Seeking Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq Knowledge, Culture and Empowerment

1. Anthony Davis, Sociology and Anthropology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia L. Jane McMillan,Anthropology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia Kerry Prosper, Paq’tnkek Fish and Wildlife, Paq’tnkek First Nation, Nova Scotia Seeking Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq Knowledge, Culture and Empowerment

2. Building A Research Collaboration • Need to develop thorough and systematic documentation of Mi’kmaq relations with K’at (Marshall decision, entitlement case, passing of elders, cultural revitalization, knowledge transfer); • Formed a research collaboration between university-sited social scientists and the Paq’tnkek First Nation; • Mi’kmaq relations with and use of K’at are documented first, with a focus on gathering traditional ecological knowledge; • Elaborate this to other areas such as salmon, moose, and deer

3. Research Process • A respectful and results rich research design and research process: • Workshop proposal and methods development • Vet research proposal with the Mi’kmaq Research Ethics Board • Initial household survey • Disseminate results • Face-to-face interviews • Map and disseminate results

4. K’at harvesting activities are widely distributed within the St. Georges Bay estuaries and watersheds, including some of the associated river systems, with various degree of fishing intensity depending on locations.

5. Cultural Connections • Social relations and knowledge transfer • Ceremonial relations with K’at • Spiritual offerings • Funeral offerings • Health and well-being • Weaning with broth • Healing with oil and skins • Elder preference – broth • Ceremonial, social, and subsistence uses

6. Netukulimk The term Netukulimk is described as, etymologically, the root “ntuk” refers to “provisions” in the broad sense of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and this would also include good health. Netukulit is the act of gathering these provisions by hunting, fishing, picking plants and berries and cultivation . Interestingly, the closest homophone is nutqw-(insufficiency) rather than pukw-(abundance); thusNetukulimk sounds more like “avoiding not having enough” rather than like obtaining plenty.

7. Netukulit The act of hunting, fishing, gathering for the purpose of providing shelter and good health for the well being of the individual, family and the community through practices informed by the concept of Netukulimk.

8. Ntuksuwinu Ntuksuwinu is the person carrying out the act of providing for the family. The provisions used this would be supplied by hunting. fishing, gathering and providing shelter, clothing and good health for the well being of the family and community.

9. Concept and Content

10. In the beginning... • M`sit No`kama“all my relations” • The interaction of the Mi`kmaq within the cycle of life and death in all of creation • The constant cycle of death nourishing the soil then plants to the animals and back to humankind • Taking life to give life a constant balance of interaction • The making of relations through this process

11. Apuknajit, meaning (the feeding of the spirit) The feeding of Apuknajit is a time of giving thanks to the Spirits during the most difficult time of winter. It is a ritual which is performed on the night of January 31. “When darkness has settled, food is put out into the night preferably on an old stump or near a tree and offered to the Spirits. In days gone by, eel skins and fish heads were offered. An elder would lead the family to a stump, give thanks for surviving thus far and ask for additional assistance until spring.”

12. Cultural Meanings For the Mi’kmaq, entitlement is best understood as meaning ways of living and being, embodied in the notion of Netukulimk.

13. Cultural Dimensions of Mi’kmaq Relations within Netukulimk

14. Netukulimk: A Mi’kmaq Concept of Ecosystem Stewardship • Interconnection of every animate life form and inanimate object; • Cultural responsibility to engage in and with the world in a respectful, caring, responsible and sustaining manner; • A relationship expressing fundamental cultural meanings, values and behaviours that are interwoven with and expressive of ecological sustainability. • Think inter-generationally – at least 7 generations forward

15. Netukulimk Suppressed • Colonizing ideologies and practices that have shaped thinking and understandings within Mi`kmaq culture and communities • Discrediting Medicine and Ceremonial Leaders • Commercial Use (fur trapping, meat provision) replaces stewardship relations and practices • Marginalization and Empoverishment – the Mi’kmaq pushed into the shadows

16. Despiritualization • The spiritual connection of indigenous peoples to all of life was assaulted through contact with of European beliefs; • Diseases, missionization and the fur trade began to change the core values of not only the Mi`kmaq, but of other tribes as well; • “The Algonkians were aware or this change confronted Le Jeune and denounced Christianity as a malefic influence. It is a strange thing, said they, that since prayer has came into our cabins, our former customs are no longer of any service ; yet we shall all die because we give them up . I have seen the time , said one of them, when my dreams were true; when I had seen moose or Beavers in sleep, I would take some. When our soothsayers felt the enemy coming, that came true; there war preparation to receive him. How our dreams and our prophecies are no longer true - prayer has spoiled everything for us….”

17. Consequences of Colonization • Criminalization of livelihood • Criminalization of ceremony and spirituality • Coerced conversion to Christianity • Erosion of cultural practices & kinship ties • Alienation from traditional resources, land and economy • Systemic discrimination • Decline of communalism & rise of individualism • Denial of sovereignty and governance

18. Treaties of Peace and Friendship • Mi’kmaq and British negotiate through the 18th century a series of peace, not land surrender, treaties • Intended to neutralize the Mi’kmaq (allied with the French) in British-French imperial struggles

19. The Marshall Case and Other Basis for ‘Legal’ Entitlements • 1993 - Donald Marshall Jr. and Jane McMillan were charged with illegally fishing Ka’t [ka:taq] in Pomquet Harbour; • 1999 – R. v. Marshall, the Supreme Court of Canada affirms Mi’kmaq treaty entitlement to fish commercially; • Latest in a series of judgements affirming First Nations treaty-based ‘entitlements’ to access natural resources for ceremonial, food, and commercial uses • Yet, among the Mi’kmaq – ‘entitlement’ means much more than narrowly understood economic and legal ‘rights.’

20. Mi’kmaq Rights Threaten Resource Conservation • Response to Treaty Rights is that ‘Natives’ Require Control or will Destroy Resources • Underlying Racism and Neo-Colonialism • Ignorance of Cultural Values and Practices • Federal Government Responsible for Indian Affairs • Provincial Control of Land and Resources

21. Marshall Decision: Canada’s Response • Issued “Aboriginal communal licenses” • Authorized Mi’kmaq participation in the commercial fisheries • CANADA DID NOT implement the rights set out in the 1760-1761 treaties and Marshall

22. What are the rights? • SCC concluded Mi’kmaq have the right to harvest fish and other resources to provide a moderate livelihood • SCC affirmed “the right to continue to provide for their own sustenance and trading for ‘necessities’” • Right to a livelihood distinct from the commercial fishery, “subject to regulation provided such regulation is shown by the Crown to be justified on conservation or other grounds of public importance”

23. Mi’kmaq Livelihood Fishery • Permanent and constitutionally protected - not based on statutory privileges (annually issued licenses) • A communal right subject to Mi’kmaq community control • Limited to obtaining ‘moderate livelihood’ for Mi’kmaq families (not open ended wealth accumulation) • Rights are not transferable, cannot be sold, have no monetary value • DFO has to justify limits to a court of law

24. Constraint and Containment • DFO insists on being the resource manager; • DFO insists on maintaining its privilege allocation management system (e.g., licenses, quotas); • Mi’kmaq and other First Nations shoe-horned into compliance through measures such as compelled fishery agreements attached to ‘benefits’ such as boats, gear, training, licenses, quota.

25. Reconstructing Legitimacy = Netukulimk • Marshall decision enhanced confidence in Mi’kmaq rights • Generative conflicts resulting in cultural production • Increased potential of concept as a strategy of decolonization • Reconciling tensions between individual expressions of collective rights • A framework to answer the vexing question of ‘moderate’ livelihood • Strategic re forging of cultural identities, ethics and values in contemporary contexts • A foundation for enacting sovereignty • A dispute management scheme

26. Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn • ‘We are seeking consensus’ • Implementing Mi’kmaq Aboriginal and treaty rights now and for 7 generations to come • Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative • Community negotiation / consultation processes • Re articulations of Netukulimk as Mi’kmaq law • Netukulimk as expression and exercise of sovereignty • Community based justice process of accountability for hunters and fishers • Untangling the entanglement of entitlement

27. Fishing K’at Today – Antigonish County Estuaries

28. Resource Stewardship, Sustainable Livelihoods & Health Through Netukulimk • Entitlement is embedded in and expressive of culture; thus must be placed in a broader, integrated ecosystem context; • Netukulimk – ecosystem sustainability and stewardship are culturally-rooted ways of being (respect and responsibility) – not simply ‘use’ and ‘use allocations’; • Ecosystem stewardship is the first principal in reconciling resource harvesting with livelihood sustainability.

29. Potentials, Prospects & Possibilities • Mi’kmaq and other FN not empowered to implement independent resource use and management – the principle of Netukulimk; • ‘Divide and Rule’ specific government strategy to ‘manage the natives’ and ‘their rights’; • Netukulimk as Guiding Reference for resource stewardship and harvesting; • Netukulimk as Guiding Reference for cultural revitalization and self-governance

30. The Mi’kmaq Today • Status Mi’kmaq comprise a little over 1.9% of Nova Scotia’s total population (18,145 of 940,397 persons). • The First Nation population is much younger then the general population, a median age of 25.4 as compared with 41.6. • 44% of the Aboriginal identity population in Nova Scotia are under the age of 25 • 8,770 people live on reserve in Nova Scotia

31. There are 13 First Nation communities in Nova Scotia (the largest being Eskasoni and Indian Brook), with over 34 reserve locations across the province. Lands reserved for the Mi’kmaq comprise less than .003% of Nova Scotia (5,528,300 hectares). Vast majority of reserve lands are small parcels situated in rural locations. The unemployment rate for people living on reserve in the 2006 census was 24.6% versus 9.1% for all Nova Scotians.

32. Employment and socio-economic development in these locations is dependant on primary resources. At present over 25% of Mi’kmaq speak their language fluently and at home. It is also the language of teaching in several ‘on reserve’ elementary grade schools in the largest communities.

33. A Proposal for Netukulimk Stewardship • Mi’kmaq assume stewardship control and management of hunting and fishing • 2010 $7+ million in revenue for hunting and fishing licenses • License values – hunting and fishing grossly under-valued Licenses (L) Sold and Harvests (H) for Selected Wildlife, 2005-09

34. Basis for sustainable livelihoods and economic development – harvesting and management; Revenue from license and stewardship fees; Sustainable supply, processing and distribution of traditional foods for Mi’kmaq consumption; Impacts on Mi’kmaq/FN health status, e.g., Type II diabetes epidemic; Sustainable commercial harvests, e.g., deer, with goal of generating revenue and supporting livelihoods through providing high value, organic, free range meat supply (farmer’s markets etc.); and, A key element in cultural, identity and personal revitalization.