to the Mi'kmaq in order to occupy Mi'kma'ki. In response, the British offered charity or, the word most often used by government officials, "relief". The British said the Mi'kmaq must give up their way of life and begin to settle on farms. Also, they were told they had to send their children to British schools for education.

The Treaties did not gain legal status until they were enshrined into the Canadian Constitution in 1982. Every October 1, "Treaty Day" is now celebrated by people in Nova Scotia.

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Mi'kamq is actually pronuced Meeg mah
http://www.muiniskw.org/pgCulture0.htm

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The Mi'kmaq (properly pronounced 'meeg mah', and also spelled Mkmaq) were the dominant tribe in the Canadian Maritimes, but in most ways other than language, they were similar to the Maliseet in New Brunswick and the Abenaki of northern New England. The main difference in their lifestyle was that the Abenaki were able to place greater emphasis on agriculture because of their more southerly location. In todays classifications, the Mikmaq belong to the Algonquian group.

The word Mi'kmaq actually comes from the word ni'kmaq, or 'my friends', which the early French misunderstood as the name of the people. The Mikmaq actually referred to themselves as l'nuk ('ull noog', or 'the people'.) The odd spelling comes from the efforts of early French missionaries to create a written equivalent of the language. In the phonetic system they invented, the letter 'k' was given a softer pronunciation, more like 'g', and the 'q' became a glottal stop, which is pronounced in some areas like the 'ch' in Ba ch, and in other areas like the sound in the middle of 'uh-oh'. However, if you are not familiar with the phonetic system, it is easy to look at the spelling of the word, and think that both the 'k' and the 'q' should be pronounced as hard 'k.' Thus, the word Mi'kmaq became mispronounced as 'Micmac,' which became the accepted spelling and pronunciation for years.

This section of Mi'kmaq Spirit deals with the vibrant culture and spirituality of the Mi'kmaq. Available topics include:

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The Mi'kmaq (properly pronounced 'meeg mah', and also spelled Mkmaq) were the dominant tribe in the Canadian Maritimes, but in most ways other than language, they were similar to the Maliseet in New Brunswick and the Abenaki of northern New England.

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Mi'kmaq bark box made using porcupine quills in the denver art museum.

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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hows everyones day

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Members of the Mi'kmaq historically referred to themselves as Lnu, but used the term níkmaq (my kin) as a greeting.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi’kmaq into the fray. The Mi’kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi’kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760–61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/micmac-mikmaq

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Traditional Territory

Mi'kmaq are among the original inhabitants of the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of Gaspé and the Maritime Provinces east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki) and is made up of seven districts: Unama'gi (Unama'kik), Esge'gewa'gi (Eskikewa'kik), Sugapune'gati (Sipekni'katik), Epegwitg aq Pigtug (Epekwitk aq Piktuk), Gespugwi'tg (Kespukwitk), Signigtewa'gi (Siknikt) and Gespe'gewa'gi (Kespek). Mi'kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi'gma'gi, since time immemorial. Mi'kmaq continue to occupy this area as well as settlements in Newfoundland and New England, especially Boston. Oral history and archeological evidence place the Mi'kmaq in Mi'gma'gi for more than 10,000 years. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Traditional Life

In the pre-contact world of Mi'gma'gi, oral and archeological history tells of seasonally patterned habitation and resource harvesting - spring and summer spent on the coast, fall and winter inland. The people of Mi'gma'gi relied on the variety of resources available, using everything from shellfish to sea mammals to land mammals small and large for nutrition, clothing, dwellings and tools. They also used the bountiful timber of the region to construct canoes, snowshoes and shelters, usually in combination with animal skins and sinews. The Mi'kmaq relied wholly on their surroundings for survival, and thus developed strong reverence for the environment that sustained them.

Population

Mi'gma'gi is home to 30 Mi'kmaq nations, 29 of which are located in Canada - the Aroostook Micmac Band of Presque Isle, Maine, has more than 1,200 members. All but two communities (the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and La Nation Micmac de Gespeg in Fontenelle, Québec) possess reserve lands. Many Mi'kmaq people live off-reserve, either in Mi'gma'gi or elsewhere. More still may not be included by registered population counts, as they are not recognized as status Indians under the .

Social and Political Organization

Historically, Mi'kmaq settlements were characterized by individual or joint households scattered about a bay or along a river. Communities were related by alliance and kinship. Leadership, based on prestige rather than power, was largely concerned with effective management of the fishing and hunting economy.

Mi'kmaq share close ties with other local peoples, including the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. With the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, the Mi'kmaq make up the Wabanaki Confederacy, a confederation of nations politically active at least from contact with Europeans to the present.

A Mi'kmaq Chief waits to be presented to their Majesties during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada at Halifax, NS (courtesy Canada Science and Technology Museum/CN Collection/CN003696).

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council ( Sante' Mawio'mi) is the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq peoples, established before the arrival of Europeans. The council survives to this day, although its political powers have been restricted by federal legislation, such as the Indian Act. In the 1600s and 1700s, the council discussed political issues and entered into treaties with the British. Today, the Mi'kmaq Grand Council members advocate for the promotion and preservation of Mi'kmaq people, language and culture.

Representatives from across Mi'kmaq territory sit on the council. In the past, the Grand Chief ( Kji Sagamaw or Kji Saqmaw) was the head of state for the collective Mi'kmaq political body, which consisted of captains ( keptins or kji'keptan), who led the council, wampum readers ( putu's or putus), who maintained treaty and traditional laws, and soldiers ( smagn'is), who protected the people. Today, the chief, captains and wampum readers still run the council, though their roles have been curtailed by the federal government to focus primarily on Mi'kmaq spirituality and culture. Other organizations, like the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative ( Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), advocate politically for the recognition and implementation of treaty rights. ( See also Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).

Culture

Mi'kmaq moccasins, circa 1830.

Like other Indigenous peoples in the Eastern Woodlands region, Mi'kmaq practised art intrinsically linked to the natural world. Contemporary Mi'kmaq artists like Alan Syliboy have reinterpreted Mi'kmaq artistic traditions, like rock painting and ornate quillwork clothing. ( See also Indigenous Art in Canada).

Music is another important element of Mi'kmaq culture. Many traditional songs and chants are still sung during spiritual rituals, feasts, mawiomi (gatherings), cultural ceremonies and powwows. In some cases, Mi'kmaq chants consisted of vocables (spoken syllables) as a means of expressing emotion, rather than words with meanings.

Did You Know?
In April 2019, a video of Cape Breton Mi'kmaq teenager Emma Stevens singing "Blackbird" in Mi'kmaq went viral. The cover of the Beatles' classic was produced by Emma's teacher Carter Chiasson, translated by teacher Katani Julian and her father, Albert "Golydada" Julian, and recorded by Emma and fellow students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni First Nation, Cape Breton. They translated the song into Mi'kmaq to bring awareness to the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages during the UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019. The video took off around the world, receiving high praise from public figures, including the original songwriter, Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a tweet from the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Language

Mi'kmaq is among the Wabanaki cluster of Eastern Algonquian languages, which include the various Abenaki dialects, and the Penobscot and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy languages. According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi'kmaq. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada).

Mi'kmaq is written alphabetically. It has single- and double-letter constants as well as five vowels that make both long and short sounds. Mi'kmaq has a history of pictographs being used, but this writing system was modified by missionaries learning the language to teach Catholicism in the 1600s. Mi'kmaq had as many as 17 different dialects, including the unique Québec dialect Restigouche, but linguistic contact with French and English speakers has eroded the prevalence of the language and smoothed dialectical differences.

Despite challenges, language programs, including high school immersion programs, have helped to revitalize the language. In 1970, there were approximately 6,000 Mi'kmaq speakers, compared to the nearly 9,000 reported in 2016. However, these numbers may be misleading. While the National Household Survey asks speakers to self-report "an understanding" of a language, linguists measure health of a language by the number of fluent speakers. In 1999, a report by the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Language Centre of Excellence indicated fewer than 3,000 fluent speakers.

Nevertheless, Mi'kmaq is the only Indigenous language in significant active use in Mi'gma'gi (Maliseet had less than 800 speakers in 2011), and as such, is an important symbol of cultural strength and perseverance for the community.

On 7 April 2022, the Government of Nova Scotia introduced the Mi'kmaw Language Act. This legislation enshrines the Mi'kmaq language as the province's first language. It also supports efforts to protect and revitalize the language. The Act is seen as a step toward reconciliation.

Religion and Spirituality

Mi'kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi'kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth. Analysis of the Mi'kmaq language enhances the fundamental importance of this worldview. Rather than a sequential, time-based verb tense structure (as in English), the Mi'kmaq language is experiential, relying on the evidence of the speaker to convey meaning.

Mi'kmaq culture and traditional religion is based on legendary figures like Glooscap (also written Kluscap) who is said to have formed the Annapolis Valley by sleeping on the land and using Prince Edward Island as his pillow. The Great Spirit is the creator of the world and all its inhabitants, a concept that was not destroyed when Catholic settlers and missionaries began to influence Mi'kmaq spirituality and religion in the 17th century. ( See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
Origin Stories
The Mi'kmaq, like most Indigenous groups, use stories to tell about the past and about their spirituality. Mi'kmaq oral tradition explains that the world was created in seven stages. The Creator made the sky, the sun, Mother Earth and then the first humans: Glooscap and his grandmother, nephew and mother. From sparks of fire that Glooscap commanded to come forth, came seven men and seven women - the founding families of the seven Mi'gma'gi districts. There are many other origin stories that describe how things came to be and how to live a good life.

Vistas: Little Thunder, Nance Ackerman & Alan Syliboy, National Film Board of Canada
Christianity
In 1610, Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief ( sagamo or sagamore), became the first Indigenous person to be baptized as a Catholic in New France, beginning a pattern of intense conversion and intermingling of customs. Mi'kmaq peoples, who had readily adapted to European trade goods, were likewise receptive to religious practices.

It has been said that the Concordat of 1610 - a formal agreement between the Mi'kmaq and the Vatican marked by the creation of a treaty wampum - combined trade, treaty and religion in relations between the Mi'kmaq and the French. The Concordat allegedly made the Mi'kmaq Catholic subjects, and therefore legitimized trade and other relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Acadia or Mi'gma'gi. However, historians and elders dispute this claim.

While some Mi'kmaq are Christian, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is still practised. There is a concerted effort on the part of Mi'kmaq people to protect and promote their religious beliefs and customs.

Chapel of the Mi'kmaq on the Conne River, Newfoundland and Labrador (1908).

Colonial History

Due to their proximity to the Atlantic, the Mi'kmaq were among the first peoples in North America to interact with European explorers, fishermen and traders. As a result, they quickly suffered depopulation and socio-cultural disruption. Some historians estimate that European diseases ( See Epidemic) resulted in a loss of up to half the Mi'kmaq population from about 1500 to 1600.

As a result of sporadic contact and trade with European fishermen, the Mi'kmaq who encountered the first sustained European settlements in what is now Canada were familiar with the people, their goods and their trade habits. Additionally, Mi'kmaq oral history tells of a Mi'kmaq woman's ancient premonition that people would arrive in Mi'gma'gi on floating islands, and a legendary spirit who travelled across the ocean to find "blue-eyed people." The foretelling of the arrival of Europeans meant Mi'kmaq were prepared when they first encountered fishermen off their shores.

Mi'kmaq participated in the fur trade by serving as intermediaries between Europeans and groups farther west, as fur-bearing animals quickly became scarce in the face of high demand. This fundamentally altered the lifestyle of the Mi'kmaq, who focused on trapping and trading furs rather than subsistence hunting and gathering.
Treaties
Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi'kmaq into the fray. The Mi'kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi'kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760-61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties. ( See also Indigenous Peoples: Treaties).

These treaties between sovereign nations recognize the inherent Indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq, and form the basis for modern treaty claims and renegotiations. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it established Indigenous rights in much of Canada, did not mention Maritime colonies. For this reason, most post-treaty European and Loyalist settlers ignored, or were ignorant of, Mi'kmaq rights.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi'kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi'kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
19th and 20th Century Struggles
Life under British, and later Canadian, governance was not kind to the Mi'kmaq, who were subjected to conscious attempts to alter their lifestyle. Most moves to establish them as agriculturalists failed because of badly conceived programs and encroachments upon reserve lands. Economic patterns that privileged employment as labourers effected irreversible change: crafts, coopering, the porpoise fishery, and road, rail and lumber work integrated the Mi'kmaq into the 19th- and 20th-century economy, but left them socially isolated.

As with many Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Mi'kmaq are strongly affected by the lasting trauma of residential schools. Adding to this cultural, generational and economic dislocation, in the 1940s, the Department of Indian Affairs forced more than 2,000 Mi'kmaq people living in numerous small communities to relocate to government-designated reserves. The moves, undertaken for the sole purpose of streamlining government administration were fraught with mismanagement and experimental tactics, and had disastrous effects on the communities. Homes, churches and industries were abandoned and replaced with poor conditions and economic dependency.

Did you know?
Despite facing discrimination in Canada and a lack of civil rights ( Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous peoples were not granted the right to vote until 1960), more than 200 Mi'kmaq warrior-soldiers ( sma'knisk) served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the First World War. Many were wounded or killed in battle ( see Indigenous Peoples and the First World War). In addition, Mi'kmaq soldier Corporal Samuel Glode (Gloade) was highly decorated for bravery on the Western Front. Glode was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for disarming 450 land mines and bombs in 1918, saving many Canadian lives.

Contemporary Life and Activism

In 2015, there were 13 Mi'kmaq nations in Nova Scotia with a total registered population of 16,268. New Brunswick's nine nations included 8,210 registered people, while the two nations in each of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had populations of 1,294 and 26,966, respectively. The three Québec nations had a total population of 6,025. Before 2011, the population of registered Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland and Labrador was significantly lower; in that year, the federal government recognized the status of more than 23,000 Mi'kmaq people, who formed the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation.

The formation of the Qalipu is one example of continued activism among Mi'kmaq people. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the rights of Donald Marshall, Jr., and thus all Mi'kmaq peoples, to a "moderate livelihood" through hunting and fishing rights. Marshall had been convicted in 1996 of fishing out of season, but the court ruled that the Peace and Friendship Treaties, signed in 1760 and 1761, guaranteed Mi'kmaq these rights.

The decision sparked what is known as the Burnt Church Crisis, where tensions reached a boiling point between Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous fishermen, who argued that unchecked harvesting in the lobster fishery would lead to devastation of stocks. Despite the pacifist lobbying of organizations like the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association among their own members, some non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed Mi'kmaq traps and other equipment. The situation threatened to devolve into violence. The federal government brought the crisis to somewhat of a close by buying licences and equipment from some non-Indigenous fishermen and entering into agreements with several Mi'kmaq communities to regulate a commercial fishery. Other Mi'kmaq communities did not reach agreements and continue to petition the federal government to recognize treaty rights.

Ongoing tensions over lobster fishing between non-Indigenous and Sipekne'katik (Mi'kmaq) fishers escalated in October 2020. A lobster pound was burned down in Middle West Pubnico the night of 17 October. The Mi'kmaq have called on the federal government, which is responsible for fisheries, to provide clear guidance on what a "moderate livelihood" involves.

In October 2013, members of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick organized a demonstration against natural gas fracking being conducted on Crown land near their community. The protests centred on environmental arguments against fracking and the unceded nature of the territory in question. Protesters erected blockades on Highway 11 and several organizers were arrested. Non-violent protesters faced off against RCMP officers, producing iconic images and reigniting debate over the scope of Aboriginal title and the politics of environmental stewardship within an industrial economy.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kmaw, Micmac or L'nu, "the people" in Mi'kmaq) are Indigenous peoples who are among the original inhabitants in the Atlantic Provinces o...

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The conflict and struggle  stems from a dispute over lobster fishing between commercial fisherman and Mi’kmaq fisherman, which has led to violent attacks and destruction perpetrated against the Mi’kmaq fishermen. The treaty has been evaded multiple times.  https://mjps.ssmu.ca/2020/11/01/interpreting-treaties-in-canada-mikmaq-fishing-rights-in-nova-scotia/

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Tensions continue to rise in Nova Scotia between Mi'kmaq Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous groups. The conflict stems from a dispute over lobster fishing between commercial fisherman and Mi'kmaq fisherman, which has led to violent and destruction perpetrated against the Mi'kmaq fishermen and their property. Commercial fishermen have targeted Mi'kmaq people for their out of season lobster fishing, arguing that this is a conservation, as lobsters need time to repopulate in the off-season. In response, the Mi'kmaq that their treaty rights grant them permission to fish during this time. The current situation in Nova Scotia is just one example of a conflict over treaties, highlighting the wider issue of treaty interpretation within Canada.

These treaties are mutual agreements between the Federal government and Indigenous groups, intended to clearly define rights and obligations. Recognized in of the Canadian Constitution (and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has adopted), treaty rights form the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the government.

This is not the first major dispute over the infringement of treaty rights in Canada. The 1999 Supreme Court of Canada case serves as another example of Indigenous people fighting for their treaty rights. In that case, Mi'kmaq fisherman Donald Marshall Jr. argued that it was within his rights to fish for eels when and where he wanted, without a regulated license. This case was centered directly around Indigenous fishing rights, much like the current dispute in Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Marshall's favour, and found that it was within his treaty rights to fish for a "moderate livelihood." The Peace and Friendship treaty between the Mi'kmaq and the British Crown holds today, granting Mi'kmaq peoples the right to hunt, fish, and gather for the purposes of earning a moderate livelihood.

The definition of moderate livelihood is left up to individual interpretation. This is problematic, as there is no clear understanding of what constitutes a moderate livelihood, leaving room for Indigenous and non-Indigenous People to hold drastically different opinions. Some might that a moderate livelihood only covers the cost of food and shelter, while others may include expenses such as entertainment and transportation in their definition, or attach a specific yearly income value to the definition of moderate livelihood.

The Mi'kmaq Indigenous Peoples have stated their to engage extensively with their community in order to come to a cohesive interpretation of this treaty right. They argue their fishing is based on the long-held Mi'kmaq philosophy of netukulimk . This refers to a sustainable use of the land and resources, in order to provide themselves and their community with nutrition and economic and spiritual well-being.

Another notable Supreme Court case regarding Indigenous treaty infringements is (2006), which looked at Indigenous hunting rights. In this case, two Indigenous men were accused and convicted of hunting at night using unsafe hunting practices. The Indigenous men argued that their right to hunt at night with the aid of illuminating devices was protected under the North Saanich Treaty. This treaty right was acknowledged by the trial judges. However, this right was interpreted in the present day context and ultimately not accepted. The right to hunt was protected by the treaty; however, the treaty does not protect the right to hunt in a dangerous manner. The Supreme Court noted that at the original time the treaty was signed, night hunting did not pose the same dangers and threats as it does today. This case is a clear example of how interpretations of treaties may need to be altered to fit present day society.

As Mi'kmaq fishermen are currently targeted by commercial fishermen in Nova Scotia, a much larger discussion must be had throughout Canada regarding the upholding of Indigenous treaty rights. The path to reconciliation necessitates respecting Indigenous treaties, along with consistent work between Indigenous Peoples and government officials to define the modern implications of historical treaty rights. Disputes over treaties highlight a larger problem of systemic oppression against Indigenous Peoples; misunderstandings about treaty rights in present day society can lead to anti-Indigenous violence, as in Nova Scotia.

While governments claim to be to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, this cannot be done without recognition, proper understanding, and respect for Indigenous treaty rights. This needs to be demonstrated by the government, as well as by non-Indigenous People outside the government. There is a common misconception that treaties give Indigenous Peoples special privileges; commercial fishermen it is unfair for Indigenous groups to be granted permission to fish during the offseason. Non-Indigenous members of society have historically benefitted from a system of oppression and marginalization of Indigenous People, and therefore some view attempts to uphold treaties and ensure rights for Indigenous groups as a to their own privilege.

The treaty rights upheld in R. v Marshall and R. v Morris are the same rights being challenged by the Nova Scotia fishermen. Without a concrete definition of moderate livelihood, these sorts of conflict will continue. Moreover, who has the right to determine what constitutes a moderate livelihood? Governments will likely need to work closely with Indigenous groups to refine this definition; this process will require care and respect for Indigenous rights to self-government, self-determination, and administration of their land and resources. As tensions over fishing treaty rights once again, it is a reminder of how treaty interpretation can contribute to violence against Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Edited by Olivia Hallett. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Studies or the Political Science Students' Association.
Photo by GoToVan and obtained Flickr GoToVan under a License.

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Interpreting Treaties in Canada: Mi'kmaq Fishing Rights in Nova Scotia - McGill Journal of Political Studies

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Tensions continue to rise in Nova Scotia between Mi'kmaq Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous groups. The conflict stems from a dispute over lobster fishing between commercial fisherman and Mi'kmaq fisherman, which has led to violent and destruction perpetrated against the Mi'kmaq fishermen and their property.

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The average salary for a lobster fisherman in the US ranges from $18, 760 - $46, 390

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The Mi'kmaq or Mi'gmaq (also Micmac, L'nu, Mi'kmaw or Mi'gmaw) are a First Nations people indigenous to Canada's Maritime Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. They call their national territory Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi). Others today live in Newfoundland and the northeastern region of Maine. The nation has a population of about 40,000 (plus about 25,000 in the Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland), of whom nearly 11,000 speak Mi'kmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi'kmaq

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https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/micmac-mikmaq

As of 2015, the number of people that lived with in the Mi’kmaq First Nations was 58 763. Of that total, 23 997 were members of the Qalipu First Nation of Newfoundland,

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The Anishinaabe refer to the Mi'kmaq as Miijimaa(g), meaning "The Brother(s)/Ally(ies)".

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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mi'kmaq means the family and the anishinaabe call them miijmaa meaning the brothers

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the fairly deep linguistic split between the Mi'kmaq and the Eastern Algonquians to the southwest, suggests the Mi'kmaq developed an independent prehistoric sequence emphasizing maritime orientation, as the area had relatively few major river systems. According to ethnologist T. J. Brasser, with a climate unfavorable for agriculture, small semi-nomadic bands of a few patrilineally related families subsisted on fishing and hunting. Their weakly developed leadership did not extend beyond hunting parties.

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Mi’kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi’kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/micmac-mikmaq

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Traditional Territory

Mi'kmaq are among the original inhabitants of the Atlantic region in Canada, and inhabited the coastal areas of Gaspé and the Maritime Provinces east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is known as Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki) and is made up of seven districts: Unama'gi (Unama'kik), Esge'gewa'gi (Eskikewa'kik), Sugapune'gati (Sipekni'katik), Epegwitg aq Pigtug (Epekwitk aq Piktuk), Gespugwi'tg (Kespukwitk), Signigtewa'gi (Siknikt) and Gespe'gewa'gi (Kespek). Mi'kmaq people have occupied their traditional territory, Mi'gma'gi, since time immemorial. Mi'kmaq continue to occupy this area as well as settlements in Newfoundland and New England, especially Boston. Oral history and archeological evidence place the Mi'kmaq in Mi'gma'gi for more than 10,000 years. ( See also Indigenous Territory).

Traditional Life

In the pre-contact world of Mi'gma'gi, oral and archeological history tells of seasonally patterned habitation and resource harvesting - spring and summer spent on the coast, fall and winter inland. The people of Mi'gma'gi relied on the variety of resources available, using everything from shellfish to sea mammals to land mammals small and large for nutrition, clothing, dwellings and tools. They also used the bountiful timber of the region to construct canoes, snowshoes and shelters, usually in combination with animal skins and sinews. The Mi'kmaq relied wholly on their surroundings for survival, and thus developed strong reverence for the environment that sustained them.

Population

Mi'gma'gi is home to 30 Mi'kmaq nations, 29 of which are located in Canada - the Aroostook Micmac Band of Presque Isle, Maine, has more than 1,200 members. All but two communities (the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and La Nation Micmac de Gespeg in Fontenelle, Québec) possess reserve lands. Many Mi'kmaq people live off-reserve, either in Mi'gma'gi or elsewhere. More still may not be included by registered population counts, as they are not recognized as status Indians under the .

Social and Political Organization

Historically, Mi'kmaq settlements were characterized by individual or joint households scattered about a bay or along a river. Communities were related by alliance and kinship. Leadership, based on prestige rather than power, was largely concerned with effective management of the fishing and hunting economy.

Mi'kmaq share close ties with other local peoples, including the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. With the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, the Mi'kmaq make up the Wabanaki Confederacy, a confederation of nations politically active at least from contact with Europeans to the present.

A Mi'kmaq Chief waits to be presented to their Majesties during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada at Halifax, NS (courtesy Canada Science and Technology Museum/CN Collection/CN003696).

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council ( Sante' Mawio'mi) is the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq peoples, established before the arrival of Europeans. The council survives to this day, although its political powers have been restricted by federal legislation, such as the Indian Act. In the 1600s and 1700s, the council discussed political issues and entered into treaties with the British. Today, the Mi'kmaq Grand Council members advocate for the promotion and preservation of Mi'kmaq people, language and culture.

Representatives from across Mi'kmaq territory sit on the council. In the past, the Grand Chief ( Kji Sagamaw or Kji Saqmaw) was the head of state for the collective Mi'kmaq political body, which consisted of captains ( keptins or kji'keptan), who led the council, wampum readers ( putu's or putus), who maintained treaty and traditional laws, and soldiers ( smagn'is), who protected the people. Today, the chief, captains and wampum readers still run the council, though their roles have been curtailed by the federal government to focus primarily on Mi'kmaq spirituality and culture. Other organizations, like the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative ( Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), advocate politically for the recognition and implementation of treaty rights. ( See also Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).

Culture

Mi'kmaq moccasins, circa 1830.

Like other Indigenous peoples in the Eastern Woodlands region, Mi'kmaq practised art intrinsically linked to the natural world. Contemporary Mi'kmaq artists like Alan Syliboy have reinterpreted Mi'kmaq artistic traditions, like rock painting and ornate quillwork clothing. ( See also Indigenous Art in Canada).

Music is another important element of Mi'kmaq culture. Many traditional songs and chants are still sung during spiritual rituals, feasts, mawiomi (gatherings), cultural ceremonies and powwows. In some cases, Mi'kmaq chants consisted of vocables (spoken syllables) as a means of expressing emotion, rather than words with meanings.

Did You Know?
In April 2019, a video of Cape Breton Mi'kmaq teenager Emma Stevens singing "Blackbird" in Mi'kmaq went viral. The cover of the Beatles' classic was produced by Emma's teacher Carter Chiasson, translated by teacher Katani Julian and her father, Albert "Golydada" Julian, and recorded by Emma and fellow students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni First Nation, Cape Breton. They translated the song into Mi'kmaq to bring awareness to the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages during the UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019. The video took off around the world, receiving high praise from public figures, including the original songwriter, Sir Paul McCartney, as well as a tweet from the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Language

Mi'kmaq is among the Wabanaki cluster of Eastern Algonquian languages, which include the various Abenaki dialects, and the Penobscot and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy languages. According to the 2016 Census, 8,870 people are listed as speaking Mi'kmaq. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada).

Mi'kmaq is written alphabetically. It has single- and double-letter constants as well as five vowels that make both long and short sounds. Mi'kmaq has a history of pictographs being used, but this writing system was modified by missionaries learning the language to teach Catholicism in the 1600s. Mi'kmaq had as many as 17 different dialects, including the unique Québec dialect Restigouche, but linguistic contact with French and English speakers has eroded the prevalence of the language and smoothed dialectical differences.

Despite challenges, language programs, including high school immersion programs, have helped to revitalize the language. In 1970, there were approximately 6,000 Mi'kmaq speakers, compared to the nearly 9,000 reported in 2016. However, these numbers may be misleading. While the National Household Survey asks speakers to self-report "an understanding" of a language, linguists measure health of a language by the number of fluent speakers. In 1999, a report by the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Language Centre of Excellence indicated fewer than 3,000 fluent speakers.

Nevertheless, Mi'kmaq is the only Indigenous language in significant active use in Mi'gma'gi (Maliseet had less than 800 speakers in 2011), and as such, is an important symbol of cultural strength and perseverance for the community.

On 7 April 2022, the Government of Nova Scotia introduced the Mi'kmaw Language Act. This legislation enshrines the Mi'kmaq language as the province's first language. It also supports efforts to protect and revitalize the language. The Act is seen as a step toward reconciliation.

Religion and Spirituality

Mi'kmaq spirituality is influenced by and closely connected to the natural world. The Mi'kmaq believe that living a good, balanced life means respecting and protecting the environment and living in harmony with the people and creatures that live on the earth. Analysis of the Mi'kmaq language enhances the fundamental importance of this worldview. Rather than a sequential, time-based verb tense structure (as in English), the Mi'kmaq language is experiential, relying on the evidence of the speaker to convey meaning.

Mi'kmaq culture and traditional religion is based on legendary figures like Glooscap (also written Kluscap) who is said to have formed the Annapolis Valley by sleeping on the land and using Prince Edward Island as his pillow. The Great Spirit is the creator of the world and all its inhabitants, a concept that was not destroyed when Catholic settlers and missionaries began to influence Mi'kmaq spirituality and religion in the 17th century. ( See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
Origin Stories
The Mi'kmaq, like most Indigenous groups, use stories to tell about the past and about their spirituality. Mi'kmaq oral tradition explains that the world was created in seven stages. The Creator made the sky, the sun, Mother Earth and then the first humans: Glooscap and his grandmother, nephew and mother. From sparks of fire that Glooscap commanded to come forth, came seven men and seven women - the founding families of the seven Mi'gma'gi districts. There are many other origin stories that describe how things came to be and how to live a good life.

Vistas: Little Thunder, Nance Ackerman & Alan Syliboy, National Film Board of Canada
Christianity
In 1610, Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief ( sagamo or sagamore), became the first Indigenous person to be baptized as a Catholic in New France, beginning a pattern of intense conversion and intermingling of customs. Mi'kmaq peoples, who had readily adapted to European trade goods, were likewise receptive to religious practices.

It has been said that the Concordat of 1610 - a formal agreement between the Mi'kmaq and the Vatican marked by the creation of a treaty wampum - combined trade, treaty and religion in relations between the Mi'kmaq and the French. The Concordat allegedly made the Mi'kmaq Catholic subjects, and therefore legitimized trade and other relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Acadia or Mi'gma'gi. However, historians and elders dispute this claim.

While some Mi'kmaq are Christian, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is still practised. There is a concerted effort on the part of Mi'kmaq people to protect and promote their religious beliefs and customs.

Chapel of the Mi'kmaq on the Conne River, Newfoundland and Labrador (1908).

Colonial History

Due to their proximity to the Atlantic, the Mi'kmaq were among the first peoples in North America to interact with European explorers, fishermen and traders. As a result, they quickly suffered depopulation and socio-cultural disruption. Some historians estimate that European diseases ( See Epidemic) resulted in a loss of up to half the Mi'kmaq population from about 1500 to 1600.

As a result of sporadic contact and trade with European fishermen, the Mi'kmaq who encountered the first sustained European settlements in what is now Canada were familiar with the people, their goods and their trade habits. Additionally, Mi'kmaq oral history tells of a Mi'kmaq woman's ancient premonition that people would arrive in Mi'gma'gi on floating islands, and a legendary spirit who travelled across the ocean to find "blue-eyed people." The foretelling of the arrival of Europeans meant Mi'kmaq were prepared when they first encountered fishermen off their shores.

Mi'kmaq participated in the fur trade by serving as intermediaries between Europeans and groups farther west, as fur-bearing animals quickly became scarce in the face of high demand. This fundamentally altered the lifestyle of the Mi'kmaq, who focused on trapping and trading furs rather than subsistence hunting and gathering.
Treaties
Prolonged conflict between French and British colonial powers often pulled Mi'kmaq into the fray. The Mi'kmaq were largely allied with French colonial forces, which had established settlements across Acadia until the 18th century. During that time, and after conflicts with Britain, the Mi'kmaq signed treaties in 1726, 1749, 1752 and 1760-61, followed by two treaties to secure alliances during the American Revolution. These were known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties. The 1726 treaty was the foundation for the subsequent treaties. ( See also Indigenous Peoples: Treaties).

These treaties between sovereign nations recognize the inherent Indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq, and form the basis for modern treaty claims and renegotiations. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it established Indigenous rights in much of Canada, did not mention Maritime colonies. For this reason, most post-treaty European and Loyalist settlers ignored, or were ignorant of, Mi'kmaq rights.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi'kmaq and the Crown have a historic relation stemming from the treaties of the 1700s, and that the Mi'kmaq have Indigenous rights to the lands described in those treaties. Ever since 1 October 1986, Treaty Day in Nova Scotia and some other parts of Atlantic Canada has commemorated the signing and significance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
19th and 20th Century Struggles
Life under British, and later Canadian, governance was not kind to the Mi'kmaq, who were subjected to conscious attempts to alter their lifestyle. Most moves to establish them as agriculturalists failed because of badly conceived programs and encroachments upon reserve lands. Economic patterns that privileged employment as labourers effected irreversible change: crafts, coopering, the porpoise fishery, and road, rail and lumber work integrated the Mi'kmaq into the 19th- and 20th-century economy, but left them socially isolated.

As with many Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Mi'kmaq are strongly affected by the lasting trauma of residential schools. Adding to this cultural, generational and economic dislocation, in the 1940s, the Department of Indian Affairs forced more than 2,000 Mi'kmaq people living in numerous small communities to relocate to government-designated reserves. The moves, undertaken for the sole purpose of streamlining government administration were fraught with mismanagement and experimental tactics, and had disastrous effects on the communities. Homes, churches and industries were abandoned and replaced with poor conditions and economic dependency.

Did you know?
Despite facing discrimination in Canada and a lack of civil rights ( Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous peoples were not granted the right to vote until 1960), more than 200 Mi'kmaq warrior-soldiers ( sma'knisk) served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the First World War. Many were wounded or killed in battle ( see Indigenous Peoples and the First World War). In addition, Mi'kmaq soldier Corporal Samuel Glode (Gloade) was highly decorated for bravery on the Western Front. Glode was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for disarming 450 land mines and bombs in 1918, saving many Canadian lives.

Contemporary Life and Activism

In 2015, there were 13 Mi'kmaq nations in Nova Scotia with a total registered population of 16,268. New Brunswick's nine nations included 8,210 registered people, while the two nations in each of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had populations of 1,294 and 26,966, respectively. The three Québec nations had a total population of 6,025. Before 2011, the population of registered Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland and Labrador was significantly lower; in that year, the federal government recognized the status of more than 23,000 Mi'kmaq people, who formed the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation.

The formation of the Qalipu is one example of continued activism among Mi'kmaq people. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the rights of Donald Marshall, Jr., and thus all Mi'kmaq peoples, to a "moderate livelihood" through hunting and fishing rights. Marshall had been convicted in 1996 of fishing out of season, but the court ruled that the Peace and Friendship Treaties, signed in 1760 and 1761, guaranteed Mi'kmaq these rights.

The decision sparked what is known as the Burnt Church Crisis, where tensions reached a boiling point between Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous fishermen, who argued that unchecked harvesting in the lobster fishery would lead to devastation of stocks. Despite the pacifist lobbying of organizations like the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association among their own members, some non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed Mi'kmaq traps and other equipment. The situation threatened to devolve into violence. The federal government brought the crisis to somewhat of a close by buying licences and equipment from some non-Indigenous fishermen and entering into agreements with several Mi'kmaq communities to regulate a commercial fishery. Other Mi'kmaq communities did not reach agreements and continue to petition the federal government to recognize treaty rights.

Ongoing tensions over lobster fishing between non-Indigenous and Sipekne'katik (Mi'kmaq) fishers escalated in October 2020. A lobster pound was burned down in Middle West Pubnico the night of 17 October. The Mi'kmaq have called on the federal government, which is responsible for fisheries, to provide clear guidance on what a "moderate livelihood" involves.

In October 2013, members of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick organized a demonstration against natural gas fracking being conducted on Crown land near their community. The protests centred on environmental arguments against fracking and the unceded nature of the territory in question. Protesters erected blockades on Highway 11 and several organizers were arrested. Non-violent protesters faced off against RCMP officers, producing iconic images and reigniting debate over the scope of Aboriginal title and the politics of environmental stewardship within an industrial economy.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kmaw, Micmac or L'nu, "the people" in Mi'kmaq) are Indigenous peoples who are among the original inhabitants in the Atlantic Provinces o...

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The 2020 Mi'kmaq lobster dispute is an ongoing lobster fishing dispute between Sipekne'katik First Nation members of the Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous lobster fishers mainly in Digby County and Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia.

The Halifax Treaties were a collection of 11 written documents produced between 1760 and 1761, which, amongst other agreements provided Native Canadians the right to fish.

In 1999, the treaty was upheld by the Supreme Court in R v Marshall (No. 1) and again affirmed Indigenous fishers the right to fish in order to support a "moderate livelihood".[1] The semantics of the ruling have caused much of the dispute.

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The ethnonym has traditionally been spelled Micmac in English, but the people themselves have used different spellings: Mi’kmaq (singular Mi’kmaw) in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Miigmaq (Miigmao) in New Brunswick, Mi’gmaq by the Listuguj Council in Quebec, and Mìgmaq (Mìgmaw) in some native literature.

Until the 1980s, "Micmac" remained the most common spelling in English. Although still used, for example in Ethnologue, this spelling has fallen out of favour in recent years. Most scholarly publications now use the spelling Mi'kmaq, and it has been adopted by media as the spelling Micmac is now considered to be "colonially tainted". The Mi'kmaq prefer to use one of the three current Mi'kmaq orthographies when writing the language.

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Lnu (the adjectival, and singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural form is Lnúk, Lnu’k, Lnu’g, or Lnùg) is the word the Mi'kmaq call themselves, their autonym, meaning "human being" or "the people".

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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mi'kmaq were kow for being seasonally nomadic and hunted many things. This icludes moose and small game in the winter. They fished in the
Mi'kmaq | People & History | Britannica

https://www.britannica.com › topic › Mikmaq

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In winter they hunted caribou, moose, and small game; in summer they fished and gathered shellfish and hunted seals on the coasts.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mikmaq

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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Mi`kmaq people have been fishing for lobster way before traps were used. lobster were fished from shallow waters with spears

http://www.parl.ns.ca/lobster/history.htm

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Mi’kmaq lived flexible and loosely organized

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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In the 17th and 18th centuries the Mi’kmaq were allies of the French against the English, frequently traveling south to raid the New England frontiers.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mikmaq

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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The Mi'kmaq or Mi'gmaq (also Micmac, L'nu, Mi'kmaw or Mi'gmaw) are a First Nations people indigenous to Canada's Maritime Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. They call their national territory Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi). Others today live in Newfoundland and the northeastern region of Maine. The nation has a population of about 40,000 (plus about 25,000 in the Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland), of whom nearly 11,000 speak Mi'kmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/why-are-people-fighting-over-lobster-fishing-in-nova-scotia
The fight is about indigenous people having the right to Lobster fish when commerical fishers can't

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The fight is more than 20 years old

A conflict over lobster fishing rights in Nova Scotia is boiling over after several weeks of tension.

It stems from a disagreement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen about whether Indigenous people have the right to catch and sell lobsters at a time of year when commercial fishermen don't.

Violent incidents have been mounting.

On Saturday, a facility that had stored some lobster caught by Mi'kmaw fishermen was burned to the ground in what the RCMP is calling a "suspicious" fire.

What is the lobster conflict about?

The conflict is between Mi'kmaw (Indigenous) fishermen and non-Indigenous fishermen over the right to catch and sell lobster.

In Nova Scotia, the lobster industry is a crucial part of many people's lives.

It is an important part of the economy and there are rules to protect lobster populations from being overfished.

A member of the Sipekne'katik First Nation loads lobster traps on the wharf in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia, in September. (Image credit: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

What the non-Indigenous fisherman say

Some non-Indigenous commercial fishermen are upset that Mi'kmaw fishermen are catching and selling lobsters while they are waiting for their season to start.

The lobster fishing season in southwest Nova Scotia starts in a few weeks, and until then, they cannot catch or sell lobsters.

Non-Indigenous fishermen demand that the federal government stop Mi'kmaw fishermen from catching and selling lobster outside the usual season. The fishermen and their supporters have also been accused of violence. (Image credit: Paul Withers/CBC)

What the Mi'kmaw fishermen say

Mi'kmaw fishermen have treaty rights that allow them to fish and make a "moderate livelihood" from lobster fishing, even outside of the commercial season.

The tensions between the two groups increased when a "moderate livelihood" lobster fishery was opened by the Sipekne'katik band in mid-September.

What does a 'moderate livelihood' mean?

The phrase "moderate livelihood" is at the centre of the conflict.

According to treaty rights dating back hundreds of years and a Supreme Court of Canada decision from 1999, Indigenous peoples have a right to make a "moderate livelihood" fishing.

Indigenous people say they're exercising that right.

Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack says that a definition of "moderate livelihood" is "unknown," but that "the average Nova Scotia income should be at least the starting point."

But some non-Indigenous fishermen are upset and say "moderate livelihood" has not been defined in a way that all people understand.

In September when the Indigenous fishery launched, Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack stood on a lobster trap and addressed a crowd. Mi'kmaw fishermen say it is their right to fish and that their new fishery only traps a very small number of lobster. (Image credit: Steve Lawrence/CBC)

Will there be enough lobster for everyone?

Non-Indigenous fishermen say they worry about their own livelihood if all the lobsters are trapped out of season.

Especially if the lobsters are caught during their breeding time.

Colin Sproul, president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association told CBC's Mainstreet that "it's not appropriate for anybody to fish in a lobster molting breeding ground during the closed season. We have seasons for a reason."

And Chief Sack responded, "There's a lot of factors we take into it to ensure that this will be preserved, this species will be there for our seven generations."

Nova Scotia is Canada's #1 seafood exporter. In 2019, Nova Scotia exported $2.3 billion in fish and seafood products to more than 80 countries. (Image credit: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

Protests, demonstrations and a fire

Some people have reacted with violence.

Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack was grabbed and pushed by a non-Indigenous man who has since been charged with assault.

Hundreds of people gathered in Halifax on Friday and over the weekend to show their support of the Sipekne'katik First Nation and their rights to fish. (Image credit: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

Several non-Indigenous fishermen and their supporters have been accused of cutting traps and breaking in and damaging facilities where Mi'kmaw fishermen worked and kept their catch.

On Saturday, a suspicious fire burned down one of the buildings where Indigenous fishermen were storing their lobsters and equipment.

All that remains of a burned down lobster facility in Middle West Pubnico, N.S. (Image credit: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

The RCMP continue to investigate the fire and are increasing their presence in Nova Scotia.

Government responds

Both sides are calling on government leaders to help.

Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said that the government will continue to work with both sides to find a way forward, including a better definition of what "moderate livelihood" means.

"Our conversations to date have been positive, and we must ensure they continue that way," but, she said, "progress cannot be made if individuals resort to violence."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the tensions on Friday, saying that the conflict wouldn't be easy to resolve.

"We're calling for an end to the violence and harassment that's happening," he said. "I understand the concerns and the conflict going on right now but we need to find a solution."

TOP IMAGE CREDIT: (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press and Paul Withers/CBC)
With files from Taryn Grant and Emma Smith/CBC

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Why are people fighting over lobster fishing in Nova Scotia? | CBC Kids News

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A conflict over lobster fishing rights in Nova Scotia is boiling over after several weeks of tension. It stems from a disagreement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen about whether Indigenous people have the right to catch and sell lobsters at a time of year when commercial fishermen don't.

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Although early European chroniclers described them as fierce and warlike, they were among the first indigenous peoples to accept Jesuit teachings and to intermarry with the settlers of New France.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mikmaq

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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TORONTO -- One summer morning in 1993, Mi'kmaq fisher Donald Marshall Junior loaded up a small boat with fishing gear and set off into the cold waters off Cape Breton to catch eels.

Marshall didn't have a fishing licence and was catching eels off-season. But his ancestors had fished in the waters off Nova Scotia for thousands of years, and he believed he had a treaty right to sell his catch to support himself and his wife.

Marshall caught a sizeable haul of 463 pounds of eels that day, which he sold for $787.10.

Not long after, police arrested Marshall and charged him with three offences: selling eels without a licence, fishing without a licence, and fishing during the closed season with illegal nets.

Marshall's arrest marked the beginning of a years-long legal battle that worked its way up the courts and culminated in a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada for Mi'kmaq fishers, affirming their treaty right to fish for a "moderate livelihood" wherever and whenever they want.

The case was a major success for Mi'kmaq fishers. But the language was open to interpretation.

The ruling didn't clearly define what constituted a "moderate livelihood." The ruling also specified that the Mi'kmaq don't have a right to "open-ended accumulation of wealth" but instead were limited to trading for "necessaries" -- a term directly lifted from a 260-year-old treaty.

The court's legal jargon has been criticized as unspecific by both Mi'kmaq fishers and non-Indigenous fishers. But legal experts say the language was intended to put the ball in the government's court to work out a long-term solution.

The 1999 case faced renewed national attention this fall after the Sipekne'katik First Nation launched its own self-regulated lobster fishery on Sept. 17, the 21st anniversary of the Marshall ruling. The launch was more than two months before non-Indigenous fishers drop their first lobster traps on Nov. 30, when lobster fishing season begins.

Non-Indigenous fishers accused the Mi'kmaq fishers of defying federal rules and disregarding sustainability initiatives. Mi'kmaq fishers pointed to the 1999 Supreme Court ruling and argued that their small operation was well within the definition of a "moderate livelihood" and wasn't at risk of depleting the lobster population.

Following violent confrontations that have led to arrests, destroyed fishing equipment, accusations of police inaction and a burned-down lobster pound, both groups have called on Ottawa to step up and settle the matter once and for all.

'PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP' TREATIES

More than 250 years before Marshall set out to catch eels, leaders from the the Mi'kmaq Nation had begun signing treaties with colonial authorities in Nova Scotia.

Today, these treaties are described as "peace and friendship treaties," although they did little to stop violent conflicts as European settlers continued to claim more and more land.

The first treaty was signed in 1726, but when clashes broke out over colonists moving further into Indigenous territory, both parties returned to the negotiating table.

In 1752, a new peace treaty was signed that affirmed previous peace treaties, declared an end to hostilities and -- most importantly -- spelled out provisions on Indigenous trading rights.

The most consequential treaties in laying out today's legal framework were signed in Halifax in 1760 and 1761, when the British Crown approved a number of promises with the Mi'kmaq Nation, including rules around who the Mi'kmaq could trade with.

The 1760-61 treaties are not clear on rules around fishing, but instead focus on truckhouses, a gathering place where trade with the British was allowed. The Mi'kmaq also agreed that they would not trade with non-government individuals.

A KEY CLARIFICATION

The Supreme Court closely studied those 1760-1761 treaties in its 1999 decision and found that the documents in fact affirmed the right of Mi'kmaq people to hunt, fish and gather for sustenance and to trade for what the 1760 document deemed "necessaries."

In effect, the ruling affirmed fishing rights for the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy bands, all of whom live in Eastern Canada.

Two months after the Marshall decision, the Supreme Court issued an important clarification. The court said that the treaty rights in its decision were not unlimited, and that it was possible for Indigenous fisheries to be regulated. These regulations would need to be justified with public objectives in mind, such as conserving fish.

This clarification has often been cited by non-Indigenous fishers who have argued that Indigenous fishers must face some form of regulation. Specifically, these groups say they want Indigenous fishers to follow the same federally-regulated seasons as non-indigenous fishers.

Without a clear federal system in place, the Mi'kmaq are operating their own self-regulated lobster fishery.

WHAT IS A 'MODERATE LIVELIHOOD'?

The term "moderate livelihood" was used by the court as a 20th-century interpretation of the idea that the Mi'kmaq had a right to trade wildlife for "necessaries."

The court specifically spells out a "moderate livelihood" as basics, including "food, clothing and housing, supplemented by a few amenities" but not the accumulation of wealth.

"It addresses day-to-day needs. This was the common intention in 1760," the court said in its decision.

The language is intentionally non-committal because the court wanted the federal government to work with the Mi'kmaq to hammer out a clear solution, according to Dwight Newman, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan who specializes in Indigenous rights.

"We can critique them after the fact for that, but I think they hoped for negotiation between the federal government and the First Nations to give further definition to that," Newman told CTVNews.ca in an interview on Tuesday.

The problem, Newman says, is that Ottawa hasn't stepped up to the plate to settle the issue.

"So now we're at the point where these First Nations have been waiting 20 years and they've decided to take some initiative on their own to bring the matter to the fore."

Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack said if the federal government won't negotiate with the Mi'kmaq to help define moderate livelihood, they'll define it themselves.

"The treaty's between both of us," he said. "They haven't been upholding it like they should, so if they're not capable of doing that, we'll get it defined ourselves."

Former Grand Chief for Northern Manitoba Sheila North said that while the dispute is, on the surface, about fishing rights, it fits into a larger history of Indigenous people fighting for their rights to the land.

"Hunting and livelihoods are at the heart of it. Indigenous people have been denied these rights for many generations. That's why a lot of people are sick, that's why we keep calling Indigenous people and communities the most vulnerable during this pandemic time, because they haven't been given the right and access to live out what they have a treaty right to, living off the land and supporting their families through these practices that have been there for many, many generations," she said.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to work with both the Mi'kmaq fishers and non-Indigenous fishers to come up with a solution. The federal government has also vowed to provide more resources to increase policing in the region after a fire destroyed a lobster pound used by Mi'kmaq fishers.

"We need to have an approach that doesn't just recognize inherent treaty rights, but implements their spirit and intent," Trudeau said. "That's why we will work with commercial fishers and the Canadians to ensure that this is done fairly. I understand that this is challenging, but this isn't an inconvenience, but an obligation. If we are truly to be the country that we like to think of ourselves as, this is the road we must walk."

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole accused the Liberals of "inaction," although previous Liberal and Conservative governments had years to step in and settle the dispute since the 1999 ruling.

"The Indigenous community and the non-Indigenous community agree on one thing: the inaction of this government is unacceptable," O'Toole said during an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called on the government to make new commitments "today."

"This is an emergency because ... there is a real threat that this violence will escalate and people will lose their lives and that cannot happen and so we need immediate action right now."

The fishing rights conflict is an interesting "bookend" to 2020 in terms of Indigenous rights, Newman said, pointing out that the year began with rail blockades over the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' opposition to a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.

In that case, the group struck a deal with Ottawa. Newman said he hopes the situation is resolved peacefully.

"Everyone should be concerned about acts of violence," Newman said. "Hopefully, the government can find a way forward."

view larger image

Members of the Potlotek First Nation, head out into St. Peters Bay from the wharf in St. Peter's, N.S. as they participate in a self-regulated commercial lobster fishery on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, which is Treaty Day. THE CANADIAN PRESS /Andrew Vaughan

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Mi'kmaq lobster dispute: A conflict brewing since the 1700s

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TORONTO -- One summer morning in 1993, Mi'kmaq fisher Donald Marshall Junior loaded up a small boat with fishing gear and set off into the cold waters off Cape Breton to catch eels. Marshall didn't have a fishing licence and was catching eels off-season.

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The Mi'kmaq people would store lobsters in the ground for later consumption.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Mi%27kmaq

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Mi’kmaq social and political life was flexible and loosely organized, with an emphasis on kin relations. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mikmaq

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Mi'kmaq, the largest of the North American Indian tribes traditionally occupying what are now Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) and parts of the present U.S. states of Maine and Massachusetts. Because their Algonquian dialect differed greatly

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