#Mi'Kmaw

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Council for the Town of Lunenburg has decided to move forward with the renaming of "Cornwallis Street" to "Queen Street" more than a year and a half after the town approved recommendations from its anti-racism special committee. This comes several months after a councillor was removed as deputy mayor after he was critical of the decision to go with Queen Street. A motion to rescind the name change to Queen was put before council by Coun. Ed Halverson — the same councillor who was removed from deputy mayor duties — on Tuesday and resulted in a tied 3-3 vote, leaving the motion dead on the floor. The street was originally named after Edward Cornwallis, who the town described as a "controversial former governor of Nova Scotia" who "issued a 'scalping proclamation' bounty in 1749 to anyone who killed Mi'kmaw men, women, and children."

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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[boygirldykething]

i'm not really good at posts but i'd like to leave this in memory of Mi'kmaw elder and author Daniel Paul who passed away last month.

his book We Were Not the Savages is an incredibly detailed, researched, and impactful book on Mi'kmaq history, pre- and post-european contact and to the present day, including his personal experiences at the Schubenacadie Indian day school. i really don't have the words to express how important he and this book have been but it's really something to check out.

[thehealingsystem]

ughhh pretty nitpicky complaint maybe but I hate how some words in native american languages are simplified for the benefit of white people to the point where the original spelling(s) is rarely ever even mentioned. like my tribe, for example- the mi'kmaq, is about 98% of the time spelt micmac, its simplified english form and demonstrates to english speakers how it's (roughly) pronounced. which is usually fine, but like. last year there was a few small lessons we had about the wabanaki nations, and it was only ever spelt micmac. it's original spelling is never brought up ever. and it's a dying language, yknow? it's really not that difficult to say "mi'kmaq, pronounced and alternatively spelt micmac in english," but I don't even think the teacher even knew that. not even asking for it's singular form (mi'kmaw) just the actual title of what we're called in our language. like it's just one word. it's not asking them to learn a whole other language

[shadowmedusa]

Very butch for a day in the studio (ft dumbass fuckboy face)

[laikacore]

i finally found the thing i've been looking for

searching for, for years

i finally found it on an island out east

and there it tasted just as i'd imagined it would

rich chocolate, delicious and sweet

where i couldn't smell the difference in the air

but i could feel it on my skin

where i found myself in that rich red dirt

where it fades to soft amber sand

where it fades to an endless horizon of steely blue

and when i found it again here

at home, in the gray world

of tall glass buildings and honking cars

and the gasoline i can smell

it doesn't quite taste the same here, no

synthetic sugar, not quite right

not like it did on that island out east

with the rolling hills and the deep green trees

and the goats and the cows and the potato fields

ah, that's home, that's where i'm from

if not me then my family

and my family's family

l'nuk, on the mi'kma'ki

prince edward island/epekwitk by laika wallace

[celestialcass]

[wolfsskull]

anyone have recommendations of mi'kmaq artists/bloggers/etc.?

[twistingtreeancestry]

Day of Commemoration for the Acadian Expulsion

Image Description: A black and white portrait of the Ovillier Guillot and Eve Vice family, circa the early-to-mid 1900s. Top (children), left to right: Eunice Guillot 1922-Dec; Joseph Guillot 1926-2014; Lenus Guillot 1923-1960; Beulah Guillot 1918-1991. Bottom (parents), left to right: Ovillier Guillot 1897-1967; Eve Vice 1897-1950.

The two daughters wear similar dark, button-down dresses with white doll collars. The mother wears a dark, button-down open-collar blouse or dress. The two sons and the father wear white dress shirts covered by fastened suit jackets complete with ties.

Image by [[TBD]].

— — — — — — — — —

Pictured above is my 3rd great-uncle Ovillier Guillot and his family. He is the 4th great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Guillot.

Today is the Day of Commemoration for the Acadian Expulsion.

While I have quite a few direct ancestors who lived in Nova Scotia and ended up in France at the time of the expulsion, there's only one family unit that I have been able to confirm was expelled.

That was the family of my 8th great-grandfather Jean Baptiste Guillot, born in Acadia in 1720 with his body given to the Atlantic Ocean in 1758. His family was expelled from Cobequid, Acadia, Nova Scotia to France during the brutal "Great Expulsion" by the British, who wanted to squelch any potential threats from the Acadians and the Mi'kmaq during the French and Indian War.

His son (my 7th great-grandfather) Charles Olivier Miquel Guillot was only 13 in 1758 when they had to take the long, arduous 75-day journey to France. His father Jean, along with 4 of his brothers, never made it off of the ship.

Charles grew up in France where he married and had 3 children of his own. They left France in 1785 to board one of the seven ships paid for by Spain, Le Saint-Rémi, to take them to Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.

Many members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (I believe predominately it was the Mi'kmaq militia), in addition to other affiliated Indigenous tribes and Acadians, who rallied a resistance were slaughtered or expelled. They refused to swear loyalty to the British crown and surrender to British colonists, refused to convert from Catholicism to Protestantism, and refused to allow themselves to be displaced without a fight. Numerous battles took place to stop the deportation with wins and losses across the board.

While no one has one lineage, I was raised as a proud Cajun despite having often felt ashamed of being Cajun for various reasons (like my accent). I even tried my hardest over twelve years to banish anything that could link me to my roots, not knowing the history behind a part of my ethnicity and culture.

Digging into my ancestry has been a wild ride, and there were many things found within my lineages that were not honorable in any way, but this chunk of my history? This has made me proud to be Cajun again.

I wish I had respected it more when I was still able to be immersed in it. I wish I had asked my pawpaw to tell me more stories. I wish I had kept up with Cajun French (AKA Louisiana French). I wish I hadn't let my cultural heritage fall through my fingers.

Many blessings to those who fought and lost their lives against the British colonists in an attempt to secure the freedom of not only themselves but of future generations to come.

[Disclaimer: I am still only beginning to educate myself about this event and am utilizing my current understanding of how events unfolded and who was involved. I apologize in advance for any misconceptions or misinformation regarding the historical accuracy of my comments.]

[tzifron]

A Mi’kmaw fisher who has fought for fishing rights for over 20 years decided to become a commercial fisher and follow Department of Fisheries and Oceans regulations – but that hasn’t prevented his traps from disappearing or his boat from being damaged.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Apple users can now text their friends with a keyboard tailored for Mi'kmaw dialects and one fluent speaker thinks that will help the next generation of language learners.

The Mi'kmaw language keyboard, which rolled out last month as part of Apple software updates, was a partnership between Apple and Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey, a language education authority for 12 communities in Nova Scotia.

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Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[boygirldykething]

As the Kluskap legends suggest, we are given life in this phenomenal world to learn the lessons we are meant to learn. We are the Stars who Sing. We Sing with our Light. The essential and energetic nature of reality is central to Mi'kmaw cosmology. Our primary purpose is not to be male or female and to dominate the earth. Our primary purpose is to be, to learn, and then to offer our teachings to others and go back into the Spirit World. Our children are our Song Lines given in love. The spiritual nature of childhood teaches us as adults to rekindle the fires of learning, wonder, and respect for life. Our children are our medicine.

Mi'kmaq Puoinaq Two Spirit Medicine: Sexuality and Gender Variance, Spirituality and Culture by Dr. Joseph Randolph Bowers

[phonaesthemes]

On a warm, clear day in February, Brenda Germain picks up a large hand drill and asks her students to gather around.

Drill in hand, she shows the children how to cut through the thick ice covering Chaleur Bay, on Quebec's Gaspé coast.

"Pase'g mgumi — the ice is this thick," her colleague and aunt, Joyce Germain, tells the students as they kneel over the  hole, hoping to catch some smelt, or kaqpesaw.

The class outing is being held entirely in Mi'kmaw — a language that Brenda Germain says she "didn't speak a word" of, just a decade earlier.

"I spent 35 years of my life thinking, 'ah man, I missed the boat,'" she said.

But her life — and her teaching career — took a sharp turn in 2018, when she switched roles in the classroom. Brenda Germain enrolled as a student in the Mi'kmaw adult immersion program, offered by the Elawsimgewei Gina'muo'guom Adult Education Centre in Listuguj, Que.

In addition to the classes, "just from coming out on the land with [Miss] Joyce every day has taught me" the language, she said.

"It's super important to tell people: no matter what age you are, you can start somewhere."

[shadowmedusa]

Very butch for a day in the studio (ft dumbass fuckboy face)

[kitsuneheartreviews]

Picture book: "Grampy's Chair" by Rebecca Thomas (2024-09-17)

This one hit home a dang good bit. My grandfather also had his special chair. A cozy La-Z-Boy, which I didn't realize was so well-made until years later, when I went to buy one, myself. It was in my grandpa's house from my earliest memories, until the house was sold off after his passing.

And that's what happens here...mostly.

Grampy, My Love, and Chair share many memories. Newborn cuddles, food spills, sick days, and final sick days. But after Grampy passes, Chair isn't sold, but stored away. One day, My Love brings it home, fixes it up, and gives it a second home to make cozy and full of love.

My Love, like the author, is First Nations. It doesn't come up in the story, but is instead present in the small detail of her earrings, which display the Mi'kmaw star.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

[eeldritchblast]

I was having a hard time vibing with Juile so I scrapped her and made a brand new aasimar character who I'm getting into a lot easier!

Sekewa’t (hey/they): Paladin of Lathander