Mi’kmaq History

The Mi’kmaq people are an indigenous people of Eastern Canada. Their original territory included the areas now known as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and P.E.I., and also extended to southern Quebec and the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the northeastern U.S., and to Newfoundland.

The Mi’kmaw called themselves L’nu’k, which means “the people.” The word Mi’kmaq comes from a word from the Mi’kmaq language, nikmaq, meaning “my kin-friends or allies.” They moved around a great deal in search of favourable grounds for fishing and hunting, and their movements included long voyages by sea canoe.

Ktaqamkuk, or “land across the water,” is the Mi’kmaw word for Newfoundland. According to Newfoundland Mi’kmaq oral tradition, the Mi’kmaq considered Newfoundland their territory, and moved and hunted here long before European contact, when resources were scarce in their main homelands.

Eventually, many Mi’kmaq stayed in Newfoundland for extended periods. Later, due mainly to the encroachment of European settlers on mainland hunting grounds, more and more Mi’kmaq families chose to take up permanent residency on the Island. Though documentation noting their presence is sparse, there is historical evidence that Mi’kmaq were living in Newfoundland by the 16th century.

Traditionally, the Mi’kmaq depended on the plentiful supply of marine foods that were available along the Atlantic and Gulf of St. Lawrence coasts, and in harbours and rivers. They harvested migrating walrus, seals, ducks, eels, salmon and other fish, shellfish, and seabird eggs.

They supplemented these marine resources with a variety of foods from the land. The interior of Newfoundland, for example, provided the Mi’kmaw people with berries, rabbits, partridge, caribou, beaver, and bear. Using temporary base camps for hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering, Mi’kmaq would avail of the natural resources Newfoundland offered, bringing a season’s take home to their winter communities.

During the 16th an 17th centuries, the Mi’kmaq acted as middlemen in the exchange of European goods for furs. The exchange network ranged from the Strait of Belle Isle to the coasts of Massachusetts. Through the goods and knowledge that trade brought, the Mi’kmaq began to adopt new items into their lifestyle, such as guns, kettles, knives, glass beads, tea, sugar, and brandy. They adopted some European practices, and were introduced to the Catholic religion.

By the 19th century, the Mi’kmaq had established permanent communities at St. George’s Bay and Conne River in Newfoundland, where they built wooden cabins and churches. They worked as guides for explorers such as William Epps Cormack, who crossed the interior of the Island in xxxx, and made their living as trappers, mail carriers, and basket sellers.

Maintaining a traditional way of life became more difficult, however, once the Newfoundland railroad was complete. It brought a flood of caribou hunters to the interior of the Island, which caused a drastic depletion of caribou populations, and opened the interior to logging. By 1945, most Mi’kmaq in Newfoundland were relying mainly on low-waged seasonal logging work to supplement their hunting, fishing, and berry-gathering, in order to sustain their communities. Assimilation and loss of traditional knowledge and language slowly continued until the 1960s and 1970s, which brought renewed organization and interest in documenting, preserving, and revitalizing Mi’kmaq traditions, culture, and history.