Grand Council (Miꞌkmaq)
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The Grand Council (Santé Mawiómi or Mi'kmawey Mawio'mi) is the normal senior level of government for the
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
, based in present-day Canada, until passage of the
Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' () is a Canadian Act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still in force with amendments, it is the primary document that defines how t ...
in 1876, requiring elected governments. After the Indian Act, the Grand Council adopted a more spiritual function. The Grand Council was made up of representatives from the seven district councils in
Mi'kma'ki Mi'kma'ki or Mi'gma'gi is composed of the traditional and current territories, or country, of the Mi'kmaq people, in what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and eastern Quebec, Canada. It is shared by an Non-governmental ...
and ''Keptinaq'' ("captains"), who were the district chiefs. There were also elders, the ''putús'', the women's council, and the Grand Chief. The ''putús'' recorded the Mi'kmaq Grand Council meetings by stories and the creation of
wampum belt Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western Nor ...
s, a kind of visual history, and dealt with the treaties with other native tribes and non-native groups. The hereditary chiefs of the traditional Grand Council continue to have a role, but the legal authority to govern has been largely transferred by the Indian Act to the elected chiefs and councils.Nova Scotia.com
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Establishment

The Grand Council was created following the collapse of French power in America (1761). Prior to this period, there was no permanent or regular centralized structure and no overall authority. Occasionally, the leading men in some or all of the 14-15 bands would meet in council. Each band had its own chief or ''saqamaw''. The ''saqamaq'' met together as equals, and their efforts could as often end in general disagreement as in agreement.Stephen Patterson. Indian-White Relations in Nova S61: A Study in Political Interaction. in Buckner, P. A., Campbell, Gail and Frank, David. ''The Acadiensis Reader: Vol. 1., 3rd Edition. Atlantic Canada Before Confederation''. 1998. p. 81


Grand Chief

The Grand Chief was a title given to one of the district chiefs, who was usually from the Mi'kmaq district of ''Unamáki'' (Cape Breton Island). This title was hereditary and usually was passed down to the Grand Chief's eldest son. The Grand Council met on a small island in 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 Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
called ''Mniku''. Today it is within the boundaries of the reserve called Chapel Island or ''Potlotek''. To this day, the Grand Council still meets at the Mniku to discuss current issues within the Mi'kmaq Nation.


District councils

The Mi'kmaq territory was divided into seven traditional "districts," each of which had its own independent government and boundaries. The independent governments had a district chief ('' sagamaw'') and a district council which had been elected in a general elections for a period in which they had a total majority in a single constituency in a district with no elected seats and a single district council elected in the district in the constituency for a constituency in the constituency where they are located in a constituency in which the majority of voters 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, suing for peace, etc. Mi'kmaq historian
Daniel N. Paul Daniel Nicholas Paul (December 5, 1938 – June 27, 2023) was a Canadian Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul was perhaps best known as the author of the book '' We Were Not the Savages''. Paul asserts that this bo ...
notes many individual Mi'kmaq indeed signed treaties. However, the signators represented only their districts only, and Mi'kmaq protocol was that each district was Sovereign and could sign agreements between nations and would return home to present the agreements to the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, the Council of Women, and finally to all citizens. If consensus occurred, the newly-signed treaty would be ratified district by district.


Local chiefs

The local chief looked after the affairs of the village community and presided over the "Council of Elders", the governing body of the village. It was made up of family heads or representatives.


Band councils

There are now approximately 42 Mi'kmaw communities scattered across Nova Scotia, all allotted to and administered by thirteen First Nation Mi'kmaq communities established since 1958–1959. Each community has its own leadership known as the Band Council, with an elected chief and several Councilors. The traditional Grand Council continues to exist and issues rare rulings such as the eviction of SWN Resources from traditional territorie

According to Canadian law, which conflicts to some degree with treaty, international, and Confederacy law, the formal authority to govern has been largely transferred by the Indian Act to the elected Chiefs and Councils defined in that Act. Such a transfer has never been recognized by the Grand Council itself.


Modern jurisdiction

The Grand Council's powers and its role are in some dispute, but clearly, the "elected Chiefs and Councils" do not represent all persons defined in the Indian Act or all lands and waters specified in the treaties. That is the jurisdiction claimed by the present Grand Council. Events in 2013 highlighted the jurisdictional disputes. The
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
ruled in January 2013 that
Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
and "non-status Indians" were Indians in the sense of the Ac

but were not represented at all in the Indian Act election and representation structure. In the
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a Canadian royal commission established in 1991 with the aim of investigating the relationship between Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Government of Canada, and Canadian society as a whole. ...
, one of the key recommendations was to re-form precolonial polities as an overarching body to connect physically- and socially-isolated "reserves" (called "First Nations"). Both the RCAP and the Supreme Court explicitly call for and justify a continuing role for Grand Council jurisdiction over certain cultural, social, environmental or other matters that would reasonably fall within the treaty laws. Interpretation and advocacy under the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , , The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or DOTROIP) is a legally non-binding United Nations resolution passed by the United Nations in 2007 that delineates and defines the individual and collective rights of indig ...
, which both Canada and the US have signed, are other powers claimed by the modern Grand Council, as evidenced in the SWN case in which it asserted a clear jurisdiction over
hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of Formation (geology), formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the ...
and other below-ground activities. On October 17, 2013, what the ''Ottawa Citizen'' described as a "heavy-handed response" (or attack) by RCMP o

on protesters against fracturing near
Rexton, New Brunswick Rexton is a former village in Kent County, New Brunswick, Canada. It was a village in its own right until the end of 2022 and is now part of the village of Five Rivers. History Situated on the Richibucto River, the village was originally in ...
, most of whom were associated with the
Elsipogtog Elsipogtog First Nation (), formerly called the Big Cove Band, is a Miꞌkmaq First Nations band government in New Brunswick, Canada. The First Nation's territory comprises Richibucto Reserve #15, lying southwest of Five Rivers, New Brunswic ...
band but had support from a dozen local councils in New Brunswick, further highlighted the jurisdictional disputes. Grand Council authority was cited by both native and non-native advocates. Accordingly, some local district councils were clearly seen to defer to Grand Council authority over both provincial and federal and to rely on its treaty rights and UN DRIP to defend their common position calling for a moratorium on "fracking" in New Brunswick. Several international NGOs including
Christian Peacemaker Teams Community Peacemaker Teams or CPT (previously called Christian Peacemaker Teams) is an international organization set up to support teams of peace workers in conflict areas around the world. The organization uses these teams to achieve its aims ...
also supported that positio

The events in Rexton resulted in widespread sympathy demonstrations across North America, again bolstering the claim of the Grand Council to have formal authority.


See also

* List of grand chiefs (Mi'kmaq)


Notes


References


Changing Role of Grand Council

Mi'kmaq Grand Council

Governing a Nation


{{Mi'kmaq Mi'kmaq in Canada Councils Indigenous self-government in Canada