MI'KMAQ

The 'Mi'kmaq' (; (also spelled 'Míkmaq, Mi'gmaq, Micmac' or 'MicMac') are a First Nations people, indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The word 'Míkmaw' is an adjectival form of the plural noun for the people, ''Míkmaq''.
The nation has a population of about 40,000 of whom approximately one-third still speak the Algonquian language Lnuísimk which was once written in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing and is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet.
In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador October is celebrated as Mi'kmaq History Month and the entire Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1st.

Contents

Name

History

Mi'kmaq First Nation subdivisions

Demographics

Notable Mi'kmaq

Other

See also

Notes

References

Documentary film

External links

Name

'L’nu' (plural "Lnu'k") is the self-recognized term for the Mi'kmaq of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Maine, meaning human being.^[1]. The name ''Mi'kmaq'' comes from a word in their language meaning "allies". With constant use, the term "Micmac" entered the English lexicon, and was used by the Lnu'k as well. Present day Lnu’k linguists have standardized the writing of Lnui'simk for modern times and "Mi’kmaq" is now the official spelling of the name.
Members of the Mi'kmaq First Nation historically referred to themselves as L'nu, but, the Mi'kmaq's French allies, whom the Mi'kmaq referred to as Ni'kmaq, meaning "my kin", initially referred to the Mi'kmaq, (as is written in ''Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France'') as "Souriquois" (the Souricoua River was a travel route between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence) or "Gaspesians". Over time their French allies and succeeding immigrating nations’ peoples began to refer to the Lnu'k as Ni’knaq, (invariably corrupting the word to various spellings such as Mik Mak, Mic Mac, etc.) The British originally referred to them as Tarrantines.^[2]

History

The Mi'kmaq were members of the ''Waponahkiyik'' (Wabanaki Confederacy), an alliance with four other Algonquian nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet. At the time of contact with the French (late 1500s) they were expanding from their Maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquioian Mohawk tribes, hence the Mi'kmaq name for this peninsula, ''Gespedeg'' ("last-acquired"). In 1610, Chief Membertou concluded their first alliance with Europeans, a concordat with the French Jesuits that affirmed the right of Mi'kmaq to choose Catholicism, Mi'kmaq tradition, or both.
The Mi'kmaq were allies with the French, and were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. But as France lost control of Acadia in the early 1700s, they soon found themselves overwhelmed by British (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh) who seized much of the land without payment and deported the French. Between 1725 and 1779, the Mi'kmaq signed a series of peace and friendship treaties with Great Britain, but none of these were land cession treaties. The nation historically consisted of seven districts, but this was later expanded to eight with the ceremonial addition of Great Britain at the time of the 1749 treaty. Later on the Mi'kmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelated Beothuk tribe became extinct. Mi'kmaq representatives also concluded the first international treaty with the United States after its declaration of independence, the Treaty of Watertown.

Mi'kmaq First Nation subdivisions

Note: Mi'kmaq names in the table have all been spelled according to a several orthographies; The Mi'kmaq orthographies in use are Míkmaq hieroglyphs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography, which has been adopted by most of the Mi'kmaq First Nation. (Compare ''Kespék'' versus ''Gespeg'').

Community	Province/State	Town/Reserve	Est. Pop.	Míkmaq name
Abegweit First Nation	PE	Scotchfort, Rocky Point, Morell	396	Epekwitk
Acadia	NS	Yarmouth	996	Malikiaq
Annapolis Valley	NS	Cambridge Station	219	Kampalijek
Aroostook Band of Micmac	ME	Presque Isle	920	Ulustuk
Bear River First Nation	NS	Bear River	272	L’setkuk
Buctouche First Nation	NB	Buctouche	80	Puktusk
Burnt Church First Nation	NB	Burnt Church 14	1,488	Eskinuopitijk
Chapel Island First Nation	NS	Chapel Island	576	Potlotek
Eel Ground First Nation	NB	Eel Ground	844	Natuaqanek
Eel River Bar First Nation	NB	Eel River Bar	589	Oqpíkanjik
Elsipogtog First Nation	NB	Big Cove	3000+	Lsipuktuk
Eskasoni First Nation	NS	Eskasoni	5,000	Eskisoqnik
Fort Folly First Nation	NB	Dorchester	105	Amlamkuk Kwesawék
Micmacs of Gesgapegiag	QC	Maria	1,174	Keskapekiaq
Nation Micmac de Gespeg	QC	Fontenelle	490	Kespék
Glooscap First Nation	NS	Hantsport	?	Pesikitk
Indian Island First Nation	NB	Indian Island	145	L’nui Menikuk
Lennox Island First Nation	PE	Lennox Island	700	L’nui Mnikuk
Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation	QC	Listiguj	3,166	Listikujk
Membertou First Nation	NS	Sydney	1,051	Maupeltuk
Metepenagiag Míkmaq Nation	NB	Red Bank	527	Metepnákiaq
Miawpukek First Nation	NL	Conne River	2,366	Miawpukwek
Millbrook First Nation	NS	Truro	1000	Wékopekwitk
Pabineau First Nation	NB	Pabineau	214	Kékwapskuk
Paq’tnkek First Nation	NS	Afton	489	Paqtnkek
Pictou Landing First Nation	NS	Trenton	547	Puksaqtéknékatik
Indian Brook First Nation	NS	Shubenacadie	2,120	Sipekníkatik
Wagmatcook First Nation	NS	Wagmatcook	623	Waqmitkuk
Waycobah First Nation	NS	Whycocomagh	900	Wékoqmáq

Demographics

Year	Population	Verification
1500	4.500	Estimation
1600	3.000	Estimation
1700	2.000	Estimation
1750	3.000	Estimation
1800	3.100	Estimation
1900	4.000	Census
1940	5.000	Census
1960	6.000	Census
1972	9.800	Census
2000	20.000	Estimation

The pre-contact population is estimated at 35,000. In 1616 Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3.000. But he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses in the last century. Smallpox, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population, which was probably at its lowest in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again and seemed to be stable during the 19th century. In the 20th century the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5 %.

Notable Mi'kmaq

★ Kevin Cloud

★ Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, activist (1946-1976)

★ Henri Membertou, kji-saqmaw/puowin (c.1525-1611)

★ Rita Joe, poet

★ Donald Marshall Jr.

★ Chad Denny, Lewiston MAINEiacs defenceman and Atlanta Thrashers draftee

Other

The spiritual capital of the Mi'kmaq nation is the gathering place of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, Mniku or Chapel Island in the Bras d'Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island. The island also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Mi'kmaq. The island has been declared a historic site. (CBC)
The name "Quebec" is thought to derive from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "strait," referring to the narrow channel of the Saint Lawrence River near the city site.

See also

★ Treaty of Watertown

★ Bob Newman - radio host and Mi'kmaq

★ Elsipogtog First Nation

★ Canada Post French Settlement Series

Notes

1. The Nova Scotia Museum's Mi'kmaq Portraits database
2. Our Language

References

★ Bock, Philip K. 1978. "Micmac." Pp. 109-122. In''Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast''. Bruce G. Trigger, editor. Smithsonian Institution Press.

★ Davis, Stephen A. 1998. ''Mi'kmaq: Peoples of the Maritimes'', Nimbus Publishing.

★ Paul, Daniel N. 2000. ''We Were Not the Savages: A Mi'kmaq Perspective on the Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations'', Fernwood Pub.

★ Prins, Harald E. L. 1996. ''The Mi'kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology),'' Wadsworth.

★ Rita Joe, Lesley Choyce. 2005. ''The Mi'kmaq Anthology'', Nimbus Publishing (CN), 2005, ISBN 1-895900-04-2

★ Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. 2004. ''The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Mi'kmaq History 1500-1950'', Nimbus Pub Ltd, 2004, ISBN 0-921054-83-1

★ Wicken, William C. 2002. ''Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior'', University of Toronto Press.

Documentary film

★ Our Lives in Our Hands (Mi'kmaq basketmakers and potato diggers in northern Maine, 1986) [1]

External links

★ First Nations Profiles

★ Micmac History

★ Mi'kmaq History Month

★ Mi'kmaq Portraits Collection

★ Mi'kmaq Dictionary Online

★ The Micmac of Megumaagee