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114-481: The Mi'kmaq (also Mi'gmaq , Lnu , Mi'kmaw or Mi'gmaw ; English: / ˈ m ɪ ɡ m ɑː / MIG -mah ; Miꞌkmaq : [miːɡmaɣ] , 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 Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Newfoundland , and

228-407: A decimal numeral system . Every multiple-digit number is formed by using one of the first nine numerals as a prefix or a preceding word, as seen in the number for ten, neꞌwtisgaq , a combination of the prefix neꞌwt - (derived from newt ) and the root isgaꞌq , meaning ten (the pattern can be seen in tapuisgaꞌq for 20, nesisgaꞌq for 30, etc.) While 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 all use

342-595: A degree of endangerment level of vulnerable under the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger scale. A level of vulnerable means the language may not be used consistently and instead the dominant language English is opted for. This also means it is still somewhat commonly spoken by younger generations or children of Mi'kmaq people. A lack of fluent Mi'kmaq speakers is due to the cultural genocide performed by

456-730: A "moderate livelihood fishery" with a ceremony at the Saulnierville wharf, the first lobster fishery regulated by Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. On September 18, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs declared a province-wide state of emergency in response to threats by commercial and non-indigenous fishers, including some that had cut the Mi'kmaw lobster traps. On September 25, the Sipekne'katik fishery released its proposed regulations allowing

570-521: A Mi'kmaw 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

684-484: 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

798-618: A classifying system of animate versus inanimate words . The animacy system in general is common, but the specifics of Miꞌkmaq's system differ even from closely related Algic languages. For instance, in Wampanoag, the word for 'Sun', cone , is inanimate, but the word for 'Earth', ahkee , is animate, a fact used by some scholars to claim that the Wampanoag people were aware of the Earth's rotation around an unmoving Sun; however, in Miꞌkmaq, both

912-467: A definitely accepted system, which could be read by anyone acquainted with wampum language, irrespective of what the spoken language is. Records and treaties are kept in this manner, and individuals could write letters to one another in this way. Wampum belts were used as a memory aid in oral tradition, and were sometimes used as badges of office or as ceremonial devices in Indigenous cultures, such as

1026-520: A factory in Passaic, New Jersey, which manufactured wampum into the early 20th century. Eventually the primary source of wampum was that manufactured by colonists, a market glutted by the Dutch. As William James Sidis wrote in his 1935 history: The weaving of wampum belts is a sort of writing by means of belts of colored beads, in which the various designs of beads denoted different ideas according to

1140-493: A greeting. The French initially referred to the Mi'kmaq 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 Tarrantines , which appears to have a French basis. Various explanations exist for the rise of the term Mi'kmaq . The Mi'kmaw Resource Guide says that "Mi'kmaq" means "the family". The Anishinaabe refer to

1254-472: A historical nature, as well as designing new belts or jewelry based on their own concepts. The term wampum is a shortening of wampumpeag , which is derived from the Massachusett or Narragansett word meaning "white strings of shell beads". The Proto-Algonquian reconstructed form is thought to be (wa·p-a·py-aki) , "white strings". The term wampum (or wampumpeag ) initially referred only to

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1368-420: A hole before stringing them. Wooden pump drills with quartz drill bits and steatite weights were used to drill the shells. The unfinished beads would be strung together and rolled on a grinding stone with water and sand until they were smooth. The beads would be strung or woven on deer hide thongs, sinew, milkweed bast, or basswood fibers. The process to make wampum was labor-intensive with stone tools. Only

1482-557: 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'kmaq and Maliseet 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

1596-664: A member of the Eskasoni First Nation , recorded a cover version of the Beatles song " Blackbird " in the language to raise awareness and help in its revitalization efforts. Miꞌkmaq is one of the Algic languages , a family that once spanned from a small portion of California across Central Canada , the Midwestern United States , and the northeastern coast of North America. Within this family, Miꞌkmaq

1710-680: A method of recording and an aid in narrating, Iroquois warriors with exceptional skills were provided training in interpreting the wampum belts. As the Keepers of the Central Fire, the Onondaga Nation was also trusted with the task of keeping all wampum records. Wampum is still used in the ceremony of raising up a new chief and in the Iroquois Thanksgiving ceremonies. Wampum was central to the giving of names, in which

1824-628: 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 Mi'kmaq First Nations and Premium Brands Holdings Corporation announced their $ 1 billion purchase of Clearwater Seafoods, which

1938-530: 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". 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'kmaq fishers and non-Mi'kmaq commercial fishers. Immediately after

2052-513: A proclamation setting the rate at six white or three black to one penny ; this proclamation also applied in Delaware. The black shells were rarer than the white shells and so were worth more, which led people to dye the white and dilute the value of black shells. In the writings of Robert Beverley Jr. of Virginia Colony about tribes in Virginia in 1705, he described peak as referring to

2166-410: A schwa preceding the cluster; for instance, gtaꞌn is pronounced /ək.taːn/ while mgumi is pronounced /əm.ku.mi/ . On the other hand, word-final clusters, such as in asige tg ('instigate') are pronounced over a single syllable: compare the pronunciation of asigetg , /a.si.ketk/ , with mestꞌg ('taste'), /mes.tək/ . Miꞌkmaq uses free word order, based on emphasis rather than

2280-402: A single word containing a prefix, the tens between 60 and 90 use the numeral as a preceding word to a separate word meaning ten, teꞌsisgaꞌq : for instance, 60 is written as asꞌgom teꞌsisgaꞌq . Numbers between the tens are stated by multiple-word phrases, beginning with the ten-based root number, such as neꞌwtisgaq , followed by jel (meaning 'and' or 'also') and ending with one of

2394-433: A traditionally fixed order of subjects, objects and verbs. For instance, the sentence "I saw a moose standing right there on the hill" could be stated " sapmiꞌk ala nemaqtꞌk na tett tia'm kaqamit " (I saw him/there/on the hill/right-there/ a moose /he was standing) or " sapmiꞌk ala tia'm nemaqtꞌk na tett kaqamit " (I saw him/there/ a moose /on the hill/right-there/he was standing); the latter sentence puts emphasis on

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2508-458: A way to bind peace between tribes. Among the Iroquois, every chief and every clan mother has a certain string of wampum that serves as their certificate of office. When they pass on or are removed from their station, the string will then pass on to the new leader. Runners carrying messages during colonial times would present the wampum showing that they had the authority to carry the message. As

2622-423: Is also given in the table below; this orthography is more complex than the table suggests, particularly as far as vowel quantity and quality is concerned, employing various letters such as ⟨ a ⟩, ⟨ à ⟩, ⟨ɛ⟩ , ⟨ɛ́⟩ , ⟨ɯ⟩ , ⟨ɯ́⟩ , ⟨ɹ̇⟩ , ⟨ɹ́⟩ , ⟨ơ⟩ , ⟨ u ⟩, etc. Miꞌkmaq uses

2736-435: Is largely free and dependent on context. Mi'kmaq verbs are also marked for tense. Nouns in Mi'kmaq are either animate or inanimate . This is a common feature among Algonquian languages . The verbs change depending on the noun's animacy. For example: Nemitu – 'I see (inanimate noun)' Nemi'k – 'I see (animate noun)' Miꞌkmaq is written using a number of Latin alphabets based on ones devised by missionaries in

2850-704: 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. The landmark 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Marshall upheld

2964-566: Is often not counted) are Epekwitk aq Piktuk (Epegwitg aq Pigtug), Eskikewa'kik (Esge'gewa'gi), Kespek (Gespe'gewa'gi) , Kespukwitk (Gespugwitg), Siknikt (Signigtewa'gi), Sipekni'katik (Sugapune'gati), Ktaqmkuk (Gtaqamg) , and Unama'kik (Unama'gi) . The orthography between parentheses is the Listuguj orthography used in the Gespe'gewa'gi area. In 1997, the Mi'kmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum

3078-530: Is part of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup spoken largely along the Atlantic coast. It is closely related to several extant languages, such as Malecite-Passamaquoddy , Massachusett and Munsee as well as extinct languages like Abenaki and Unami . Beyond having a similar language background and sharing close geographic proximity, the Miꞌkmaq notably held an alliance with four other tribes within

3192-800: Is still in use, the Mi'kmaq consider the spelling "Micmac" to be "tainted" by colonialism. The "q" ending is used in the plural form of the noun, and Mi'kmaw is used as singular of Mi'kmaq . It is also used as an adjective, for example, "the Miꞌkmaw nation". The Mi'kmaq prefer to use one of the three current Miꞌkmaq orthographies when writing the language. Spellings used by Mi'kmaq people include Mi'kmaq (singular Mi'kmaw ) in Prince Edward Island ( Epekw'itk ), Nova Scotia ( Mi'kma'ki-Unama'ki ), and Newfoundland ( K'taqamkuk ); Miigmaq ( Miigmao ) in New Brunswick ( Sipekni'katik ); Mi'gmaq by

3306-528: Is the first such collaborative agreement in Canadian history including all the First Nations within an entire province. On September 17, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the treaty rights of Mi'kmaw Donald Marshall Jr. 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

3420-622: Is traditionally divided into seven districts. Prior to the imposition of the Indian Act , 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. The eight Mi'kmaw districts (including Ktaqmkuk which

3534-440: Is written as taꞌpu pituimtlnaqn . The exceptions to that pattern are the numbers 100 and 1,000, which are simply the roots gasgꞌptnnaqan and pituimtlnaqn , respectively. Similarly to digits between the tens, the connecting word jel is used between hundreds and tens, or thousands and hundreds: for example, the number 3,452 is written as siꞌst pituimtlnaqn jel neꞌw gasgꞌptnnaqan jel naꞌnisgaq jel taꞌpu . On top of

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3648-449: The Bay of Chaleur 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 , early in 2020,

3762-593: 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 North Atlantic hard-shelled clam. In New York, wampum beads have been discovered dating before 1510. Before European contact, strings of wampum were used for storytelling, ceremonial gifts, and recording important treaties and historical events, such as

3876-631: 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). According to the Canadian 2021 census, 9,245 people claim to speak Mi'kmaq , an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaw hieroglyphic writing , it

3990-517: The Gaspé Peninsula , was inspired by marks made by a young Mi'kmaq using charcoal on birchbark. Leclercq created what is now known as Mi'kmaq hieroglyphs to teach Catholic prayers and hymns to the people in their own form of language. Christian Kauder was a missionary in Mi'kma'ki from 1856 to 1871. He included samples of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, such as the Holy Mary Rosary prayer and

4104-518: The Iroquois . For example, the 1820 New Monthly Magazine reports on a speech given by chief Tecumseh in which he vehemently gesticulated to a belt as he pointed out treaties made 20 years earlier and battles fought since then. Wampum strings may be presented as a formal affirmation of cooperation or friendship between groups, or as an invitation to a meeting. In his study on the origins of money, anthropologist David Graeber placed wampum as it

4218-503: The Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site , petroglyphs of "life-ways of the Mi'kmaq", 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'kmaq, who have continuously inhabited the area since prehistoric times. The petroglyphs date from the late prehistoric period through

4332-502: The Lord's Prayer , 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 utilized some form of writing, but Le Clerq indicated that the hieroglyphs were "formed" by him. French Jesuit missionaries adopted their use to teach Catholic prayers and religion to

4446-611: The Two Row Wampum Treaty and the Hiawatha Belt . Wampum was also used by the northeastern Indigenous tribes as a means of exchange, strung together in lengths for convenience. The first colonists understood it as a currency and adopted it as such in trading with them. Eventually, the colonists applied their technologies to more efficiently produce wampum, which caused inflation and ultimately its obsolescence as currency. Wampum artists continue to weave belts of

4560-474: 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

4674-498: The 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty "which promised Indigenous Peoples the right to hunt and fish their lands and establish trade." 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 . This collaborative agreement, which includes all

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4788-551: 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 Treaty of 1752 , 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

4902-497: 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'kmaq 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 resulted in a compensation to Marshall of

5016-476: 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'kmaq lobster fishers from selling their lobster to non-Mi'kmaq. Mi'kmaq fishers say that this does not align with the Marshall decision. In 2019, the government of the Listuguj First Nation in

5130-645: The 19th century. Previously, the language was written in Miꞌkmaq hieroglyphic writing , a script of partially native origin. The Francis-Smith orthography used here was developed in 1974 and was adopted as the official orthography of the Míkmaq Nation in 1980. It is the most widely used orthography and is that used by Nova Scotian Mikmaq and by the Míkmaq Grand Council. It is quite similar to the "Lexicon" orthography, differing from it only in its use of

5244-525: 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'kmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick 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

5358-630: The Americas, they adopted wampum as money to trade with the native peoples of New England and New York. Wampum was legal tender in New England from 1637 to 1661. It continued as currency in New York until 1673 at the rate of eight white or four black wampum equalling one stuiver , meaning that the white had the same value as the copper duit coin. The colonial government in New Jersey issued

5472-512: The Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association, all condemned the violence. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil 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

5586-508: The Canadian government through the introduction of the Canadian Indian residential school system . These schools under the notation of assimilation, forced Indigenous children to reject their cultural identity and language. These schools resulted in a significant number of children physically and mentally abused and without the means to speak their mother tongue. Wagmatcook, Cape Breton, is undergoing significant efforts to revitalize

5700-492: The Canadian model, and attempting to limit the Council's role to spiritual guidance. On August 30, 2010, the Mi'kmaw Nation and the Nova Scotia provincial government reached an historic agreement, affirming that the Mi'kmaw Grand Council was the official consultative authority that engages with the Canadian federal government and the provincial government of Nova Scotia. The Mi'kmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum preceded

5814-766: 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 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 Unama'kik territory. (Later

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5928-483: The Council's role to that of spiritual guidance. In addition to the district councils, the M'ikmaq 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),

6042-399: The DFO issued a temporary license to Burnt Church Mi'kmaq 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)"

6156-600: The Eastern Algonquian language group known as the Wabanaki Confederacy : in short, a history of long-term language contact has existed between Miꞌkmaq and its close linguistic relatives. Miꞌkmaq has many similarities with its fellow Eastern Algonquian languages, including multiple word cognates: for instance, compare the Miꞌkmaq word for 'woman', eꞌpit , to the Maliseet ehpit [æpit] , or

6270-553: The English words caribou and toboggan are borrowings from Miꞌkmaq. The name caribou was probably derived from the Miꞌkmaq word xalibu or Qalipu meaning 'the one who paws'. Marc Lescarbot in his publication in French in 1610 used the term caribou . Silas Tertius Rand translated the Miꞌkmaq word Kaleboo as 'caribou' in his Miꞌkmaq-English dictionary (Rand 1888:98). The aforementioned use of hieroglyphic writing in pre-colonial Miꞌkmaq society shows that Miꞌkmaq

6384-477: 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 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

6498-410: The French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. Gabriel Sylliboy (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

6612-542: 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 , Lnu'k , Lnu'g , or Lnùg ) is the term the Mi'kmaq use for themselves, their autonym , meaning "human being" or "the people". Members of the Mi'kmaq historically referred to themselves as Lnu , but used the term níkmaq (my kin) as

6726-473: The Marshall decision, as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) granted access to Mi'kmaq fishers to the "commercial fishery through communal licences operated by the bands". Macdonald-Laurier Institute 's Ken Coates said that the commercial fishing industry had not suffered because of this. Others disagreed, saying that Canada had never fully implemented the Marshall decision, and that, over

6840-632: The Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous lobster fishers mainly in Digby County and Yarmouth County , Nova Scotia . After Mi'kmaq chiefs declared a state of emergency in October 2020, the federal government appointed Allister Surette as Federal Special Representative to investigate. In the March 2021 report's backgrounder, Surette cited Macdonald-Laurier Institute 's Ken Coates who said that Mik'maq communities had benefitted from improvements resulting from

6954-454: The Mi'kmaq 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 "Mi'kmaq" for the people, using it in his 1676 memoir. Marion Robertson stated this in

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7068-474: The Mi'kmaq children were memorizing prayers utilizing the counting of marks, but did not claim to have incorporated any of this system into the hieroglyphs he created. It is likely that this pre-Le Clerq writing system was part of a writing tradition by the Mi'kmaq similar to that observed in 1651 amongst the Eastern Abenaki of Maine. Today, it is written mainly using letters of the Latin alphabet . At

7182-442: 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'kmaq fishers' access to several wharves. One such protest took place on September 15 at Saulnierville and Weymouth wharves. On September 17, Sipekne'katik launched

7296-511: The Mi'kmaq. 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 in North America north of Mexico. By the 1980s, the spelling of the ethnonym Mi'kmaq , which is preferred by the Mi'kmaq people, was widely adopted by scholarly publications and the media. It replaced the previous spelling Micmac . Although this older spelling

7410-719: The Miꞌkmaq language, due to the Acadians and Miꞌkmaq living together prior to the Expulsion of the Acadians and the British colonization of Acadia ; in French-speaking areas, traces of Miꞌkmaq can also be found largely in geographical names within regions historically that were occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, including Quebec and several towns in Nova Scotia such as Antigonish and Shubenacadie . Moreover, several Miꞌkmaq words have made their way into colonizing languages:

7524-542: 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 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 and attempting to limit

7638-595: The backseat of the car speaking Miꞌkmaq and they're excited", said the Miꞌkmaq language instructor at Lnu Siꞌpuk Kinaꞌmuokuom Miꞌkmaq school in Indian Brook . Miꞌkmaq language courses are mandatory from grades Primary to 12 at the school, which only opened six years ago. Evening classes are starting as of Oct. 2013. Also as of 2013, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia 's Miꞌkmaq Burial Grounds Research and Restoration Association has about forty students in its Miꞌkmaq language revitalization classes, and Miꞌkmaq greetings are becoming more common in public places. In 2021, Emma Stevens,

7752-491: The basic structure, numbers in Miꞌkmaq must agree with the animacy of whatever they are counting: for instance, when speaking of two people, taꞌpusijik is used, as opposed to the number used for two days, taꞌpugnaꞌq . The suffix -ijik to denote the counting of animate subjects and the suffix -gnaꞌq to denote the counting of inanimate subjects are common, but animacy-marking suffixes are somewhat fluid and vary by number and dialect. The Mi'kmaq language possesses

7866-468: The book Red Earth: Tales of the Mi'kmaq (1960s), published by the Nova Scotia Museum, Robertson cites Professor Ganong, who suggested that "Mi'kmaq" was derived from the Mi'kmaq word megamingo (earth). Marc Lescarbot 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

7980-504: The coastal tribes had sufficient access to the basic shells to make wampum. These factors increased its scarcity and consequent value among the European traders. The introduction of European metal tools revolutionized the production of wampum, and by the mid-seventeenth century, production numbered in the tens of millions of beads. Dutch colonists discovered the importance of wampum as a means of exchange between tribes, and they began mass-producing it in workshops. John Campbell established such

8094-443: The continuation of names and the histories of persons, the wampum was central to establishing and renewing peace between clans and families. When a man representing his respective social unit met another, he would offer one wampum inscribed with mnemonic symbols representing the purpose of the meeting or message. The wampum, thus, facilitated the most essential practices in holding the Iroquois society together. When Europeans came to

8208-490: The dark and white beads are wampi (white and yellowish) and saki (dark). The Lenape name for Long Island is Sewanacky , reflecting its connection to the dark wampum. Wampum beads are typically tubular in shape, often a quarter of an inch long and an eighth of an inch wide. One 17th-century Seneca wampum belt featured beads almost 2.5 inches (65 mm) long. Women artisans traditionally made wampum beads by rounding small pieces of whelk shells, then piercing them with

8322-460: The death of the name's previous holder, or care for the deceased person's family as their own). ... the Iroquoians (Five Nations and Huron alike) shared a very particular constitution: they saw their societies not as a collection of living individuals but as a collection of eternal names, which over the course of times passed from one individual holder to another. Just as the wampum enabled

8436-560: The decades, various levels of government and authorities mishandled and neglected local concerns related to the implementation of the Marshall decision. In September 2020, the Sipekne'katik First Nation developed a fishing plan based on their right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood. They 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. The lobster fishery they initiated

8550-400: The development of an Algonquian–Basque pidgin with a strong Miꞌkmaq imprint, which was recorded to be still in use in the early 18th century. A 2012 book, by the Miꞌkmaq linguist Bernie Francis and anthropologist Trudy Sable, The Language of this Land, Miꞌkmaꞌki, "examines the relationship between Miꞌkmaq language and landscape." Wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of

8664-539: The early 18th century. The use of wampum as currency spans back to 1622, when the Dutch implemented it into their trade. After the introduction of wampum into European currency, the European colonists quickly began trying to amass large quantities of this currency, and shifting control of this currency determined which power would have control of the European-Indigenous trade. The wampum's significance to

8778-532: The evening of October 13, several hundred non-Indigenous fishers and their supporters raided two storage facilities in New Edinburgh and Middle West Pubnico that were being used by Mi'kmaw 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

8892-457: 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'kmaq lobster fishery. By mid-2000, about 1,400 commercial fishermen stated their intention to retire over 5,000 licences. On August 20, 2001,

9006-401: The language. The community created a variety of children's books suited for a range of ages to develop Mi'kmaq language skills as children mature. The use of Mi'kmaq immersion schools in this area also increased the proficiency in the language for children and an improved attachment to their Indigenous identity. The immersion schools allowed children to learn their mother tongue, which increases

9120-501: The large island was organized as a separate district in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador .) According to the 2021 census, 9,245 people identified as speakers of the Mi'kmaq language. 4,910 of which said it was their mother tongue , and 2,595 reported it to be their most often spoken language at home. The Mi'kmaq language was written using Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing using a hieroglyphic system created in 1677 by French Catholic missionary Chrestien Le Clerq. Le Clerq noted that

9234-518: 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 launched their own moderate livelihood fishery in

9348-490: The lobsters taken in the raids were removed as they represented "bad fishing practices" on the part of the Mi'kmaq, 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 Mi'kmaw. Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde , federal Fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan , and Colin Sproul, president of

9462-431: The moderate livelihood fishery. 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

9576-403: The moose by placing tia'm ('moose') earlier in the utterance. Miꞌkmaq, as a polysynthetic language , has verbs which usually contain the sentence's subject and object: for instance, the aforementioned sapmiꞌk translates to 'I saw him'. While it is thus difficult to classify Miꞌkmaq under traditional word order categories such as SVO or SOV, a more fixed aspect in the language comes in

9690-425: The morphology of its verbs. Certain areas of internal morphology of verbs in Miꞌkmaq have regular placement: for instance, when the aspect of a verb is included, it appears as the first prefix, while the negative marker always appears directly after the verb root. An example for both of these instances can be seen in the Miꞌkmaq verb kisipawnatqaꞌtiꞌw ( kisi-paw-natq-aꞌti-w ), translated as 'they cannot get out':

9804-448: The names and titles of deceased persons were passed on to others. Deceased individuals of high office are quickly replaced, and a wampum inscribed with the name of the deceased is laid on the shoulders of the successor, who may shake it off and reject the transfer of name. The reception of a name may also transfer personal history and previous obligations of the deceased (e.g., the successor of a person killed in war may be obligated to avenge

9918-496: The neck. On October 15, the Mi'kmaq 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 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

10032-438: The nine numerals: for instance, the number 28 is constructed as tapuisgaꞌq jel ugumuljin , or literally 'twenty and eight'. For numbers beyond 99, Miꞌkmaq uses a pattern similar to that of 60 to 99, with numeral words preceding separate roots that identify higher numbers (such as gasgꞌptnnaqan , meaning 'hundred', or pituimtlnaqn meaning 'thousand'); for instance, 300 is written as siꞌst gasgꞌptnnaqan , while 2,000

10146-540: The nineteenth century. Jerry Lonecloud (1854 – 1930, Mi'kmaq) is considered the "ethnographer of the Mi'kmaq 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 , who was working in

10260-534: The number of fluent speakers while still obtaining the dominant language. Community member educators also participated in a program to obtain a Certificate in Aboriginal Literacy Education that increased their fluency in the language. Cape Breton University 's Unamaꞌki College specializes "in Miꞌkmaq history, culture and education". As of 2013, "it has some 250 aboriginal students". "Parents come to me and say they hear their children in

10374-412: 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 , and a woman was grabbed by

10488-968: The plosives and affricate are located word-finally, they may be aspirated and appear as [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, kʷʰ, tʃʰ] . An example of each kind of pronunciation is given below. Miꞌkmaq distinguishes between long and short vowels and consonants, the latter indicated in Listuguj by doubling the consonant. Beyond expanding in length, long consonants add a schwa when they precede other consonants. For instance, compare /en.mitk/ , written in Listuguj as e n mitg ('flow away') with /en.nə.mit/ , written in Listuguj as e nn mit ('stick into'); or, /tox.tʃu.pi.la.wek/ , written in Listuguj as toqjuꞌpila w eg ('hoist'), with /ke.si.kaw.wek/ , written in Listuguj as gesiga ww eg ('loud'). Listuguj orthography occasionally begins words with consonant clusters, as in gt aꞌn ('ocean') and mg umi ('ice'). However, such clusters are pronounced over separate syllables, with

10602-572: The police had not been doing so. Mi%EA%9E%8Ckmaq language The phonemic inventory of Mi'kmaq is shown below. The sounds of Mi'kmaq can be divided into two groups: obstruents ( /p, t, k, kʷ, t͡ʃ, s, x, xʷ/ ) and sonorants ( /m, n, w, l, j/ and all vowels). The obstruents have a wide variety of pronunciations. When they are located word-initially or next to another obstruent, they are voiceless [p, t, k, kʷ, t͡ʃ, s, x, xʷ] . However, when they are located between sonorants, they are voiced , and appear as [b, d, ɡ, ɡʷ, d͡ʒ, z, ɣ, ɣʷ] . When

10716-585: The posthumous pardon in 2017. Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, John James Grant, McNeil, and the Justice Minister Diana Whalen , 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

10830-456: The prefix kisi marks the verb as being in the completive aspect, whereas the negative marker, w , appears directly after the verb root aꞌti ('the two move'). However, these solidly placed elements of verbs are paired with markers that can appear throughout the word, depending again on emphasis; animacy in particular can appear fluidly throughout verbs. In short, while a few specific aspects of Miꞌkmaq can be predicted, its syntax in general

10944-471: The ruling, Mi'kmaq fishers began to lay lobster traps out of season. Incidents such as the Burnt Church Crisis 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'kmaq lobster traps, then returned to shore and vandalized fishing equipment, as well as three fish plants. This was captured and documented in

11058-536: 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. The Sipekneꞌkatik fishing plan "became a flash point" resulting in violent highly-charged conflict pitting non-Miꞌkmaw lobster fishers in the adjacent coastal communities and Mi'kmaw fishers those carrying out

11172-490: The straight apostrophe ⟨ꞌ⟩ or acute accent ⟨´⟩ instead of the colon ⟨:⟩ to mark vowel length. When the Francis-Smith orthography was first developed, the straight apostrophe (often called a "tick") was the designated symbol for vowel length, but since software applications incorrectly autocorrected the tick to a curly apostrophe, a secondary means of indicating vowel length

11286-512: The tribes that collected it meant that no one individual wanted to amass too much of it, however, European colonists did not care about its cultural significance, but it would always hold value to the indigenous populations. In this way, colonists could trade wampum for goods and sell those goods to Europeans for European currencies, therefore amassing wealth. This is one of the few examples of settler adaptation of indigenous practices for trade with indigenous people and also amongst themselves. However,

11400-731: The varying related words for the color 'white': wapeꞌt in Miꞌkmaq, wapi [wapi] in Maliseet, waapii [wapi] in Munsee, wôbi [wɔ̃bɪ] in Abenaki and wòpe [wɔpe] in Unami. Even outside of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup, there exist similar cognates within the larger Algic family, such as the Cree wāpiskāw [wɔ:bɪska:w] and the Miami-Illinois waapi [wa:pi] . Like many Native American languages, Miꞌkmaq uses

11514-463: The white beads which are made of the inner spiral or columella of the channeled whelk shell Busycotypus canaliculatus or Busycotypus carica . Sewant or suckauhock beads are the black or purple shell beads made from the quahog or poquahock clamshell Mercenaria mercenaria . Sewant or z eewant was the term used for this currency by the New Netherland colonists. Common terms for

11628-552: The white shell bead, valued at 9 pence a yard, and wampom peak as denoting the more expensive dark purple shell bead, at the rate of 1 shilling and 6 pence (18 pence) per yard. He added that these polished shells with drilled holes were made from the cunk ( conch ), while another currency of lesser value called roenoke was fashioned from the cockleshell . Wampum briefly became legal tender in North Carolina in 1710, but its use as common currency died out in New York by

11742-518: 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 Mi'kmaw district of Unamáki or Cape Breton Island . 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 and was baptised. He concluded an alliance with the French Jesuits . The Mi'kmaq, as trading allies of

11856-401: The word for 'Sun', naꞌguꞌset , and the word for 'Earth', ugsꞌtqamu , are animate, and parallel cultural knowledge regarding astronomy cannot be gleaned through the language. Much like grammatical gender , the core concept of animacy is shared across similar languages while the exact connotations animacy has within Miꞌkmaq are unique. Many Acadian French and Chiac words are rooted in

11970-478: 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 suggested in Mi'kmaq Magic and Medicine that the word megumawaach is from megumoowesoo , in reference to magic. Mi'kmaw Country, known as Mi'kma'ki ,

12084-479: Was also planning on launching their own fishery, following a similar plan. After the launch of this fishery, DFO officers continued to seize Mi'kmaq 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

12198-641: Was confirmed in the landmark 1990 R. v. Sparrow Supreme Court case which cited section 35 of the Constitution Act , 1982. 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 [confrontation 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'kmaq fishers have

12312-477: Was established. On August 31, 2010, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a historic agreement with the Mi'kmaw 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 Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. This covers most, if not all, actions these governments might take within that jurisdiction. This

12426-553: 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' Mi'kmaq part owners. Since September 2020, there has been an ongoing lobster fishing dispute between Sipekne'katik First Nation members of

12540-621: Was formally accepted, the acute accent. The barred-i ⟨ɨ⟩ for schwa is sometimes replaced by the more common circumflex-i ⟨î⟩ . In Listuguj orthography, an apostrophe marks long vowels as well as schwa, and the letter ⟨g⟩ is used instead of the letter ⟨k⟩ . The 19th-century Pacifique orthography omits ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩ , using ⟨o⟩ and ⟨i⟩ for these. It also ignores vowel length. The 19th-century orthography of Silas Tertius Rand , using characters from Isaac Pitman 's Phonotypic Alphabet ,

12654-608: Was located "outside of the regulated commercial season in Lobster Fishing Area 34 in St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia —the Kespukwitk (also spelled Gespogoitnag ) district of Mi'kma'ki . 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

12768-510: Was one of the few Native American languages to have a writing system before European contact. Linguist Peter Bakker identified two Basque loanwords in Miꞌkmaq, presumably because of extensive trade contact between Basque sailors and Native Americans in the 16th century. The overall friendly exchanges starting in mid-16th century between the Miꞌkmaqs and the Basque whalers provided the basis for

12882-421: Was the first to use the rights defined in the Treaty of 1752 in his court defence. He lost his case. In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada 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 granted

12996-496: Was used by indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands before European colonization in a category of things with symbolic cultural value that were "mainly used to rearrange relations between people" rather than being used in exchanges of everyday items. The Iroquois used wampum as a person's credentials or a certificate of authority. It was also used for official purposes and religious ceremonies, and as

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