Qalipu First Nation
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Qalipu First Nation (Pronounced: ha-lee-boo, meaning: Caribou), is a
Mi’kmaq 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 northe ...
band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...
, created by
order-in-council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...
in 2011 pursuant to the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band. After the band was approved as a First Nation, 100,000 people applied for membership and a total of 23,000 were approved. This band is a landless band based on the island of
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 ...
. The Qalipu First Nation is accepted by the Mi'kmaq Grand Council. In 2018, Qalipu First Nation also was accepted as a member of the Assembly of First Nations.


History prior to recognition


Pre-contact

At the time of European contact, the Mi'kmaq people inhabited ''
Miꞌkmaꞌki Miꞌkmaꞌki or Miꞌgmaꞌgi is composed of the traditional and current territories, or country, of the Miꞌkmaq people, in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. It is shared by an inter-Nation forum among Miꞌkmaq First Nations and is divided ...
'', which covered modern-day
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 ...
,
Prince Edward Island 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 ...
, northeastern
New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) 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. It is the only province with both English and ...
, 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 ...
. By the 17th century, the Mi'kmaq would often visit the island they called ''Taqamkuk'' (present-day
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 ...
) by crossing the
Cabot Strait Cabot Strait (; french: détroit de Cabot, ) is a strait in eastern Canada approximately 110 kilometres wide between Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. It is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint L ...
in shallops that they adopted from European traders."The History of the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq"
Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998
They visited the island and hunted along the south coast as far east as
Placentia Bay Placentia Bay (french: Baie de Plaisance) is a body of water on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is formed by Burin Peninsula on the west and Avalon Peninsula on the east. Fishing grounds in the bay were used by native people long ...
before returning to Unamaki. They gradually made Taqamkuk among their "domain of islands". Some Mi'kmaq have argued that in addition, a group of Mi'kmaq lived on the island for hundreds of years. The island's Indigenous population, the
Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland. Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
, are said to have gone extinct in the early 1800s.


Permanent settlement in Newfoundland

During the colonial period, when the French and British competed for claims to land in North America, the Mi'kmaq became allied with France with whom they traded. Together they raided settlements of the English in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and in the
Maritime provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...
of the future Canada. In 1763, after France was defeated by Britain in 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 ...
, it ceded all its land east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
to Great Britain, including the Mi'kmaq's traditional land. After this, numerous British colonists entered that territory and tried to settle. Newfoundland, however, was still sparsely populated, and most Europeans lived on the eastern portion of the island and only in small isolated coastal settlements. The Mi'kmaq living on the island were essentially able to continue their traditional way of life on the island's west coast and in the interior. After the
Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland. Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
people declined in the 1800s, the Mi'kmaq no longer shared Newfoundland's interior with anyone. In 1857, a colonial census of Newfoundland recorded Mi'kmaq settlements at St. George's Bay,
Codroy Valley The Codroy Valley is a valley in the southwestern part of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Codroy Valley is a glacial valley formed in the Anguille Mountains, a sub-range of the Long Range ...
,
Bay d'Espoir Bay d'Espoir ( ) is an arm of Hermitage Bay in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, located on the south coast of Newfoundland. Communities in Bay d'Espoir include: Milltown-Head of Bay d'Espoir, Morrisville, St. Alban's, St. Joseph's Cove, St. Veron ...
, and the
Bay of Exploits The Bay of Exploits is a large bay in the northeast of Newfoundland. It extends from the mouth of the Exploits River and opens on to Notre Dame Bay to the north. It is approximately 1,000 square kilometers (386 sq. miles) in size and contains ov ...
. The English and other Europeans had little knowledge of the interior and relied on the Mi'kmaq as guides. In 1822, explorer
William Cormack William Epps Cormack (5 May 1796 – 30 April 1868) was a Scottish explorer, philanthropist, agriculturalist and author, born St. John's, Newfoundland. Cormack was the first person of European descent to journey across the interior of the isla ...
traversed Newfoundland's interior from Trinity Bay to St. George's Bay. He was guided by a Mi'kmaw man named Sylvester Joe. In the 1860s, the British hired some Mi'kmaq men to deliver the mail overland through a network of trails reaching the northern communities.


Late 19th century decline

In 1898, a railway was constructed across the island, giving Europeans greater access to Newfoundland's interior. Numerous Europeans came to hunt the
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 ...
herds, causing a sharp decline in the species population. The caribou had served as one of the main sources of food for the Mi'kmaq and their decline adversely affected the survival of the Mi'kmaq. Starting in the 1920s, global fur prices began to decline as well, and some Mi'kmaq left trapping to work for Europeans as loggers.


Drive for recognition

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 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 ...
. 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 ...
was classified as reserved land for the Mi'kmaq. Recognition for the remainder of Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq was a much longer process. The group's attempts to obtain status under the Indian Act were fruitless, and led to a Federal Court action in 1989, in which the FNI sought a declaration that its members were Indians within the meaning of the 1867 Constitution Act. 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 that recommended 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.


Membership

The Government of Canada had expected band membership to be similar to the membership of the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, around 5,000 people. Instead, around 100,000 people, or the equivalent of one-fifth of the population of Newfoundland, applied to become band members. After the first round of enrollment, 23,000 of 30,000 applicants were accepted. Although not yet functional, the band became the second largest by membership in Canada. This put the enrolment process to a halt and a supplemental agreement between the Federation of Newfoundland Indians and Canada was formed in 2013.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/decision-week-for-qalipu-band-1.3967117 The rest of the outstanding applications were put in indefinite storage. In 2013 applicants organized a new group, the Mi’kmaq First Nations Assembly of Newfoundland to lobby to continue the enrollment process. They began to prepare for a legal action regarding the enrollment process should lobbying fail. In 2014, 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 The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
. The 2013 agreement tightened rules and criteria thus leaving 80,000+ applicants rejected in its wake. In 2017, only 18,044 were eligible for membership. In 2018, the Qalipu First Nation announced that the updated Founding Members List for the Band was adopted by way of an Order in Council which came into effect on June 25, 2018. The 2018 Band list included 18,575 members. By 2021, nearly 24,000 people were recognized as founding members, in 67 Newfoundland communities and abroad.


Questions of legitimacy

In 2013, Chiefs Terrance Paul and Gerard Julian, co-chairs of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Chiefs, sent a joint letter to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. They presented their concerns regarding the legitimacy of the Qalipu band, and asked for further clarification and explanation by the federal government. They disputed the authority of the federal government to determine who qualifies as Mi’kmaq. They said that, while the government of Canada may have jurisdiction over who is an Indian, they do not have the
constitutional right A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...
to determine who is a Mi’kmaw. Later in 2013, the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, the traditional government of the Mi'kmaq people, issued a statement to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
denouncing the Qalipu band as illegitimate. The letter stated, "These new Qalipu members we simply do not know and do not recognize as Mi’kmaq." Since then, representatives of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council have visited Newfoundland to meet with the Qalipu Chief and Council, and community members acknowledging the extended Mi'kmaq family in Newfoundland. During the visit Grand Keptin Antle Denny, spokesperson for the Grand Council, said, "We were happy to visit and meet some of our relations, visit communities and acknowledge our extended Mi’kmaq family. Unity is the Mi’kmaq way.” The Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative assert that the Qalipu were created as an entity by the federal government, and they do not consider them as part of the broader Mi'kmaq nation. The Friends of Qalipu Advocacy Association is currently taking Qalipu First Nation (and its precursor) to court over the enrolment process.


Governance

A band council is elected under the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band Custom Election Rules, which were a part of the agreement with the Canadian government. Changes to the Custom Election Rules can be made only after a referendum voted on by the whole band membership. In 2021, a referendum passed changing terms of office to four years starting in 2024.


Council

Members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation elect a Chief (currently Brendan Mitchell), 2 Vice Chiefs, and councillors representing a total of 9 wards.


Wards and Councillors

Shown below are the electoral districts and the results from the 2021 election.https://qalipu.ca/qalipu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/VoteCount_Summary_NoAudit.pdf


References

{{authority control First Nations in Newfoundland and Labrador First Nations governments in Atlantic Canada Mi'kmaq in Canada Mi'kmaq governments 2011 establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador