''Eskɨnuopitijk'' or ''Esgenoôpetitj'' ( Burnt Church Band or Burnt Church First Nation ) is a

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

band government In Canada, an Indian band (), First Nation band () or simply band, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the ''Indian Act'' (i.e. status Indians or First Nations). Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, Canada, centred south of the community of Lagacéville (approximately 4.5 km) and southwest of the village of Neguac (approximately 7 km) on

Miramichi Bay Miramichi Bay is an estuary located on the west coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Miramichi River. Miramichi Bay is separated into the "inner bay" and the "outer bay", with the division being a line of unin ...

. It covers two

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." ...

s in Northumberland County ( Esgenoôpetitj 14, previously Burnt Church 14, and Tabusintac 9) and two reserves in Gloucester County ( Pokemouche 13) ( Pabineau). The population was 1,715 as of

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. The

call Burnt Church ''Esgenoôpetitj'', which means "a lookout".

History

The land has been inhabited by

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

peoples since at least 1727, when a map by Sieur l'Hermitte recorded it.The History of Neguac and Burnt Church
, retrieved August 30, 2008 William Francis Ganong explained that the current name arose after the 1758 Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758), when British General

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

directed Colonel James Murray to destroy the

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

settlements of Miramichi which included burning the stone church. Burnt Church was included in one of the very earliest Indian reserves set aside by New Brunswick. The reserve was officially established March 5, 1805, with . At the time of Ganong's writing it was "still a favorite Micmac settlement, and much the largest in all New Brunswick". Following the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, several Acadian families returned to lands adjoining the reserve. They were followed by a wave of new

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

settlers. Thus, the Burnt Church name is now used in reference to both the local First Nation, and to the adjoining non-native community. In recent years, Burnt Church First Nation members have fought strenuously for their traditional

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

fishing rights, culminating in the Burnt Church Crisis with the provincial and federal governments as well as local non-native fishermen.The Marshall Decision and the Maritime Canadian Fishery
, retrieved August 30, 2008

Notable people

References

{{First Nations in New Brunswick Communities in Northumberland County, New Brunswick Mi'kmaq governments Mi'kmaq in Canada

History

Notable people

See also

References