The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the

Northeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands include Native American tribes and First Nation bands residing in or originating from a cultural area encompassing the northeastern and Midwest United States and southeastern Canada. It is part ...

, indigenous to the areas of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's Atlantic Provinces and the

Gaspé Peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick o ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

as well as the northeastern region of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki (or Miꞌgmaꞌgi). There are 170,000 Mi'kmaq people in the region, (including 18,044 members in the recently formed Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland.) Nearly 11,000 members speak

Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

, an

Eastern Algonquian The Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a subgroup of the Algonquian languages. Prior to European contact, Eastern Algonquian consisted of at least 17 languages, whose speakers collectively occupied the Atlantic coast of North America and adj ...

language. Once written in

Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing or Suckerfish script (Miꞌkmaq language, Mi'kmawi'sit: ''Gomgwejui'gasit'') was a writing system for the Miꞌkmaq language, Miꞌkmaw language, later superseded by Miꞌkmaq language#Writing system, various Latin ...

, it is now written using most letters of the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

. The Mi'kmaq,

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

, and Pasamaquoddy nations signed a series of treaties known as the Covenant Chain of Peace and Friendship Treaties with the British Crown throughout the eighteenth century; the first was signed in 1725, and the last in 1779. The Miꞌkmaq maintain that they did not cede or give up their land title or other rights through these Peace and Friendship Treaties. The landmark 1999

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

decision in '' R v Marshall'' upheld the 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty "which promised Indigenous Peoples the right to hunt and fish their lands and establish trade." The Miꞌkmaw Grand Council is the official authority that engages in consultation with the Canadian federal government and the provincial government of Nova Scotia, as established by the historic August 30, 2010 agreement with the Miꞌkmaq Nation, resulting from the Miꞌkmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum. This collaborative agreement, which includes all the First Nations within the province of Nova Scotia, was the first in Canadian history. Historically the ''Santé Mawiómi'', or Grand Council, which was made up of chiefs of the district councils of ''Miꞌkmaꞌki'', was the traditional senior level of government for the Miꞌkmaw people. The 1876

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

disrupted that authority, by requiring First Nations to establish representative elected governments along the Canadian model, and attempting to limit the Council's role to spiritual guidance.

Grand Council ''Santé Mawiómi''

On August 30, 2010, the Miꞌkmaw Nation and the Nova Scotia provincial government reached an historic agreement, affirming that the Miꞌkmaw Grand Council was the official consultative authority that engages with the Canadian federal government and the provincial government of Nova Scotia. The Miꞌkmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum preceded the agreement. The August 2010 agreement is the first such collaborative agreement in Canadian history; it includes representation for all the First Nations within the entire province of Nova Scotia. Historically the ''Santé Mawiómi'', or Grand Council, which was made up of chiefs of the district councils of ''Miꞌkmaꞌki'', was the traditional senior level of government for the Miꞌkmaw people. The 1876

disrupted that authority, by requiring First Nations to establish representative elected governments and attempting to limit the Council's role to that of spiritual guidance. In addition to the district councils, the Mꞌikmaq have been traditionally governed by 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 Miꞌkmaw district of Unamáki or

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

. This title was hereditary within a clan and usually passed on to the grand chief's eldest son. On June 24, 1610, Grand Chief Membertou converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and was baptised. He concluded an alliance with the French

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. The Miꞌkmaq, as trading allies of the French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. Gabriel Sylliboy, Nova Scotia

Gabriel Sylliboy Gabriel Sylliboy (18 August 1874 – March 4, 1964) was the first Mi'kmaq elected as Grand Chief (1919) and the first to fight for the recognition by the state of Canada of the treaties between the government and the First Nations people. Early l ...

(1874 – 1964), a respected Mi'kmaq religious leader and traditional Grand Chief of the Council, was elected as the Council's Grand Chief in 1918. Repeatedly re-elected, he held this position for the rest of his life. In 1927, Grand Chief Sylliboy was charged by Nova Scotia with hunting muskrat pelts out of season. He was the first to use the rights defined in the

Treaty of 1752 The Treaty of 1752 was a treaty signed between the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia and the governor of Nova Scotia on 22 November 1752 during Father Le Loutre's War. The treaty was created by Edward Cornwallis and later signed by Jean- ...

in his court defence. He lost his case. In 1985, the

finally recognized the 1752 treaty rights for indigenous hunting and fishing in their ruling on '' R. v. Simon''. On the 50th anniversary of Sylliboy's death, the Grand Council asked the Nova Scotia government for a pardon for the late Grand Chief. Premier

Stephen McNeil Stephen McNeil (born November 10, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Nova Scotia, from 2013 to 2021. He also represented the riding of Annapolis in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2003 to 2021 and was the le ...

granted the posthumous pardon in 2017. Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, John James Grant, McNeil, and the Justice Minister

Diana Whalen Diana Caroline Whalen (born November 20, 1956) is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Halifax Clayton Park in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2003-2013, and Clayton Park West from 2013-2017, as a member of the ...

, pardoned Sylliboy and issued a formal apology: it was the "second posthumous pardon in Nova Scotia's history". His grandson, Andrew Denny, now the Grand Keptin of the Council, said that his grandfather had "commanded respect. Young people who were about to get married would go and ask for his blessing. At the Chapel Island Mission boats would stop if he was crossing." Traditionally, the Grand Council met on a small island, ''Mniku'', on the

Bras d'Or lake Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, ma ...

in Cape Breton. In the early 21st century, this site is now within the reserve known as Chapel Island or ''Potlotek''. The Grand Council continues to meet at Mniku to discuss current issues within the Miꞌkmaq Nation. ''Taqamkuk'' (Newfoundland) was historically defined as part of

Unamaꞌkik Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

territory. (Later the large island was organized as a separate district in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Miꞌkmaq language

According to the 2016 census, of the total population of 168,420 Miꞌkmaq, 7,140 or 4% identified as speakers of the

Miꞌkmaq language The Miꞌkmaq language (), or , is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 Miꞌkmaq in Canada and the United States; the total ethnic Miꞌkmaq population is roughly 20,000. The native name of the language is , or (in some diale ...

Hieroglyphic writing

The Mi'kmaq language was written using Miꞌkmaq hieroglyphic writing. Today it is written mainly using letters of the

. At the Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site,

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s of "life-ways of the Mi'kmaw", include written hieroglyphics, human figures, Mi'kmaq houses and lodges, decorations including crosses, sailing vessels, and animals, etched into slate rocks. These are attributed to the Mi'kmaw, who have continuously inhabited the area since prehistoric times. The petroglyphs date from the late prehistoric period through the nineteenth century. Jerry Lonecloud (1854 – 1930, Mi'kmaq) is considered the "ethnographer of the Micmac nation". In 1912, he transcribed some of the Kejimkujik petroglyphs, and donated his works to the Nova Scotia Museum. He is credited with the first Mi'kmaq memoir, which was recorded from his oral history in the 1920s. In the late 1670s, French missionary

Chrestien Le Clercq Chrestien Le Clercq, Recollects, O.M.R., (born 1641) was a Recollects, Recollect Franciscan friar and missionary to the Mi'kmaq people, Mi'kmaq on the Gaspé Peninsula, Gaspé peninsula of Canada in the mid-17th century. He was a chronicler of New ...

, who was working in the

, was inspired by hieroglyphics made by a young Mi'kmaq using charcoal on birchbark. Leclercq adopted the use of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphs to teach Catholic prayers and hymns to the people in their own form of language. Mikmaq sample (ave Maria)

Christian Kauder was a missionary in '' Miꞌkmaꞌki'' from 1856 to 1871. He included samples of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, such as the

Holy Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

Rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

prayer and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

, in his German Christian catechism published in 1866. David L. Schmidt and Murdena Marshall published some of the prayers, narratives, and liturgies represented in hieroglyphs—pictographic symbols in a 1995 book. As noted, the pre-contact Mi'kmaq developed these hieroglyphs. French Jesuit missionaries adopted their use to teach Catholic prayers and religion to the Mi'kmaw. Schmidt and Marshall showed that these hieroglyphics served as a fully functional writing system. They assert it is the oldest writing system for an

indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...

in North America north of Mexico.

Etymology of the word ''Miꞌkmaq''

By the 1980s, the spelling of the ethnonym ''Miꞌkmaq'', which is preferred by the Miꞌkmaw people, was widely adopted by scholarly publications and the media. It replaced the previous spelling ''Micmac''.Anne-Christine Hornbord is a

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion The "q" ending is used in the plural form of the noun, and ''Miꞌkmaw'' is used as singular of ''Miꞌkmaq''. It is also used as an adjective, for example, "the Miꞌkmaw nation". The Miꞌkmaq prefer to use one of the three current Miꞌkmaq orthographies when writing the language."It is now the preferred choice of our People." See Paul:2000. Other spellings used by Mi'kmaq people include ''Miꞌkmaq'' (singular ''Miꞌkmaw'') in Prince Edward Island (''Epekw'itk''), Nova Scotia (''Mi'kma'ki-Unama'ki'') and Newfoundland (''K'taqamkuk''); ''Miigmaq'' (''Miigmao'') in New Brunswick (''Sipekni’katik''); ''Miꞌgmaq'' by the Listuguj Council in Quebec (''Kespek''); and ''Mìgmaq'' (''Mìgmaw'') in some native literature. ''Lnu'' (the adjectival and singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural is ''Lnúk'', ''Lnuꞌk'', ''Lnuꞌg'', or ''Lnùg'') is the term the Miꞌkmaq use for themselves, their autonym, meaning "human being" or "the people". Members of the Miꞌkmaq historically referred to themselves as ''Lnu'', but used the term ''níkmaq'' (my kin) as a greeting. The French initially referred to the Miꞌkmaq as ''Souriquois'' and later as '' Gaspesiens''. Adopting a term from the English, they referred to them as ''Mickmakis''. The British originally referred to the people as

Tarrantine The Tarrantines were a band of the Mi'kmaq tribe of Native Americans inhabiting northern New England, particularly coastal Maine. The name ''Tarrantine'' is one of the words the Massachusett people used to refer to the ''Mi'kmaq'' people. In the ...

s, which appears to have a French basis. Various explanations exist for the rise of the term ''Miꞌkmaq''. The ''Miꞌkmaw Resource Guide'' says that "Miꞌkmaq" means "the family".''Miꞌkmaw Resource Guide'', Eastern Woodlands Publishing (1997)"The definite article "the" suggests that "Miꞌkmaq" 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 ''Miꞌkmaw'' plays two grammatical roles: 1) It is the singular of Miꞌkmaq and 2) it is an adjective in circumstances where it precedes a noun (e.g., miꞌkmaw people, miꞌkmaw treaties, miꞌkmaw person, etc.)" see 'Miꞌkmaw Resource Guide'', Eastern Woodlands Publishing (1997). The

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

refer to the Miꞌkmaq 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)"). Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye was documented as the first European to record the term "Micmac" for the people, using it in his 1676 memoir. Marion Robertson stated this in the book ''Red Earth: Tales of the Mi'kmaq'' (1960s), published by the Nova Scotia Museum, Robertson cites Professor Ganong, who suggested that "Micmac" was derived from the Mi'kmaq word ''megamingo'' (earth).

Marc Lescarbot Marc Lescarbot (c. 1570–1641) was a French author, poet and lawyer. He is best known for his '' Histoire de la Nouvelle-France'' (1609), based on his expedition to Acadia (1606–1607) and research into French exploration in North America. ...

had also suggested this. The Mi'kmaq may have identified as "the Red Earth People, or the People of the Red Earth". ''Megumaagee'', the name the Mi'kmaq used to describe their land, and ''Megumawaach'', what they called themselves, were linked to the words ''megwaak'', which refers to the colour red, and ''magumegek'', "on the earth". Rand translated ''megakumegek'' as "red on the earth", "red ground", or "red earth". Other suggestions from Robertson include its origin in ''nigumaach'', which means "my brother" or "my friend", or a term of endearment.

Stansbury Hagar Stansbury Hagar (December 9, 1869, in San Francisco, CaliforniaHAGAR, Stansbury
i ...

suggested in ''Micmac Magic and Medicine'' that the word ''megumawaach'' is from ''megumoowesoo'', in reference to magic.

Geography

Miꞌkmaw Country, known as Miꞌkmaꞌki, is traditionally divided into seven districts. Prior to the imposition of the

, 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.

Districts

The eight Miꞌkmaw districts (including ''Ktaqmkuk'' which is often not counted) are

Epekwitk Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

aq Piktuk (Epegwitg aq Pigtug), Eskikewaꞌkik (Esgeꞌgewaꞌgi), Kespek (Gespeꞌgewaꞌgi), Kespukwitk (Gespugwitg), Siknikt (Signigtewaꞌgi), Sipekniꞌkatik (Sugapuneꞌgati), Ktaqmkuk (Gtaqamg), and Unamaꞌkik (Unamaꞌgi). The orthography between parentheses is the Listuguj orthography used in the Gespeꞌgewaꞌgi area.

Current federal and provincial relations with Miꞌkmaq

Tripartite Forum

In 1997, the Miꞌkmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum was established. On August 31, 2010, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a historic agreement with the Miꞌkmaw Nation, establishing a process whereby the federal government must consult with the Miꞌkmaw Grand Council before engaging in any activities or projects that affect the Miꞌkmaq 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.

Marshall Decision

On September 17, 1999, the

upheld the treaty rights of Miꞌkmaw

Donald Marshall Jr. Donald Marshall Jr. (13 September 1953 – 6 August 2009) was a Mi'kmaw man who was wrongly convicted of murder. The case inspired a number of questions about the fairness of the Canadian justice system, especially given that Marshall was Ab ...

its landmark '' R v Marshall'' ruling, which "affirmed a treaty right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a 'moderate livelihood'." The Supreme Court also cited Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act in their 1999 ruling that resulted in Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Peskotomuhkati people the "right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a 'moderate livelihood' from the resources of the land and waters." The legal precedent had previously been established in the

, one in a series of treaties known as the Peace and Friendship Treaties, but was not being respected prior to ''R v Marshall''. This resulted in the 1993 charges laid against Marshall Jr. for "fishing eels out of season, fishing without a licence, and fishing with an illegal net". In the 2018 publication, ''Truth and conviction: Donald Marshall Jr. and the Mi'kmaw quest for justice'', Marshall was quoted as saying, "I don’t need a licence. I have the 1752 Treaty." The 1989

Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr. Prosecution Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

resulted in a compensation to Marshall of a lifetime pension of $1.5 million. Marshall used the financial compensation to finance the lengthy and costly Supreme Court case. When Marshall won, 34 Mi'kmaw and

First Nations bands were affected in the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Gaspé region of Quebec. The West Nova Fishermen's Coalition submitted an appeal asking for the Marshall decision to be set aside. In November 17, 1999, released a new ruling (Marshall 2) to clarify that the DFO had the power to regulate the fishery for conservation purposes if it "consulted with the First Nation and could justify the regulations".CBC News reported that
"In 'Marshall 2,' the supreme court ruled that governments must justify restrictions or regulations on treaty rights based on previous, legally-tested criteria including "a valid legislative objective" such as conservation, "whether there has been as little infringement as possible" on rights, and "whether the aboriginal group in question has been consulted" on the government's proposed restrictions." Soon after the September 17 decision, Miramichi Bay—"one of Canada's most lucrative lobster fisheries"—became the site of a violent conflict between Mi'kmaw fishers and non-Mi'kmaw commercial fishers. Immediately after the ruling, Mi'kmaw fishers began to lay lobster traps out of season. Incidents such as the

Burnt Church Crisis The Burnt Church Crisis was a conflict in Canada between the Mi'kmaq people of the Burnt Church First Nations ( Esgenoôpetitj) and non-Aboriginal fisheries in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia between 1999 and 2002. Supreme Court ruling As Indigenous ...

were widely covered by the media from 1999 and 2002. On October 3, 1999, non-Indigenous commercial fishers in 150 boats destroyed hundreds of Mi'kmaw lobster traps, then returned to shore and vandalized fishing equipment, as well as three fish plants. This was captured and documented in the 2002 National Film Board feature-length documentary ''Is the Crown at war with us?'' by Alanis Obomsawin. The documentary also described how Ocean and Fisheries department officials seemed to "wage a war" on the Mi'kmaw fishermen of

Burnt Church, New Brunswick ''Eskɨnuopitijk'' or ''Esgenoôpetitj'' ( Burnt Church Band or Burnt Church First Nation ) is a Mi'kmaq First Nations in Canada, First Nation band government in New Brunswick, Canada, centred south of the community of Lagacéville, New Brunswic ...

with "helicopters, patrol boats, guns, with observation by airplanes and dozens of RCMP officers". The documentary asks why the fishers were being harassed for "exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land." Following lengthy negotiations with the Mi'kmaq, the DFO developed the $160 million Marshall Response Initiative, which operated until 2007, through which the DFO offered to purchase over 1,000 commercial fishing licences, including boats and gear, to support the expansion of the Mi'kmaw lobster fishery. By mid-2000, about 1,400 commercial fishermen stated their intention to retire over 5,000 licences. On August 20, 2001, the DFO issued a temporary license to Burnt Church Mi'kmaw fishers while negotiations for a more permanent agreement were underway. The DFO license had restrictions that some Burnt Church fishers refused: the fishers could not sell their lobsters, they could only use them for food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) purposes. The "Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes (FSC)" was confirmed in the landmark 1990

R. v. Sparrow ''R v Sparrow'', 9901 S.C.R. 1075 was an important decision of the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the application of Aboriginal rights under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Court held that Aboriginal rights, such as fishing, ...

Supreme Court case which cited section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act, 1982.In ''Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada'', a Supreme Court case that spanned over a decade, the Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation in British Columbia confirmed their right to "fish in their court-defined territories and sell that fish into the commercial marketplace." In May 2003, the House of Commons' Standing Committee On Fisheries And Oceans chaired by MP Tom Wappel, submitted its report on fisheries issues, which "recommended that all charges stemming from the onfrontation over the lobster fisheries be dropped and that the fishers should be compensated by federal government for "their lost traps and boats." The report said that Mi'kmaw fishers have the "same season as non-native fishermen" and could not therefore, fish in the fall. It recommended that "native bands be issued licences, which they would distribute to native fishermen." On the tenth anniversary of the benchmark decision, ''CBC News'' reported that "Maritime waters" were "calm a decade after Marshall decision." However, by 2020, the ''Fish Buyers' Licensing and Enforcement Regulations'', under the 1996 ''N.S. Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act'', remains in effect—as it does in other Atlantic provinces. These regulations do not mention the Mi'kmaq or the Marshall decision. These regulations prevent Mi'kmaw lobster fishers from selling their lobster to non-Mi'kmaq. Mi'kmaw fishers say that this does not align with the Marshall decision. In 2019, the government of the Listuguj First Nation in the

Bay of Chaleur frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...

developed their own self-regulated lobster fisheries management plan and opened their own lobster fishery in the fall of 2020. Under the existing Fish Buyers' Licensing Regulations the self-regulated Listuguj fisheries can harvest, but can only use the lobster for "food, social and ceremonial purposes". According to Chief Terry Paul of

Membertou First Nation The Membertou First Nation is a Mi'kmaq First Nation band government in the tribal district of Unama'ki, also known as Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. As of 2012, the Mi'kmaq population is 814 on-Reserve, and approximately 481 off-Reserve. It ope ...

, early in 2020, a negotiator for the DFO had offered Nova Scotia First Nations nearly $87 million for boats, gear, and training, with the condition that the First Nations would not practice their treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood fishing (ie out of the DFO season) for a period of 10 years. The proposal did not define "moderate livelihood", and was rejected. On November 9, 2020, a group of Miꞌkmaq First Nations and

Premium Brands Holdings Corporation Premium Brands Holdings Corporation is a Canadian specialty food manufacturing and distribution company. It is a publicly traded corporation on the Toronto Stock Exchange. History Premium Brands was founded in 1917 as Fletcher Limited. It was ...

announced their $1 billion purchase of Clearwater Seafoods, which was finalised on January 25, 2021. The group of First Nations includes Sipekne’katik, We’koqma’q, Potlotek, Pictou Landing, and Paqtnkek First Nations, and is led by Membertou and Miapukek First Nations. The purchase represents the "largest investment in the seafood industry by a Canadian Indigenous group". The harvest of non-Indigenous fishermen in the region will now be purchased by Clearwater Seafoods' Miꞌkmaq part owners.

Dispute over rights-based inshore lobster fishery (2020–present)

Background

Starting in September 2020, there has been an ongoing highly-charged conflict in

St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia St. Marys Bay (Miꞌkmaq language, Miꞌkmaq: Wagweiik) south western Nova Scotia, Canada, is surrounded by the modern municipal districts of Clare, Nova Scotia, Clare Municipal District and Digby, Nova Scotia (municipal district), Digby. Saint Ma ...

—the ''Kespukwitk'' (also spelled ''Gespogoitnag'') district of ''Mi'kma'ki''—between Miꞌkmaw and non-Miꞌkmaw lobster fishers engaged in the inshore fishery, that is rooted in the Marshall decision, and exacerbated by decades of various levels of government and authorities, mishandling and neglecting local concerns, according to the media. The inshore fishery is the last small-scale fishery in Nova Scotia. St. Marys Bay is part of Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 34, making it the "largest lobster fishing area in Canada with more than 900 licensed commercial fishermen harvesting from the southern tip of Nova Scotia up to Digby in the Bay of Fundy." It is also "one of the most lucrative fishing areas in Canada". DFO reported that as of December 2019, there were 979 commercial lobster licenses in LFA 34. In September 2020, following the opening of their own fishery, Sipekne'katik First Nation had issued seven lobster licenses to band members; each license has 50 tags, representing a combined total of 350 tags. One commercial lobster license represents 350 tags. Although the Mi'kmaw fishers have been granted access by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to the "commercial fishery through communal licences operated by the bands", Canada has never fully implemented the Marshall Decision.

Violence

On September 11, Sipekne'katik First Nation Chief Michael Sack sent a letter to Premier Stephen McNeil, DFO Minister Bernadette Jordan and Nova Scotia RCMP Commanding Officer Lee Bergerman, calling for them “to uphold the rule of law amid ongoing violence, threats, human rights discrimination and ongoing failure to uphold the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Marshall, recognizing the Mi’kmaq right to fish and trade.” By that point, vehicles and property belonging to members of the Sipekne'katik First Nation had already been damaged and stolen, including boats being burned. There were already planned protests by non-Indigenous fishers to block the Mi'kmaw fishers' access to several wharves. One such protest took place on September 15 at Saulnierville and Weymouth wharves. On September 17, Sipekne'katik launched a "moderate livelihood fishery" with a ceremony at the Saulnierville wharf, the first lobster fishery regulated by Miꞌkmaq in Nova Scotia. On September 18, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Miꞌkmaw Chiefs declared a province-wide state of emergency in response to threats by commercial and non-indigenous fishers, including some that had cut the Miꞌkmaw lobster traps. On September 25, the Sipekne'katik fishery released its proposed regulations allowing the legal sale of seafood harvested under the fishery to Indigenous and non-Indigenous consumers and wholesalers. However, at the time of the announcement, Nova Scotia's Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act prohibited anyone in Nova Scotia from purchasing fish from "a person who does not hold a valid commercial fishing license issued by Fisheries and Oceans Canada," which would include the fishery. On October 1, Potlotek First Nation and

Eskasoni First Nation The Eskasoni Mi'kmaw Nation is a band government of the Mi'kmaq Nation, located in Unama'ki (Cape Breton), Nova Scotia, Canada. As of 2021, Eskasoni has a membership of 4,675. Of this population, 3,973 live on-Reserve, and 667 live off-Reserve. ...

launched their own moderate livelihood fishery in a celebration at Battery Provincial Park that coincided with Mi'kmaq Treaty Day. The management plan behind this fishery had been in development for three months, prompted by the seizure of lobster traps by DFO officials. Community licenses issued through this fishery will entitle fishers to 70 tags, and boats will be allowed to carry up to 200 lobster traps each. At the time of the launch of the Potlotek fishery, Membertou was also planning on launching their own fishery, following a similar plan. After the launch of this fishery, DFO officers continued to seize Mi'kmaw traps. Harassment around the Sipekne'katik fishery continued through October. On October 5, Sipekne'katik fisher Robert Syliboy, a holder of one of the moderate livelihood fishery's licenses, found his boat at the Comeauville wharf destroyed in a suspicious fire. On the evening of October 13, several hundred non-Indigenous fishers and their supporters raided two storage facilities in

New Edinburgh New Edinburgh is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the northeast of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Bee ...

and Middle West Pubnico that were being used by Miꞌkmaw fishers to store lobsters. During the raids, a van was set aflame, another vehicle was defaced and damaged, lobsters being stored in the facilities were destroyed, and the New Edinburgh facility was damaged, while a Miꞌkmaw fisher was forced to barricade himself inside the facility in Middle West Pubnico. Indigenous leaders called the raids racist hate crimes and called on the RCMP to intervene, citing their slow response on the evening and lack of arrests even a day after the police claimed they "witnessed criminal activity". Social media posts from the commercial fishers and their supporters claimed that the lobsters taken in the raids were removed as they represented "bad fishing practices" on the part of the Miꞌkmaq, but Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack and a worker at the Middle West Pubnico facility claimed the lobsters that were stored there were caught by the commercial fishers, not Miꞌkmaw. Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde, federal Fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan, and Colin Sproul, president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association, all condemned the violence. Nova Scotia Premier

maintained his position that this issue must be solved federally when asked about it at a press conference. Several months later, in January 2021, the manager of the Middle West Pubnico facility, James Muise, made a public post in a Facebook group for commercial fishers, claiming that he gave the people involved in the raids permission to enter the facility and take the lobsters. Muise offered to work with people charged with offenses connected to the raids and try to get those charges dropped. Chief Mike Sack was sucker punched while trying to give a press conference on October 14. Also during the violence, an elder had sage knocked out of her hand while

smudging Smudging, or other rites involving the burning of sacred herbs (e.g., white sage) or resins, is a ceremony practiced by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas. While it bears some resemblance to other ceremonies and rituals involving smoke (e.g. ...

, and a woman was grabbed by the neck. On October 15, the Miꞌkmaq Warrior Peacekeepers arrived at the Saulnierville wharf with the intention of providing protection to Miꞌkmaq who were continuing to fish amid the violence. On Friday, October 16, Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

said that his government was "extremely active" in trying to de-escalate the situation. He also stated that he expected the police to be keeping people safe, and acknowledged concerns that the police had not been doing so. Three days after the initial raids on the storage facilities, on the evening of October 16, the Middle West Pubnico facility was destroyed in a large fire, deemed "suspicious" by the RCMP. One man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after the fire, but the RCMP did not provide details regarding the man's association to the lobster pound, other than that he was not an employee. The destruction led to further calls from Chief Sack for increased police presence, as well as an appeal from the Maritime Fisherman's Union for the federal government to appoint an independent mediator. On October 16, Mi'kmaw lobster fishers from the Sipekne'katik First Nation quickly sold all their lobsters after setting up shop in front of the Province House in Halifax with potential customers lined up around the block. The fishers said they were putting pressure on Premier McNeil to act. On October 17, Nova Scotia Premier

, released a Twitter statement requesting that the federal government define "what constitutes legal harvesting in a "moderate livelihood" fishery. On October 21, Sipekne'katik managed to secure an interim injunction against the restriction of band members' access to the Saulnierville and Weymouth wharves, as well as the New Edinburgh lobster pound. The motion for the injunction was filed '' ex parte'' due to the urgency of the situation, as the band was struggling to sell any of their catch in the midst of the violence and protests. The injunction will remain in place until December 15, 2020. In January 2021, 23 people were charged in connection to the violence at the lobster storage facilities on October 13, 2020: 15 for break-and-enter and 8 for break-and-enter and mischief. Their court date is set for March 29, 2021. Intimidation over the fishery dispute has continued into 2021. In mid-January, lobster harvester and Sipekne'katik citizen Jolene Marr, whose brother was surrounded in the West Pubnico lobster pound on October 13, was sent a seven second-long close-up video of a man's face that included what "sounds like a racial slur and six gunshots in the background."

Legal action

On March 26, 2021, 43 Mi'kmaw lobster fishers from the Sipekne'katik First Nation filed a statement of claim against the attorney general of Canada, the RCMP, the DFO, and 29 non-Indigenous fishers including the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association (BFIFA). The claim alleges that the non-Indigenous fishers named as defendants took the law into their own hands and engaged in violence against the moderate livelihood fishery, that they were encouraged to do so by BFIFA, and that the DFO and RCMP contributed to the harm by not intervening in the foreseeable violence.

Talks with DFO

On October 23, 2020 the Mi'kmaw Rights Initiative (known as the KMKNO for "Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office") announced that talks with the DFO over defining "moderate livelihood" had broken down. The following Wednesday (October 28), Terry Paul, chief of

, stepped down from his position with KMKNO and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs, saying " isconfidence in the operations of the organization ichave weakened over time," citing issues of transparency, and preferring to pursue treaty rights negotiations outside of the Assembly. Membertou's withdrawal follows Sipekne'katik's own withdrawal earlier in the month on October 6, leaving the Assembly as a representative of 10 of the 13 Mi'kmaw First Nation bands ( Millbrook having also withdrawn earlier). According to Paul, when he talked with the other ANSMC Chiefs about his decision, there seemed to be a willingness to deal with the issues he had identified in the negotiation process, so that he could rejoin shortly. Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan sent a letter to Chief Mike Sack on March 3, 2021, outlining the terms under which a moderate livelihood fishery could be negotiated, and what the federal government would be "prepared" to allow; the letter proposed balancing "additional First Nations access through already available licences" and stated that "these fisheries will operate within established seasons." These terms were rejected by Chief Sack, who stated that "we have a management plan that is better for conservation than theirs is, so we’re going to follow our own plan."

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

In 2005, Nova Scotian Miꞌkmaw

Nora Bernard Nora Bernard (September 22, 1935 – December 26, 2007) was a Canadian Mi'kmaq activist who sought compensation for survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. She was directly responsible for what became the largest class-actio ...

led the largest

class-action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

in Canadian history, representing an estimated 79,000 survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. The

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

settled A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

the lawsuit for upwards of . In autumn 2011, there was an

Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; french: Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residen ...

that travelled to various communities in Atlantic Canada, who were all served by the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, the sole residential school for the region. In his 2004 book entitled ''Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School'', journalist Chris Benjamin wrote about the "raw wounds" of Miꞌkmaw children who attended the Shubenacadie institution in the period spanning over three decades, from 1930 to 1967.

Miꞌkmaq Kinaꞌ matnewey

The first Miꞌkmaq-operated school in Nova Scotia—the ''Miꞌkmaq Kinaꞌ matnewey''—was established in 1982 he result of a collaboration between the Miꞌkmaw community and the Nova Scotia government. The school is the most successful First Nation Education Program in Canada, according to Benjamin. By 1997, all Miꞌkmaq on reserves were given the responsibility for their own education. By 2014, there were 11 band-run schools in Nova Scotia, and the province has the highest rate of retention of aboriginal students in schools in Canada. More than half the teachers are Miꞌkmaq. From 2011 to 2012 there was a 25% increase in Miꞌkmaw students going to university. Atlantic Canada has the highest rate of aboriginal students attending university in the country.

History

Pre-contact period

Mi'Kmaq Women Selling Baskets, Halifax, Nova Scotia

In southwestern Nova Scotia, there is archaeological evidence that traces traditional land use and resources to at least 4,000 years. In Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, there are canoe routes that have been used for thousands of years by indigenous people travelling from the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

to the Atlantic ocean. In his Memorial University Masters thesis, Mi'kmaw elder, Roger Lewis, investigated how pre-contact Mi'kmaq populations had a reciprocal relationship with the environment that was reflected in subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering, as well as in settlement locations. Lewis, who has held the position of ethnology curator at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax, since 2007 focused his MA research specifically on pre-contact fish weirs in southwestern Nova Scotia. In the chapter "Late Prehistory of the East Coast" in the Smithsonian's 1978 ''Handbook of North American Indians'', archaeologist Dean Snow says that the fairly deep linguistic split between the Miꞌkmaq and the Eastern Algonquians to the southwest suggests the Miꞌkmaq developed an independent prehistoric cultural sequence in their territory. It emphasized maritime orientation, as the area had relatively few major river systems. In the chapter "Early Indian-European Contact" in the 1978 ''Handbook'', ethnologist T. J. Brasser, described how pre-contact small semi-nomadic bands of a few

patrilineally Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

related families indigenous people who lived in a climate unfavorable for agriculture, had subsisted on fishing and hunting. Developed leadership did not extend beyond hunting parties. In the same 1978 ''Handbook'', anthropologist Philip Bock described the annual cycle of seasonal movement of precontact Miꞌkmaq. Bock wrote that the Mi'kmaq had lived in dispersed interior winter camps and larger coastal communities during the summer. The spawning runs of March began their movement to converge on

smelt Smelt may refer to: * Smelting, chemical process * The common name of various fish: ** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae ** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni'' ** Big-scale sand smelt ''At ...

spawning streams. They next harvested spawning

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

, gathered waterfowl eggs, and hunted geese. By May, the seashore offered abundant

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

and shellfish, and coastal breezes brought relief from the biting

black flies A black fly or blackfly (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 speci ...

deer flies Deer flies (also known in some parts of the mid-Atlantic United States as sheep flies) are bloodsucking insects considered pests to humans and cattle. They are large flies with large brightly-coloured compound eyes, and large clear wings with da ...

midge A midge is any small fly, including species in several families of non-mosquito Nematoceran Diptera. Midges are found (seasonally or otherwise) on practically every land area outside permanently arid deserts and the frigid zones. Some mid ...

s and mosquitoes of the interior. Autumn frost killed the biting insects during the September harvest of spawning

American eel The American eel (''Anguilla rostrata'') is a facultative catadromous fish found on the eastern coast of North America. Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the elopomorph superorder, a group of phylogenetically ancient teleosts. The America ...

s. Smaller groups would disperse into the interior where they hunted

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

and

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

. The most important animal hunted by the Miꞌkmaq was the moose, which was used in every part: the meat for food, the skin for clothing, tendons and sinew for cordage, and bones for carving and tools. Other animals hunted/trapped included deer, bear, rabbit, beaver and porcupine. Braser described the first contact between the Mi'kmaq and early European fishermen. These fishermen salted their catch at sea and sailed directly home with it, but they set up camps ashore as early as 1520 for dry-curing cod. During the second half of the century, dry curing became the preferred preservation method. Brasser said that, trading furs for European trade goods had changed Miꞌkmaw 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 Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

, increased awareness of territoriality. Trader preferences for good harbors resulted in greater numbers of Miꞌkmaq gathering in fewer summer rendezvous locations. This in turn encouraged their establishing larger bands, led by the ablest trade negotiators. According to the Nova Scotia Museum, bear teeth and claws were used as decoration in regalia. The women used porcupine quills to create decorative beadwork on clothing, moccasins, and accessories. The weapon used most for hunting was the

bow and arrow The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was comm ...

. The Miꞌkmaq made their bows from maple. They 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 such as porpoises, whales, walrus, and seals. Miꞌkmaw territory was the first portion of North America that Europeans exploited at length for resource extraction. Reports by

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...

, and Portuguese explorers about conditions there encouraged visits by Portuguese, Spanish, Basque, French, and English fishermen and whalers, beginning in the 16th century. European fishing camps traded with Miꞌkmaw fishermen; and trading rapidly expanded to include furs, according to

Thomas B. Costain Thomas Bertram Costain (May 8, 1885 – October 8, 1965) was a Canadian-American journalist who became a best-selling author of historical novels at the age of 57. Life Costain was born in Brantford, Ontario to John Herbert Costain and Ma ...

, (1885–1965), a journalist who wrote historical novels. By 1578, some 350 European ships were operating around the

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

estuary. Most were independent fishermen, but increasing numbers were exploring the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

17th and 18th centuries

Colonial wars

In the wake of

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

between English colonists and Native Americans in southern New England (which included the first military conflict between the Miꞌkmaq and New England), the Miꞌkmaq became members of the ''Wapnáki'' (

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

), an alliance with four other Algonquian-language nations: the

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pr ...

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

, and

. The Wabanaki Confederacy was allied with the

Acadian people The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

. Over a period of seventy-five years, during six wars in Miꞌkmaꞌki, the Miꞌkmaq and Acadians fought to keep the British from taking over the region (See the four

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

as well as Father Rale's War and

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...

). 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 Miꞌkmaq were not included in the treaty, and never conceded any land to the British. In 1715, the Miꞌkmaq were told that the British now claimed their ancient territory by the Treaty of Utrecht. 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 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. Miꞌkmaw 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 Miꞌkmaq 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 Miꞌkmaq used military force to resist the founding of British (Protestant) settlements by making numerous raids on Halifax,

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

, Lawrencetown, and Lunenburg. During the French and Indian War, the North American front of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

between France and Britain in Europe, the Miꞌkmaq 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) The siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal operation of the Seven Years' War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War) in 1758 that ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led to the subsequent British campaign to capt ...

in Cape Breton. In 1763, Great Britain formalized its colonial possession of all of Miꞌkmaki in the

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

Covenant Chain of Peace and Friendship Treaties

Between 1725 and 1779, the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqey (Maliseet), and Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) signed numerous treaties, commonly referred to as the Covenant Chain of Peace and Friendship Treaties, through which they entered into a "peaceful relationship with the British Crown." The Mi'kmaq assert that through these treaties—which were referenced as legal precedent by the Supreme Court of Canada in ''R v Marshall''—the Mi'kmaq "did not cede or give up their land title and other rights." Some historians have asserted that first treaty signed in 1725, after Father Rale's War, did not cede hunting, fishing, and gathering rights. The Halifax Treaties (1760–61), marked the end of warfare between the Miꞌkmaq and the British. The 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty Between His Majesty the King and

Jean-Baptiste Cope Jean Baptiste Cope (Kopit in Mi’kmaq meaning ‘beaver’) was also known as Major Cope, a title he was probably given from the French military, the highest rank given to Mi’kmaq. Cope was the sakamaw (chief) of the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenac ...

, on behalf of the Shubenacadie Miꞌkmaq has been cited in the Supreme Court of Canada's 1985 decision in ''R. v. Simon''. In his 2002, book on the Marshall case, historian William Wicken said that there is no written documentation to support this assertion that Cope made the treaty on behalf of all the Miꞌkmaq. has been cited in the Supreme Court of Canada's 1985 decision in ''R. v. Simon''. With the signing of various treaties, the 75 years of regular warfare ended in 1761 with the Halifax Treaties. Although the treaties of 1760-61 contain statements of Miꞌkmaw submission to the British crown, later statements made by Miꞌkmaw reveal that they intended a friendly and reciprocal relationship, according to the 2009 book, ''Nova Scotia: a pocket history'', by Saint Mary's University history professor,

John G. Reid John G. Reid is a Canadian historian. The principal focus of his work is on the history of early modern northeastern North America (focusing especially on imperial-aboriginal issues in Acadia/Nova Scotia and northern New England), the history of A ...

and Brenda Conroy. In the early 1760s, there were approximately 300 Miꞌkmaw fighters in the region and thousands of British soldiers. The goals of the Miꞌkmaw treaty negotiators engaged in the 1760 Halifax treaty negotiations, were 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, the Mi'kmaq offered friendship and tolerance of limited British settlement, although without any formal land surrender, according to Reid and Connor. To fulfill the reciprocity intended by the Miꞌkmaq, that any additional British settlement of land would have to be negotiated, and accompanied by giving presents to the Miꞌkmaq. The documents summarizing the peace agreements failed to establish specific territorial limits on the expansion of British settlements, but assured the Miꞌkmaq 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. In his 2003 book about the British expulsion of the Acadians,

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

history professor, Geoffrey Plank, described the relationship between the Mi'kmaq and Acadians as strong. The Miꞌkmaq believed they could share their traditional lands with both the British and the Acadians—with the Mi'kmaq hunting as usual, and getting to the coast for seafood. The arrival of the New England Planters and

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

s 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 Miꞌkmaq. The Miꞌkmaq tried to enforce the treaties through threat of force. At the beginning of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, many Miꞌkmaw and

tribes supported the Americans against the British. They participated in the Maugerville Rebellion and the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1776. Miꞌkmaw delegates concluded the first international treaty, the

Treaty of Watertown The Treaty of Watertown, the first foreign treaty concluded by the United States of America after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, was signed on July 19, 1776, in the Edmund Fowle House in the town of Watertown, Massachusetts Bay. ...

, with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

soon after it declared its independence in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Miꞌkmaw government, although many individual Miꞌkmaq did privately join the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

as a result. In June 1779, Miꞌkmaq in the

Miramichi The name "Miramichi" was first applied to a region in the northeast of New Brunswick, Canada, and has since been applied to other places in Canada and the United States. Although other interpretations have been suggested, it is believed that "Mirami ...

valley of New Brunswick attacked and plundered some of the British in the area. The following month, British Captain Augustus Harvey, in command of HMS ''Viper'', arrived and battled with the Miꞌkmaq. One Miꞌkmaw 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 19th century, the Miꞌkmaw people made explicit appeals to the British to honor the treaties and reminded them of their duty to give "presents" to the Miꞌkmaq in order to occupy Miꞌkmaꞌki. In response, the British offered charity or, the word most often used by government officials, "relief". The British said the Miꞌkmaq 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. MonumentPeaceTreaty1752

was the first Miꞌkmaw elected as grand chief in 1919 and the first to fight for treaty recognition—specifically, the

—in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. In 1986, the first

Treaty Day Treaty Day is celebrated by Nova Scotians annually 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 Halifax Treaties of 1 ...

was celebrated by Nova Scotians on October 1, 1986 in recognition of the treaties signed between the British Empire and the Miꞌkmaw people. The treaties were only formally recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada once they were enshrined in

Section 35 Section 35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' provides constitutional protection to the indigenous and treaty rights of indigenous peoples in Canada. The section, while within the Constitution of Canada, falls outside the ''Canadian Charter of Righ ...

of the '' Constitution Act'' of 1982. The first Treaty Day occurred the year after the Supreme Court upheld the Peace

signed by

and Governor

Peregrine Hopson Peregrine Thomas Hopson (5 June 1696 – 27 February 1759) was a British army officer who commanded the 40th Regiment of Foot and saw extensive service during the eighteenth century and rose to the rank of Major General. He also served as Britis ...

19th century

Royal Acadian School

Walter Bromley Walter Henry Bromley (c. 1774 – c. 5 May 1838) was a British military officer and reformer who founded a school in Halifax, Nova Scotia and did much good work among children of poorer families including, especially, indigenous Canadians. He lat ...

was a British officer and reformer who established the

Royal Acadian School The Royal Acadian School was a school developed for marginalized people in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The school was established by British officer and reformer Walter Bromley on 13 January 1814. He promoted the objectives of the British and Foreign S ...

and supported the Miꞌkmaq over the thirteen years he lived in Halifax (1813–1825). Bromley devoted himself to the service of the Miꞌkmaw people. The Miꞌkmaq 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 Miꞌkmaq "particularly contributes to his historical significance". Finguard writes:

MicMac Missionary Society

Silas Tertius Rand in 1849 help found the Micmac Missionary Society, a full-time Miꞌkmaw mission. Basing his work in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, where he lived from 1853 until his death in 1889, he travelled widely among Miꞌkmaw communities, spreading the Christian faith, learning the language, and recording examples of the Miꞌkmaw oral tradition. Rand produced scriptural translations in Miꞌkmaq and Maliseet, compiled a Miꞌkmaq dictionary and collected numerous legends, and through his published work, was the first to introduce the stories of

Glooscap Glooscap (variant forms and spellings ''Gluskabe'', ''Glooskap'', ''Gluskabi'', ''Kluscap'', ''Kloskomba'', or ''Gluskab'') is a legendary figure of the Wabanaki peoples, native peoples located in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Atlantic Ca ...

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 Miꞌkmaq practice of playing

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

appeared in recorded colonial histories from as early as the 18th century. Since the nineteenth century, the Miꞌkmaq were credited with inventing the

ice hockey stick An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck across the ice. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end c ...

. The oldest known hockey stick was made between 1852 and 1856. Recently, it was sold for US$2.2 million. The stick was carved by Miꞌkmaq from Nova Scotia, who made it from hornbeam, also known as ironwood. In 1863, the Starr Manufacturing Company in

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes, after the larg ...

, 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 20th century, the Mic-Mac hockey stick was the best-selling hockey stick in Canada. By 1903, apart from farming, the principal occupation of the Miꞌkmaq 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 Miꞌkmaq remained the "experts" at making hockey sticks. The Miꞌkmaq continued to make hockey sticks until the 1930s, when the product was industrialized.

Gallery of images from the 19th century

Image:Mik'maq at Province House, Halifax,NS 1879.png, Grand Chief

Jacques-Pierre Peminuit Paul Jacques-Pierre Peminuit Paul was a Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq who lived at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. He was most well known for his shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they ...

(3rd from left with beard) meets Governor General of Canada,

Marquess of Lorne A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

, Red Chamber, Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1879. Image:Micmac camp.jpg, Miꞌkmaq encampment, Sydney, Cape Breton Island Image:Mi'kmaq people at Tufts Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada, ca. 1871.jpg, Miꞌkmaq at Turtle Grove (Tufts Cove) settlement, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ca. 1871. Image:Micmac1.jpg, Miꞌkmaq People (1873) Image:Micmac2.jpg, Miꞌkmaq people (1865)

20th and 21st centuries

Jerry Lonecloud worked with historian and archivist

Harry Piers Harry Piers (1870–1940) was a Canadian historian. He was a long-serving and influential historian and curator at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Piers was born on February 12, 1870, in Halifax. He became the second curator of ...

to document the ethnography of the Miꞌkmaw people in the early 20th century. Lonecloud wrote the first Miꞌkmaw memoir, which his biographer entitled "Tracking Dr. Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper". Historian Ruth Holmes Whitehead writes, "Ethnographer of the Micmac nation could rightly have been his epitaph, his final honour."

World Wars

In 1914, over 150 Miꞌkmaw men signed up during World War I. During the First World War, thirty-four out of sixty-four male Miꞌkmaq from

Lennox Island First Nation Lennox Island is a Mi'kmaq First Nations band government in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. Its only currently inhabited reserve is Lennox Island 1, on Lennox Island, purchased by the Aborigines' Protection Society on behalf of ...

, Prince Edward Island enlisted in the armed forces, distinguishing themselves particularly in the Battle of Amiens. In 1939, over 250 Miꞌkmaq volunteered in World War II. (In 1950, over 60 Miꞌkmaq enlisted to serve in the Korean War.)

Miꞌkmaq of Newfoundland

When

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

joined

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1949, political leader (later Premier)

Joey Smallwood Joseph Roberts Smallwood (December 24, 1900 – December 17, 1991) was a Newfoundlander and Canadian politician. He was the main force who brought the Dominion of Newfoundland into Canadian Confederation in 1949, becoming the first premier of ...

declared that there were "no

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

in Newfoundland." This ultimately led to the Miꞌkmaq people of Newfoundland not receiving

indian status The Indian Register is the official record of people registered under the ''Indian Act'' in Canada, called status Indians or ''registered Indians''. People registered under the ''Indian Act'' have rights and benefits that are not granted to othe ...

or recognition as First Nations that other indigenous groups in Canada did in the years following. In 1972 activists formed the Native Association of Newfoundland and Labrador as the main organization representing the Mi'kmaq,

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

, and

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador. After the Labrador Innu and Inuit left the Association in 1975, the organization was renamed as the Federation of Newfoundland Indians. The FNI included six Mi'kmaq bands (Elmastogoeg First Nations, Corner Brook Indian Band, Flat Bay Indian Band, Gander Bay Indian Band, Glenwood Mi'kmaq First Nation, and the Port au Port Indian Band). The provincial government supported the FNI. The federal government approved only the petition for recognition made by the Mi'kmaq at Conne River. In 1987, the

Miawpukek Mi'kmaq First Nation Miawpukek First Nation is a Mi'kmaq First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a registered population of 834 living on-reserve as of September 2019, with another 2,223 living off-reserve. T ...

was recognized under the Indian Act, and their community of

Conne River Miawpukek First Nation is a Mi'kmaq First Nations band government in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a registered population of 834 living on-reserve as of September 2019, with another 2,223 living off-reserve. They control the reserve o ...

was classified as reserved land for the Mi'kmaq. Recognition for the remainder of Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq was a much longer process. Minister

David Crombie David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a Canadian former academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Conse ...

was willing to work with the FNI and the government of Newfoundland, but the provincial government considered it to be a federal matter. In 2003, Minister Andy Scott was presented with a report recommending a First Nations band without any reserved land to represent the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland. An Agreement-in-principle was reached in 2006, which the FNI accepted in 2007. The federal government ratified it in 2008. In 2011, the

announced recognition by an order-in-council to a group in Newfoundland and Labrador called the Qalipu First Nation. The new band, which is landless, had accepted 25,000 applications to become part of the band by October 2012. In total over 100,000 applications were sent in to join the Qalipu, equivalent of one-fifth of the province's population. In response, parliament passed Bill C-25, authorizing it to review all applications and retroactively reject some, based on criteria similar to those used in the ''R v Powley'' case that defined rights for the Métis people. Several Miꞌkmaw institutions, including the Grand Council, had argued that the Qalipu Miꞌkmaq Band did not have legitimate aboriginal heritage and was accepting too many members. In 2017, only 18,044 people were eligible for Band membership. In 2018, the Qalipu First Nation announced that the updated Founding Members List for the Band had been adopted by way of an Order in Council which came into effect on June 25, 2018. The 2018 Band list included 18,575 members. In November 2019, after concerns about legitimacy had been addressed, the Qalipu First Nation was accepted by the Miꞌkmaq Grand Council as being part of the Miꞌkmaq Nation. Qalipu Chief Mitchell stated, "Our inclusion into the AFN, APC and acknowledgement by the Miꞌkmaq Grand Council are important to us; it is part of our reconciliation as Miꞌkmaq people. Friendships are being formed, and relationships are being established. It is a good time for the Qalipu First Nation." By 2021, nearly 24,000 people were recognized as founding members, in 67 Newfoundland communities and abroad. The Friends of Qalipu Advocacy Association is currently taking Qalipu First Nation (and its precursor) to court over the enrolment process.

Religion, spirituality, and tradition

Current forms of Miꞌkmaw faith

Some Miꞌkmaw people practice the Catholic faith while some only practice traditional Miꞌkmaw religion. However, many have adopted both religions because of the compatibility between

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and traditional Miꞌkmaw faith.

Oral traditions in Miꞌkmaw culture

The Miꞌkmaw people had very little in the way of physical recording and storytelling; petroglyphs, while used, are believed to have been rare. In addition, it is not believed that pre-contact Miꞌkmaq had any form of written language. As such, almost all of Miꞌkmaw traditions were passed down orally, primarily via storytelling. There were traditionally three levels of oral traditions: religious myths, legends, and folklore. This includes Miꞌkmaw creation stories and myths which 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. The most well known Miꞌkmaw myth is that of

. Good storytellers are highly prized by the Miꞌkmaq, as they provide important teachings that shape who a person grows to be, and are sources of great entertainment. One myth explains that the Miꞌkmaq 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.

Spiritual sites

One spiritual capital of the Miꞌkmaq Nation is Mniku, the gathering place of the Miꞌkmaw Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi, Chapel Island in

Bras d'Or Lake Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, ma ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The island is also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Miꞌkmaq. The island has been declared a historic site.

Ethnobotany

Abies balsamea ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...

'' (balsam fir) is traditionally used for a variety of purposes by the Miꞌkmaq. They use the buds, cones and inner bark for diarrhea; the gum for burns, colds, fractures, sores and wounds; the cones for colic; the buds as a laxative; and the bark for gonorrhea. They use the boughs to make beds, the bark to make a beverage, and the wood for kindling and fuel.

First Nation subdivisions

Miꞌkmaw names in the following table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Miꞌkmaw orthographies in use are

, 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 Miꞌkmaw communities.

Demographics

The pre-contact population is estimated at 3,000–30,000. In 1616, Father Biard believed the Miꞌkmaw 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 Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and other endemic European infectious diseases, to which the Miꞌkmaq 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 Miꞌkmaw people have been commemorated in numerous ways, including

HMCS Micmac (R10) HMCS ''Micmac'' was a destroyer which served the Royal Canadian Navy from 1945 to 1964. ''Micmac'' was the first modern, high-performance warship built in Canada. She was the first of four Tribal destroyers built at the Halifax Shipyard and on ...

, and place names such as Lake Micmac, and the

Mic Mac Mall Mic Mac Mall is Atlantic Canada's largest enclosed shopping mall located in the community of Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is owned and managed by Mic Mac Mall Limited Partnership. With stores on three levels, Mic ...

Notable Miꞌkmaq

Academics

Pamela Palmater Pamela Palmater (born 1970) is a Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist and politician from New Brunswick, Canada. A frequent media political commentator, she appears for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's InFocus, CTV, and CBC. She is an ...

, professor at

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

Patricia Doyle-Bedwell Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...

, professor at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

Marie Battiste Marie Ann Battiste (born 1949) is an author and educator working as a professor in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan in the Department of Educational Foundations. From the Potlotek First Nation in Nova Scotia, Battiste is the daughter of Mi ...

, professor at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Activists

Anna Mae Aquash Annie Mae Aquash (Mi'kmaq name ''Naguset Eask'') (March 27, 1945 – mid-December 1975 ) was a First Nations activist and Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, Canada. Aquash moved to Boston in the 1960s and joined other First Nations and Indi ...

, activist (1946–1976) *

J. Kevin Barlow J. Kevin Barlow is a Mi'kmaq from the Indian island of New Brunswick. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN).Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), ''World AIDS Day: CIHR Report on HIV/AIDS 2006 ...

, health campaigner *

, Canadian Indian residential school system activist *

Donald Marshall, Jr. Donald Marshall Jr. (13 September 1953 – 6 August 2009) was a Miꞌkmaq, Mi'kmaw man who was wrongful conviction, wrongly convicted of murder. The case inspired a number of questions about the fairness of the Canadian justice system, especi ...

, wrongly convicted of murder; later, fought for Mi'kmaw fishing rights *

Daniel N. Paul Daniel Nicholas Paul, , (born December 5, 1938) is a Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul is perhaps best known as the author of the book '' We Were Not the Savages''. Paul asserts that this book is the first such his ...

, Elder, author, tribal historian, columnist, and human rights activist *

, Grand Chief of the Miꞌkmaq Nation, 1918 to 1964

Artists

Rita Joe Rita Joe, (born Rita Bernard; March 15, 1932 – March 20, 2007) was a Mi'kmaq poet and songwriter, often referred to as the Poet Laureate of the Mi'kmaq people. Biography Rita was born March 15, 1932 in Whycocomagh, Cape Breton Island, N ...

, poet *

Ursula Johnson Ursula Johnson (born 1980) is a multidisciplinary Mi’kmaq artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her work combines the Mi’kmaq tradition of basket weaving with sculpture, installation, and performance art. In all its manifestations he ...

, visual artist *

Nikki Gould ''Degrassi: Next Class'' is the second incarnation of the ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' series and is a Canadian teen drama television programme, television series created by Linda Schuyler, Yan Moore, Stephen Stohn, Sarah Glinski and Matt Hue ...

, actress, '' Degrassi: Next Class'' *

Bretten Hannam Bretten Hannam is a Canadian screenwriter and film director.Jordan Parker"Two-Spirit filmmaker puts queer representation first in films" ''Halifax Today'', June 12, 2018. A Two-Spirit, non-binary Mi'kmaq person, Hannam was born and raised in Nova ...

, screenwriter and film director * Cody Bowles, vocalist and drummer,

Crown Lands Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

Morgan Toney Morgan Toney is a Mi'kmaq folk singer-songwriter and fiddler from Nova Scotia, Canada, whose music blends Celtic folk and traditional Mi'kmaq music.Andrea Warner"Morgan Toney's breakthrough year: meet the 22-year-old Mi'kmaq fiddler fusing ancestral ...

, folk singer-songwriter and fiddler

Athletes

Patti Catalano Patti Catalano Dillon (née Lyons, April 6, 1953) is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set world bests in the half marathon, 30 kilometers, and ...

, marathon runner *

Sandy McCarthy Sandy McCarthy (born June 15, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes, New York ...

, played for the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

team *

Everett Sanipass Everett Sanipass (born February 13, 1968) is a Canadian retired ice hockey forward. Sanipass was born in Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick. Sanipass is the first Native Canadian to be inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. Play ...

, played for the Quebec Nordiques

team

Military

Étienne Bâtard Étienne Bâtard (died ) was a Mi'kmaq people, Mi'kmaq warrior from Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Bâtard fought in Father Le Loutre's War. He participated in fighting the British in the Battle at Chignecto and the Attack at Jeddore. Refere ...

(18th century) * Chief

* Sam Gloade *

Paul Laurent Paul Laurent was a Chief of the La Have Mi’kmaq tribe. He was aligned with Father Le Loutre throughout Father Le Loutre’s War. The British killed his father when he was younger, which he tried to avenge by killing one of Jean-Baptiste Cope’s ...

Other

* Judge

Timothy Gabriel Timothy Gabriel is a judge on the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. In September 2010, he became the first judge appointed in Canada from the Mi'kmaq indigenous First Nations in Canada, First Nations tribe. He is a member of the Qalipu First Nation. Re ...

, first Miꞌkmaw judge in Nova Scotia * Peter Paul Toney Babey, a Miꞌkmaw chief and medical practitioner in the 1850s *

Indian Joe Indian Joe, (Captain Joe, Old Joe, Jo Indian, Joe Injun, Abenaki language, Abenaki translation of Joseph: Susapp) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American scout. Biography Born near Louisbourg, Nova Scotia of Mi'kmaq people, ...

, a scout around the time of the American Revolutionary War *

Noel Jeddore Noel Joseph Jeddore ''We’jitu'' also Newell Jeddore ''Gietol'', ''Geodol'' A signed statement of this information mentioned I the Holy Cross Annual, 1961, signed by Joseph Jeddore and witnessed by John Denny Jeddore and John Benoit Sr. was sent ...

, Saqmaw forced into exile (1865–1944) * Henri Membertou, Grand Chief and spiritual leader (c.1525-1611) * Lawrence Paul, a chief of

Millbrook First Nation The Millbrook First Nation is a Mi'kmaq First Nation band government in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provin ...

Maps

Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the

(from north to south): Image:Wohngebiet_Maliseet.png,

Image:Wohngebiet_Oestlicheabenaki.png, Eastern Abenaki (

, Kennebec, Arosaguntacook, Pigwacket/Pequawket Image:Wohngebiet_Westlicheabenaki.png, Western Abenaki (Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Sokoki,

Pennacook The Pennacook, also known by the names Penacook and Pennacock, were an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. They were not a united tribe but a netwo ...

Notes

References

Archival primary references

''In chronological order'' * 1749''
A Geographic History of Nova Scotia. 1749
* 1758 * 1760''
Thomas Picheon
* 1797''
Miꞌkmaq Language, 1797
* 1814 * 1822 * 1819 * 1866 * 1873''
An account of the present state of Nova Scotia Hollingsworth. 1873

Thomas Pichon on Miꞌkmaq
* 1896
Rand and the Micmacs
* 1922

Documentary film

Our Lives in Our Hands
(1986) — Míkmaq basketmakers and potato diggers in northern Maine

External links

Qalipu First Nation

Benoit First Nation

Bras D'Or First Nation

Bras d'Or - Pitawpoꞌq, Indian name; Little Bras d'Or - Panuꞌskek, Indian name

Míkmaq Portraits Collection

Miꞌkmaq Language. Mass Historical Society

Míkmaq Dictionary Online

*
Unamaꞌki Institute of Natural Resources

Miꞌkmaw Native Friendship Centre
{{authority control Algonquian ethnonyms Algonquian peoples First Nations in Atlantic Canada First Nations in Quebec History of Nova Scotia Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Native American history of Maine Native American tribes in Maine Wabanaki Confederacy Ethnic groups in Canada Ethnic groups in Newfoundland and Labrador