Indigenous peoples of Prince Edward Island

The Indigenous peoples of Prince Edward Island are the inhabitants of the Canadian maritime province of Prince Edward Island whose descendants lived there before the arrival of European settlers. The Canadian government considers Indigenous peoples to be members of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. Métis are mixed-race descendants of First Nations people and Europeans, while the Inuit are Indigenous residents of the northernmost regions of North America. In the 2021 Canadian census, 3,385 residents of Prince Edward Island reported an Indigenous identity, the smallest population of the country's thirteen provinces or territories. The primary identity was the Mi'kmaq, a First Nations people who accounted for about 60 percent of the island's Indigenous population.

Demographics

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province with a total area of about 3,517 square miles (5,660 square kilometers). It is the fourth smallest by population with 179,301 inhabitants as of 2024. The island sits in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, east of New Brunswick and north of Nova Scotia. The French named the island Île St-Jean in the early eighteenth century. When France surrendered its North American territories to the British after the French and Indian War (1754–1763), Île St-Jean became St. John's Island. In 1799, it was renamed Prince Edward Island after the son of King George III. Prince Edward Island was originally considered part of Nova Scotia when the British confederated its North American colonies in 1867 to form the Dominion of Canada. Six years later, the island entered the confederation and became a province in its own right.

The terrain of Prince Edward Island is a distinctive reddish-brown color, a feature resulting from a high concentration of iron in the rocks and soil. The island is about 139 miles long and 37 miles wide at its largest point. The island's highest elevation is about 466 feet (142 meters) at a point in its hilly central region. Winter low temperatures in January and February average about 11 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius), while summer highs in July and August average 74 degrees (23 degrees Celsius). The island's largest city is Charlottetown with a 2021 population of 38,809. The 2021 Canadian census, the latest available source for national statistics on the Indigenous population, listed 2,160 people as claiming First Nations status, 840 Métis, 180 Inuit, and 80 reporting other Indigenous identities. About 37 percent of the Prince Edward Island's Indigenous population lived in Charlottetown in 2021.

Background

Prince Edward Island was carved out by receding glaciers near the end of the last ice age more than ten thousand years ago. At that time, the island was connected to the mainland by a narrow plain running through what is now the Northumberland Strait. Signs of human habitation in the region have been found from about ten thousand years ago. About five thousand years ago, ocean levels rose and the island was separated from the mainland. While archaeologists believe the region's native peoples traveled to the island for seasonal hunting and fishing, the first definitive traces of human settlements date back to about two thousand years ago. These first residents of Prince Edward Island were the Mi'kmaq who named the island Epekwitk, meaning "resting on the waves." Their legends tell of the being Sebanees, who sailed with his family to the island in a boat of ice carrying the fish and animals necessary for his people's survival.

The first European to land on the island was French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534, but it would not be until 1720 that the French would establish settlements there. The Mi'kmaq of Prince Edward Island and the surrounding regions formed alliances with the French and aided in their exploration, acting as guides and intermediaries with other native peoples. The Mi'kmaq were the first Indigenous North American people to accept Christianity. In 1610, Henri Membertou, a chief from modern-day Nova Scotia, was recorded as the first native person baptized in New France. That same year, the Mi'kmaq signed an agreement with the Vatican making all Mi'kmaq members of the Catholic Church.

The British took control of the island in the mid-eighteenth century and began dividing it up into lots and awarding the land to settlers. In the decades after the American Revolution (1775–1783), English, Irish, and Scottish immigrants began arriving in greater numbers, pushing the Mi'kmaq onto smaller tracts of poor-quality land. Disease and economic hardship greatly diminished their numbers. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq population was estimated to be between 250 and 300. The government established four reserves for the native population, but many Mi'kmaq chose to live elsewhere on the island. The population rebounded in the twentieth century, and the Mi'kmaq became active politically, fighting for their Indigenous rights and asserting claims to what they consider their ancestral lands. The Mi'kmaq maintain that since they never signed any land-surrender treaties with the British or Canadian governments, the entire island remains their land.

Overview

The Mi'kmaq, whose name means "the people" in their native language, are a First Nations group found predominantly in the Atlantic maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and parts of Quebec—a traditional homeland they call Mi'gma'gi. They are also known as the Micmacs, Mi'kmaw, or L'nu. Of the approximately 66,748 registered Mi'kmaq in Canada, 1,056 reside in two reserves on Prince Edward Island. The largest is Lennox Island on the northwestern coast with a 2020 registered population of 450. The Abegweit reserve in Scotchfort was home to 606 registered members. Abegweit gets its name from the European mispronunciation of Epekwitk; the reserve was formed in the 1970s with the consolidation of the Morell, Scotchfort, and Rocky Point reserves.

The Mi'kmaq have traditionally been hunters and fishers, relying on the island's game and fish for their livelihoods. They were ruled by the Mi'kmaq Grand Council consisting of a grand chief, or Kji Sagamaw, and several regional chiefs called Sagamores. The council met on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and discussed issues pertaining to the entire Mi'kmaq nation. The Mi'kmaq language is part of the Algonquian language family and was spoken by an estimated 9,000 in 2021.

Like many native peoples, the Mi'kmaq's traditional spirituality was closely tied to the natural world. They believed in living a balanced life in harmony with the environment. A primary figure in their mythology is the trickster Glooscap, also known as Kluskap. Glooscap was said to be of great size and was one of two primordial twins. His evil brother wanted to make the mountains so high and rivers so crooked that they could not be traveled, so Glooscap was forced to kill his twin. One myth tells of Glooscap creating the seven men and seven women founders of the Mi'kmaq from sparks of flame. Another recalls how he created a great valley in Nova Scotia by using the land as his bed and Prince Edward Island as his pillow. When the Mi'kmaq converted to Christianity, they maintained much of their traditional beliefs, even merging some native customs into their Catholic identity.

Because of their location near the Atlantic Ocean, the Mi'kmaq were the first Indigenous people of Canada to have contact with European settlers. The offspring that resulted from the French settlers who took Mi'kmaq wives were the first of the Canadian Métis peoples. For many years, the mixed-race Métis occupied an uncertain legal ground between Canadians of French and English descent and First Nations people. Since 1982, the Métis have been recognized by the government as Indigenous peoples, but they were not granted the same rights as the First Nations and Inuit. In 2016, 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 other Indigenous peoples.

The Inuit are an Indigenous population of about 155,792 people living in the Arctic regions from Greenland to Siberia. In Canada, their traditional homeland is known as Inuit Nunangat, a region that stretches from Labrador to parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. The Inuit of the Arctic regions continue to rely on traditional hunting and fishing for their livelihoods, with seal, whale, caribou, and fish important parts of their diets. According to the 2021 census, 70,545 people in Canada claimed an Inuit identity. The same figures list 180 Inuit on Prince Edward Island. The Inuit are part of the Eskimo-Aleut language family with the inhabitants of eastern Canada speaking a dialect known as East Inuktitut. In 2009, the University of Prince Edward Island created a program to help Inuit educators in the Canadian territory of Nunavut earn graduate degrees in education. The program is an effort to fill teaching positions in Inuit communities with qualified Indigenous candidates.

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