Indigenous peoples of Nova Scotia

The Indigenous peoples of Nova Scotia are the inhabitants of the Canadian Maritime province whose descendants lived in the region before the arrival of European settlers. The Canadian government considers Indigenous peoples to be members of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. The Métis are mixed-race descendants of First Nations people and Europeans, while the Inuit are Indigenous residents of the northernmost regions of North America. According to the 2021 national census, 52,430 inhabitants of Nova Scotia identified as Indigenous. The 1,807,250 Indigenous people in Canada make up about 5 percent of the country's population. The predominant First Nations population of Nova Scotia are the Mi'kmaq, an Algonquian-speaking people whose traditional homeland stretched across much of Canada's Atlantic region. In 2022, the government recognized the Mi'kmaq language as being the first in Nova Scotia.

Demographics

Nova Scotia is the easternmost province in the Canadian Maritimes, a region that also includes Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. According to the 2021 census, Nova Scotia had a population of 969,383, the largest in the Maritimes and the seventh-largest of any of the country's thirteen provinces or territories. The province shares a narrow land border with New Brunswick to the northwest and is separated from Prince Edward Island to the north by the Northumberland Strait. The Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine lie to its west and it is bounded by the North Atlantic to the east and south. Nova Scotia means "New Scotland" in Latin and was named by the British for the Scottish settlers who arrived there in the 1620s. At 21,345 square miles (55,284 square kilometers), it is the second-smallest province or territory in the nation, trailing only Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia, along with Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, was one of Canada's original four provinces when the British formed the Dominion of Canada in 1867.

Less than 30 percent of the province's soil is suitable for farming, which led to Mi'kmaq societies developing a long-standing hunting and fishing culture. The mixing of the cold waters of the Labrador Current and the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream cause the coastal regions to be clouded in fog for much of the summer. The influence of the ocean currents results in a relatively moderate climate for such a northern latitude. Winter low temperatures average about 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 degrees Celsius) while summer highs average about 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius).

The provincial capital of Halifax on the eastern coast is Nova Scotia's largest city with a 2024 population of 463,416. The 2021 Canadian census reported 28,055 people claiming First Nations status, 21,090 as Métis, 1,100 as Inuit, and the remainder claiming other Indigenous identities. About 8,385 Indigenous people lived in Halifax and 3,430 lived in Eskasoni as of 2021.

Background

Researchers believe the first humans in North America crossed over a land bridge from Asia sometime before 13,000 to 15,500 years ago. As groups made their way east, they settled across modern-day Canada, migrating north as the glaciers from the last ice age receded and the climate slowly warmed. The earliest clues of human habitation in Nova Scotia suggest the ancestors of the Mi'kmaq were hunting and fishing in the region about 8600 BCE. Rumors of the first contact with Europeans date as far back as the sixth century CE, when an Irish monk named St. Brendan the Navigator claimed to have journeyed across the Atlantic. Viking seafarers who settled in Newfoundland about the year 1000 may also have sailed as far south as Nova Scotia. No definitive evidence has been found of either of these two groups landing in Nova Scotia; most archaeologists consider the stories to be tall tales or modern speculation at best.

The first recorded journeys of European explorers and fishers to Nova Scotia occurred in the first decades of the sixteenth century, although it was almost another hundred years before the first settlers arrived. In 1605, the French established Port-Royal on the northern coastal region on the Bay of Fundy. Port-Royal was the first permanent European settlement in Canada and the only North American settlement north of Spanish territory in Florida. The French named the region Acadia, a term derived from a paradise-like land in ancient Greece called Arcadia. Two decades later, King James I of England also claimed the land, granting it to Scotsman Sir William Alexander and calling it Nova Scotia. The Scottish settlements were ultimately unsuccessfully while the French settlements continued to grow.

When the French arrived in the region they were befriended by the native Mi'kmaq who acted as guides for early fur traders and taught them how to hunt and fish in the colder northern climate. The Mi'kmaq were receptive to the French missionaries who brought Christianity to the New World. In 1610, the Mi'kmaq became the first Indigenous people of North America to accept the religion. Henri Membertou, a Mi'kmaq chief from Nova Scotia, was recorded as the first person baptized in French territory of North America. That same year, the Mi'kmaq signed an official treaty with the Vatican making the Mi'kmaq subjects of the Catholic Church.

France and Britain fought over the region for much of the seventeenth century with Nova Scotia/Acadia changing hands several times. In 1713, a peace treaty permanently transferred control of the southern region of Nova Scotia to the British. The French retained Cape Breton, which it called Île Royale. The British and their new Mi'kmaq subjects did not coexist peacefully. The British did not trust the Mi'kmaq, believing them to be loyal to the French and questioning their Catholic faith. At the time, the British monarchy was involved in a dispute with the Vatican, and anti-Catholic sentiment was common in England and its colonies. In an attempt to drive the Mi'kmaq from Crown land, the British governor of Nova Scotia in 1749 agreed to pay a bounty to anyone who killed a Mi'kmaq man or child. The bounty law was rescinded a few years later.

France lost all its Canadian territories after its defeat in the French and Indian War (1754–1763), leaving the Mi'kmaq homeland in the hands of the British. While England established an official policy to handle Indigenous rights across the North American frontier, the declaration did not apply to the more populated eastern colonies. As a result, an influx of British settlers and loyalists fleeing the American colonies after the Revolutionary War (1775–1783) pushed the Mi'kmaq from their traditional lands. In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq were further confined on reserves while the white population grew in the province. In many cases, the Canadian government actively discouraged the Mi'kmaq from practicing their native culture and beliefs.

A focus on political activism by Indigenous groups in the mid-to-late twentieth century led the government to issue apologies for its past treatment of its native peoples and sparked an effort to resolve land claim disputes. In 2000, the Canadian government agreed to hear a claim by the thirteen registered Mi'kmaq communities of Nova Scotia. The Mi'kmaq sought the right of self-government as well as hunting, fishing, and land rights. The two sides reached an agreement-in-principle in 2007. However, the terms of this agreement were not finalized by 2020. Tensions had arisen between the Mi'kmaq over fishing rights by 2024.

Overview

The 66,748 Mi'kmaq in Canada reside predominantly in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and parts of Quebec. This traditional homeland was called Mi'gma'gi and was divided into seven districts. Modern-day Nova Scotia encompassed four of those districts and part of a fifth. Gespogoitg consisted of about a third of the southern peninsula; Segepenegatig spanned a portion of the central region; Esgigiag was located on the northern section of the peninsula; and Onamagig contained all of Cape Breton. Epeggoitg was made up of Prince Edward Island, parts of New Brunswick, and Pictou County, Nova Scotia. As of 2021, 18,814 Mi'kmaq were registered in thirteen communities throughout the province. The Eskasoni First Nation on Cape Breton Island was the largest community with a registered population of 4,675. Eskasoni comes from the Mi'kmaq term We'kwistoqnik, or "where the fir trees are plentiful." The second-largest community, the Sipekne'katik First Nation, is located in central Nova Scotia north of Halifax. It had a registered population of 2,811. Sipekne'katik translates as "where the wild potatoes grow."

Mi'kmaq means "the people" in their native language. A member of the Algonquian language, Mi'kmaq was spoken by an estimated 9,245 people in 2021, including approximately 4,384 in Nova Scotia. In July 2022, the Mi'kmaq language was formally recognized as the first language of Nova Scotia. They are also known as the Micmacs, Mi'kmaw, or L'nu. The Mi'kmaq—along with the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot—formed a historical confederacy known as the Wabanaki, or "people of the dawn." The five Wabanaki tribes lived in the eastern Canadian provinces and the northeastern United States. They collaborated on issues of trade, diplomacy, and war before disbanding in the nineteenth century.

The Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia have traditionally followed seasonal hunting and fishing patterns for their livelihood, spending summers by the coastal areas and moving inland to hunt moose and caribou in winter. They were ruled by the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, a governing body formed prior to contact with Europeans. The council consisted of a grand chief, or Kji Sagamaw, and several regional chiefs known as Sagamores. It was headquartered on Cape Breton and discussed issues concerning the entire Mi'kmaq nation. The council still meets in the twenty-first century, although it is concerned primarily with promoting Mi'kmaq language and culture. In Nova Scotia, each of the modern thirteen Mi'kmaq communities has its own band council; these are further consolidated into two province-wide tribal councils. The five communities on Cape Breton, along with the Acadia First Nation on the mainland, form the Union of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq. The remaining communities are members of the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq.

Since the early seventeenth century, the Mi'kmaq have been influenced by their Christian faith, but they have maintained many elements from their traditional beliefs. Like many First Nations people, traditional Mi'kmaq spirituality is closely tied to the natural world. They believe all aspects of nature are interconnected and that humans should live in harmony with the environment. A primary figure in their mythology is the cultural hero known as Glooscap, or Kluskap. Glooscap was a trickster figure and was said to be of great size and capable of extraordinary feats. Legend tells of how he created the seven founding families of the Mi'kmaq by calling forth people from sparks of flame. Another story recounts how he made the great Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia by using the land as his bed and Prince Edward Island as his pillow.

Métis and Inuit

The Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia were among the first Indigenous people of Canada to have contact with European settlers. Marriages between Mi'kmaq women and French settlers produced the first of Canada's Métis peoples. While the Canadian government recognizes all people of First Nations and European ancestry as Métis, the Métis National Council considers only those descended from Indigenous lineages of western Canada to be Métis. The status of Métis was resolved somewhat in 2016 when the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that the Métis and non-status Indians—First Nations people not registered with the government—would receive the same federal protections as First Nations and Inuit peoples. The Eastern Woodland Métis Nation advocates for Métis rights in Nova Scotia.

The 1,100 Inuit in Nova Scotia make up a small part of Canada's total Inuit population of 70,545. The Canadian Inuit homeland is known as Inuit Nunangat, a region that stretches from northern Labrador to parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. The traditional Inuit lifestyle is based on hunting and fishing in the Arctic regions. Some Inuit in the twenty-first century have moved away from their homelands to pursue education and employment opportunities in southern Canada. The Inuit of Nova Scotia mainly reside in the urban centers of the province.

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