The Algonquian language family is the largest in North America and includes numerous indigenous languages stretching from the easternmost shores of Mi’kma’ki to the territories of the Blackfoot and Plains Cree in Alberta to as far south as the state of South Carolina in the United States. Within the Algoniquian language family there are more than 40 languages.

Porcupine quill embroidery and basket-weaving.

Wela’lin means “thank you”. You could respond in Mi’kmaq with “weliaq”.

“Kwitn,” a Mi’kmaw birch bark canoe is a sturdy and agile watercraft.

The Mi’kmaq have used a system of hieroglyphics, particularly for religious texts, for centuries. Whether the hieroglyphics representations (i.e. memory aids), but words that can be used to write unique phrases. The first recording of hieroglyphics is in 1677 by a Jesuit priest named Chrestien Le Clercq in the Mi’kmaw community of Nipisiguit along the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. The Mi’kmaw system of hieroglyphics was used to translate numerous religious texts and these texts along the syllabaries can still be found in families and in some museum collections. The use of the hieroglyphics, however, does not change the fact that Mi’kmaw culture is primarily an oral culture in that histories, stories, and everyday life were anchored in conveying knowledge through speaking rather than writing.

A “Leister” is an English term for a traditional fishing spear. All three answers are traditional tools of a Mi’kmaw hunter.

Robert Johnson Jr., MD, received the award for his achievements at Dalhousie University and is the first Mi’kmaw physician.

“Kesalul” means “I love you”. You might say “kesalul aq nin” (and that means I love you too).

The Mi’kmaq referred to themselves as L’nuk, or the people. Settlers who learned the language called them “Mi’kmaq”, or kin-friends. Lentuk means deer.

The aim of Centralization was to relocate the Mi’kmaq to two reserves, Eskasoni and Shubenacadie. Promises were made of new houses and work that were not kept.