People of the Red Earth: the Mi'kmaq

The Mi'kmaq are an Algonquian-speaking people historically part of the Wabanaki Confederacy and closely allied with such tribes as the Abenaki, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot.  Their traditional range is throughout the Maritime Provinces of Canada including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Labrador, Newfoundland and Quebec as well as portions of Maine in the United States.  Sources differ as to the exact meaning and origin of the term, Mi'kmaq.  Like most human beings, the Mi'kmaq refer to themselves as the people.  The word Mi'kmaq may mean people of the red earth, or it may be a reference to an ancestral medicine man who taught the people his knowledge.

Like many coastal tribes, the Mi'kmaq relied not only on hunting, and were noted experts in hunting moose, a dangerous animal.  They also relied on coastal fishing.  The hostile climate and terrain of their hunting range didn't allow for much in the way of agricultural production, so hunting and gathering were necessary to their survival.  The Mi'kmaq were among the earliest Native peoples contacted by Europeans, including John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and many other French, Spanish, Basque and English fishermen.  These frequently made landfall to dry the herring that they took home to Europe.  While on land, they had opportunities to trade with the Mi'kmaq and from time to time document aspects of their customs.  As with other Eastern tribes, the Mi'kmaq also became valuable partners in the fur trade.

The traditional Mi'kmaq homeland was divided into seven districts, each ruled by a chief in consultation with a council made up of band chiefs and other leaders.  A Grand Council, made up of district leaders assisted by elders, wampum readers and others with specialized knowledge cared for matters affecting the tribe as a whole.  The district chiefs rotated the title of Grand Chief.  The people lived in peaked spruce shelters known as wigwams.  While most continued to follow traditional practices, many Mi'kmaq converted to Catholicism in the 1600's.  The Mi'kmaq and the four other tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy began to coalesce about the time of King Phillip's War, 1675, no doubt seeing the wisdom of mutual aid and protection in dealing with Settlers.  The Mi'kmaq remained staunchly pro-French during the various colonial wars in North American, even after the French lost control of Nova Scotia in 1713.  The Mi'kmaq steadfastly refused to concede any land to the British.  During the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1758-60, the Mi'kmaqs sided with the Acadians in resisting the British.

During this time, the Mi'kmaq were willing to sign treaties of peace and friendship with Great Britain, but not to cede any land.  The Mi'kmaq were at first tolerant of English settlers in the home range, but became less so after immigrants from New England, known as Planters, and later Loyalists after the Revolution began flocking into their territory.  Because of British incursion on their territory, Mi'kmaq warriors were willing to assist the Americans and some even served as auxiliaries to the Continental Army.  After the Revolution, as more Settlers arrived on traditional Mi'kmaq range, called Mi'kmaqi by the Natives, they were pressured to send their children to school and assimilate to White ways of life.   The Mi'kmaq may have been the inventors of ice hockey, being credited with the first ice hockey sticks in what became Canada's national sport.  Sticks made by Mi'kmaq craftsmen became the standard in the sport.  Mi'kmaq have served honorably in the Canadian armed forces during both World Wars.

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