The Wolastoqiyik,
(, also known as the Maliseet or Malecite () are an
Algonquian-speaking
First Nation of the
Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the
Indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
of the
Wolastoq (
Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory extends across the current borders of
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 ...
and
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
in Canada, and parts of
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
in the United States.
The
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, based on the Meduxnekeag River in the Maine portion of their historical homeland, are—since 19 July 1776—the first foreign treaty allies with the United States of America. They are a
federally recognized tribe
A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...
of Wolastoqey people. Today Wolastoqey people have also migrated to other parts of the world. The Wolastoqiyik have occupied areas of forest, river and coastal areas within their 20,000,000-acre, 200-mile-wide, and 600-mile-long homeland in the Saint John River watershed.
Name
The people call themselves ''Wəlastəkwewiyik'' and ''Wolastoqiyik.
''Wəlastəkw'' means "bright river" or "shining river" ("wəl-" = good, "-as-" shining, "-təkw" = river; "-iyik" = people of). Wəlastəkwiyik therefore simply means "People of the Bright River" in their native language. The Wolastoqiyik have long been associated with the Saint John River, from which they draw their name. Their territory still extends as far as the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...
. Their lands and resources are bounded on the east by the
Miꞌkmaq people, on the west by the
Penobscot, and on the south by the
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy (Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'', Plural: ''Peskotomuhkatiyik'') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American/First Nations in Canada, First Nations people who live in northea ...
, who also still speak related
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( ; also Algonkian) are a family of Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from ...
.
''Malesse'jik'' was a
Miꞌkmaq
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 ...
word believed to mean "He speaks slowly," or differently, and was term that Miꞌkmaq people used to describe people from other nations. The meaning of the word today is unknown but it is commonly mistranslated to "he speaks badly, lazy, or broken". This term is the
exonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
by which the Miꞌkmaq people referred to this group when speaking to early Europeans. The French met the Miꞌkmaq people before the Wəlastəkwewiyik, and transliterated ''Malesse'jik'' to ''Malécite'', not understanding that it was not their name. The later English colonists anglicized this term as Maliseet.
Beginning in 1758, the terms "Marichites" in French and in English "Maricheets" increased in use.
Wolastoqey nations
*
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, United States
**
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (Metaksonekiyak Wolastoqewiyik)
*
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
**
Kingsclear First Nation (Bilijk Wəlastəkwewiyik)
[Girard, Camil, and Carl Brisson. Essay. In Alliances Et traités Avec Les Peuples Autochtones Du Québec: L'histoire De La Première Nation Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk: La Nation Malécite Du Saint-Laurent, 148. Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 2021.]
**
Madawaska Maliseet First Nation (Matowesekok Wəlastəkwewiyik)
**
Oromocto First Nation (Welamoktuk)
**
St. Mary's First Nation (Sitansisk Wolastoqiyik)
**
Tobique First Nation (Wolastoqiyik Neqotkuk)
**
Woodstock First Nation (Wetstak)
*
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada
**
Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk (Viger) First Nation (Wahsipekuk)
History
17th century
At the time of European encounter, the Wəlastəkwewiyik were living in walled villages and practicing horticulture (corn, beans, squash and tobacco). In addition to cultivating and growing crops, the women gathered and processed fruits, berries, nuts and natural produce. The men contributed by fishing and hunting, and the women cooked these finds. Written accounts in the early 17th century, such as those of
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...
and
Marc Lescarbot, Marc LesCarbot, refer to a large Wolastoqey village at the mouth of the Saint John River. Later in the century, sources indicate their headquarters had shifted upriver to
''Meductic'', on the middle reaches of the Saint John River.
The French explorers were the first to establish a
fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
with the Wəlastəkwewiyik, which became important in their territory. Some European goods were desired because they were useful to Wəlastəkwewiyik subsistence and culture. The French Jesuits also established missions, where some Wəlastəkwewiyik
converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. After years of colonialism, many learned the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
. The French called them ''Malécite'', a transliteration of the Mi'kmaq name for the people.
Local histories depict many encounters with the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
, five powerful nations based south and east of the Great Lakes, and the
Innu
The Innu/Ilnu ('man, person'), formerly called Montagnais (French for ' mountain people'; ), are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit northeastern Labrador in present-day Newfoundland and Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to ...
located to the north. Contact with European fisher-traders in the early 17th century and with specialized fur traders developed into a stable relationship which lasted for nearly 100 years. Despite
devastating population losses to European infectious diseases, to which they had no
immunity, these Atlantic First Nations held on to their traditional coastal or river locations for hunting, fishing and gathering. They lived along river valleys for trapping.
Colonial wars
As both the French and English increased the number of their settlers in North America, their competition grew for control of the fur trade and physical territory. In addition, wars were carried out that reflected war in Europe. The lucrative eastern fur trade faltered with the general unrest, as French and English hostilities concentrated in the region between Québec and
Port-Royal. Increasing sporadic fighting and raiding also took place on the lower Saint John River.
In this period, Wolastoqey women took over a larger share of the economic burden and began to farm, raising crops which previously had been grown only south of Wolastoqey territory. Men continued to hunt, though with limited success. They became useful allies to the French as support against the English. For a short period during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Wolastoqey warriors were engaged frequently in armed conflict, becoming virtually a military organization.
18th century
With the gradual cessation of hostilities in the first quarter of the 18th century, and with the beaver supply severely diminished, fur trading declined. There was little possibility for the Wolastoqiyik to return to their traditional ways of life. Their style of seasonal, shifting agriculture on the river was curtailed by the encroachment of European settlers. All the while, the land was becoming well known to wealthy elites, who took advantage of the quality hunting and sport-fishing spots scattered throughout the province.
They took all the farmland along the Saint John River, which was previously occupied by the Wolastoqiyik, displacing many Aboriginal people from more than a million and a half acres of prime land.
19th century
The Wolastoqiyik practised some traditional crafts as late as the 19th century, especially building
wigwams and birchbark
canoe
A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles.
In British English, the term ' ...
s. They had made changes during the previous two centuries while acquiring European metal cutting tools and containers, muskets and alcohol, foods and clothing. In making wood, bark or basketry items, or in guiding, trapping and hunting, the Wolastoqiyik identified as engaging in "Indian work".
The Europeans developed
potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
farming in Maine and New Brunswick, which created a new market and demand for Wolastoqey baskets and containers. Other Wolastoqiyik worked in pulp mills, construction, nursing, teaching and business. With evidence that many Wolastoqiyik suffered widespread hunger and were wandering, government officials established the first
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 at The Brothers, Oromocto, Fredericton, Kingsclear, Woodstock, Tobique, Madawaska (pre-1800s), and Cacouna.
Silas Tertius Rand was a linguist missionary who translated some Bible Selections into Wolastoqey which were published in 1863 and then the Gospel of John in 1870.
20th century
The Wolastoqiyik of New Brunswick struggled with problems of unemployment and poverty common to Indigenous people elsewhere in Canada, but they have evolved a sophisticated system of decision making and resource allocation. They support community enterprises in economic development, scouting and sports. Some are successful in middle and higher education and have important trade and professional standings; individuals and families are prominent in Indigenous and women's rights; and others serve in provincial and federal native organizations, in government and in community development. There were 4,659 registered Wolastoqiyik in 1996.
Culture
The customs and
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
of the Wolastoqiyik are very similar to those of the neighbouring
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy (Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'', Plural: ''Peskotomuhkatiyik'') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American/First Nations in Canada, First Nations people who live in northea ...
(''Peskotomuhkati''). They are also close to those of the Algonquian-speaking Miꞌkmaq and Penobscot peoples.
The Wəlastəkwewiyik differed from the Miꞌkmaq by pursuing a partial
agrarian economy. They also overlapped territory with neighbouring peoples. The Wəlastəkwewiyik and Passamaquoddy languages are similar enough that linguists consider them slightly different dialects of the same language. Typically they are not differentiated for study.
In 1907,
Natalie Curtis collected and published two traditional Wolastoqey songs: a dance song and a love song.
[
]
As transcribed by Curtis, the love song demonstrates a meter cycle of seven bars and switches between major and minor tonality.
[
]
Many other songs were recorded by anthropologist William H. Mechling, whose wax cylinder recordings of Wolastoqey songs are held by the
Canadian Museum of History
The Canadian Museum of History () is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of Canada, as well as support related res ...
.
["Jeremy Dutcher's Innovative 'Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa' Is Really About the Future"]
''Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'', April 16, 2018. Many of these songs were lost to the community, as the pressures to assimilate into mainstream Canadian culture led the Wolastoqiyik to stop passing their songs on to youth; in the 2010s, however, Wolastoqew musician
Jeremy Dutcher undertook a project of listening to the wax cylinder recordings and reviving the songs.
[ His album '' Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa'' was released in 2018, and won the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.
]
Ethnobotany
The Wolastoqiyik use the balsam fir tree ('' Abies balsamea'') in many ways. Its juice is a laxative, its pitch is medical,[Speck, Frank G. and R.W. Dexter, 1952, Utilization of Animals and Plants by the Malecite Indians of New Brunswick, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 42, nos. 1-7, page 6.] and an infusion of its bark, sometimes mixed spruce and tamarack bark, can treat gonorrhea. They have used the fir's needles and branches as pillows and bedding, the roots as thread, and its pitch to waterproof seams in canoes.[
]
Current situation
Today, in New Brunswick, there are approximately 7,700 Wolastoqiyik with status in the Madawaska, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, Saint Mary's and Oromocto 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 ...
. There are also 1700 in the Houlton Band in Maine, and 1200 in the in Quebec. The Brothers is a reserve made up of two islands in the Kennebecasis River; they are uninhabited but available for hunting and fishing.
About 650 native speakers of Wolastoqey remain, and about 500 of Passamaquoddy, living on both sides of the border between New Brunswick and Maine. Most are older, although some young people have begun studying and preserving the language. An active program of scholarship on the Wolastoqey-Passamaquoddy language takes place at the Mi'kmaq - Maliseet Institute at the University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...
, in collaboration with the native speakers. David Francis Sr., a Passamaquoddy elder living in Sipayik, Maine, has been an important resource for the program. The institute has the goal of helping Native American students master their native languages. The linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
Philip LeSourd has done extensive research on the language.
The Houlton Band of Maliseet was invited to take a nonvoting seat in the Maine Legislature
The Maine State Legislature is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. ...
, starting with the 126th Legislature in 2013. Henry John Bear, a treaty rights educator, tribal lawyer, fisherman and forester, was elected by his people to this seat.
There have been centuries of intermarriage between the Wolastoqiyik and European colonists and settlers. Surnames associated with Wolastoqey ancestry include: Denis, Sabattis, Gabriel, Saulis, Atwin, Launière, Athanase, Nicholas, Brière, Bear, Ginnish, Jenniss, Solis, Vaillancourt, Wallace, Paul, Polchies, Tomah, Sappier, Perley, Aubin, Francis, Sacobie, Nash, Meuse. Also included are DeVoe, DesVaux, DeVou, DeVost, DeVot, DeVeau.
The Wolastoqiyik own the Kataskomiq reserve.
Notable Wolastoqiyik
* Gabriel Acquin was the founder of the Reserve created in 1867, which is now part of St. Mary's First Nation.
* Sarah Anala, social worker, awardee of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
* Noel Bear, active during the "Aroostook War" of (1838–39)
* Noël Bernard, Wolastoqew leader; fl. 1781–1801
* Jeremy Dutcher, musician, winner of the 2018 Polaris Music Prize for his album '' Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa''
* Shayne Michael, poet
* Graydon Nicholas was the Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
of 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, from 2009 to 2014. In this Viceregal position he acted as the Queen's representative in the province.
* Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, a Wolastoqew activist, is known for challenging discriminatory provisions of the ''Indian Act
The ''Indian Act'' () is a Canadian Act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still in force with amendments, it is the primary document that defines how t ...
'' in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, which deprived Aboriginal or Indigenous women of their status when they married non-Aboriginals. It imposed a patriarchal idea of descent and identity on peoples who traditionally had matrilineal
Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...
kinship systems, whereby children belonged to the mother's people and took their social status from her family. Nicholas was instrumental in bringing the case before the United Nations Human Rights Commission and lobbying for the 1985 legislation which reinstated some rights of First Nation women and their children in Canada via Bill C31 (1985). Retaining Aboriginal status for future generations is still an issue for the Wolastoqiyik and all Aboriginal groups. Nicholas was appointed to the Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...
on September 21, 2005
* Peter Lewis Paul was a Wolastoqew oral historian (1902–1989) who lived on the Woodstock Reserve (N.B.) on the Saint John River. He shared information with numerous academic linguists, ethnohistorians, and anthropologists. The recipient of many honours, he was awarded a Centennial Medal in 1969, received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of New Brunswick, and the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
in 1987.[Karl V. Teeter, ed. 1993. "In Memoriam Peter Lewis Paul 1902-1989". Canadian Ethnology Service, ''Mercury Series Paper 126.'' Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization]
* David Slagger represented the Wolastoqey people to the Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via ...
See also
*Algonquian peoples
The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the East ...
References
Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):
Image:The_Mi'kmaq.png, Miꞌkmaq
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 ...
Image:Wohngebiet_Maliseet.png, Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy (Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'', Plural: ''Peskotomuhkatiyik'') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American/First Nations in Canada, First Nations people who live in northea ...
Image:Wohngebiet_Oestlicheabenaki.png, Eastern Abenaki ( Penobscot, Kennebec, Arosaguntacook, Pigwacket/Pequawket)
Image:Wohngebiet_Westlicheabenaki.png, Western Abenaki (Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Sokoki, Pennacook)
External links
Maliseet language and culture links
*https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/11/archives/indians-to-open-school-in-maine-us-funds-aid-experimental-center.html.-from state schools to job corps to tribal recognition. The history of wabanaki micmac maliseet education included a discussion of wabanaki tribes and land issues . the schools lead to band recognition in Maine I.e job corps or related programs in Maine
Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Institute
, University of New Brunswick
Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal
*
{{authority control
Algonquian peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands
Native American history of Maine
Wabanaki Confederacy
Native American tribes in Maine
First Nations in Atlantic Canada
First Nations in Quebec
Ethnic groups in New Brunswick
North Maine Woods
Algonquian ethnonyms