Mi'kmaq

This article is about the people. For other uses, see Mi'kmaq (disambiguation).

Mi'kmaq
Lnu
Grand Council Flag of the Mi'kmaq Nation.[1][2] Although the flag is meant to be displayed hanging vertically as shown here, it is quite commonly flown horizontally, with the star near the upper hoist.
A Miꞌkmaw father and child at Tufts Cove, Nova Scotia, around 1871
Total population
66,748 registered members (2023)
168,480 claimed Mi'kmaq ancestry (2016)[3]
Regions with significant populations
(Mi'kma'ki, Dawnland)
Canada, United States
Newfoundland and Labrador28,282
Nova Scotia18,814
New Brunswick9,025
Quebec7,655
Maine1,489
Prince Edward Island1,483
Languages
English, Miꞌkmaq, French
Religion
Native American religion, Christianity, others
Related ethnic groups
Other Algonquian peoples
Especially Abenaki, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot
PersonLnu
PeopleLnu'k (Mi'kmaq)
LanguageMi'kmawi'simk
CountryMi'kma'ki
     Wabanaki

The Mi'kmaq (also Mi'gmaq, Lnu, Mi'kmaw or Mi'gmaw; English: /ˈmɪɡmɑː/ MIG-mah; Miꞌkmaq: [miːɡmaɣ] ⓘ, and formerly Micmac)[4][5][6] are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland,[7] and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi).

There are 66,748 Mi'kmaq people in the region as of 2023 (including 25,182 members in the more recently formed Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland[8][9]). According to the Canadian 2021 census, 9,245 people claim to speak Mi'kmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language.[10] Once written in Mi'kmaw hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

The Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, 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 Mi'kmaq maintain that they did not cede or give up their land title or other rights through these Peace and Friendship Treaties.[11] The landmark 1999 Supreme Court of Canada 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."[12]

The Mi'kmaw 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 Mi'kmaq Nation, resulting from the Mi'kmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum.[13] This collaborative agreement, which includes all the First Nations within the province of Nova Scotia, was the first in Canadian history.[13]

Historically, the Santé Mawiómi, or Grand Council, which was made up of chiefs of the district councils of Mi'kma'ki, was the traditional senior level of government for the Mi'kmaw people. The 1876 Indian Act 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.[14][15]

  1. ^ "Mi'kmaq Grand Council Flag".
  2. ^ "Various Mi'kmaq flags and their meanings".
  3. ^ "Aboriginal Ancestry Responses (73)". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada. October 25, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  4. ^ "Native Languages of the Americas: Mi'kmaq Language (Mi'kmaw, Micmac, Mikmaq, Mikmak)". Native-Languages.org. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  5. ^ Lockerby, Earle (2004). "Ancient Miꞌkmaq Customs: A Shaman's Revelations" (PDF). The Canadian Journal of Native Studies. 24 (2): 403–423. see page 418, note 2
  6. ^ Sock, S., & Paul-Gould, S. (2011). Best Practices and Challenges in Miꞌkmaq and Maliseet/Wolastoqi Language Immersion Programs.
  7. ^ Gallant, David Joseph (2008). "Mi'kmaq". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Programs and Services". Qalipu.ca.
  9. ^ "Thousands of Qalipu Mi'kmaq applicants rejected again", CBC, Dec 08, 2017.
  10. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population – Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  11. ^ Bernard, Tim; Rosenmeier, Leah Morine; Farrell, Sharon L., eds. (2015). Mi'kmawe'l Tan Teli-kina'muemk Teaching About the Mi'kmaq (PDF). The Mi'kmawey Debert Cultural Centre. p. 106.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference CBC_Bunsale_20201018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TripartiteForum1997 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Julien, Donald M. (October 2007). Kekina'muek (learning)Learning about the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia (PDF). Eastern Woodland Print Communication. p. 11. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  15. ^ "Mi'kmaq Historical Overview". Cape Breton University. Retrieved February 21, 2020.