Lesson 1: A Brief History of the Mi’Kmaw People
Outcome I1: Students will expected to demonstrate an understanding of who the Mi’kmaq people are, including their connections to the traditional lands called Mi’kma’ki.
Materials:
Link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgnAR-rwsj0
Article – A Brief History of the Mi’kmaw People
Organizer – A Brief History of the Mi’Kmaw People
Procedure:
Ask students about perspectives or points of view. How do we shape our perspective?
Ask students to reflect on how they think we spread around the planet – how did we live where we do? Tell students we will revisit this later in the semester but for now thinking about the different perspectives of how people moved through North America will inform the basics of how the people define themselves.
At this point it is not important that students can name or identify theories but students should at least get to that there are different perspectives. These perspectives help shape our ideas and thoughts on who we are. In Christian or western cultures a biblical answer or scientific answer provide comfort. We are looking for why and how – we want specific answers.
Show the youtube video concerning the Abanaki perspective. How could an explanation such as this be helpful? Do we have any more insight into how they shape their perspective?
Distribute the article A Brief History of the Mi’Kmaw People and review with the class. Ask students to complete the organizer and complete in a think/pair/share. Have a general discussion with the class focusing on the question – Do we have any more insight into the mi’kmaw perspective?
As a formative assessment ask students to reflect on the following comment: How does what you learned today help you understand who the Mi’Kmaw people are?
A Brief History of the Mi’kmaq People
Outcome I1: Students will expected to demonstrate an understanding of who the Mi’kmaq people are, including their connections to the traditional lands called Mi’kma’ki.
The earliest traces of the Mi’kmaq culture have been found at Debert, Nova Scotia, dating back over 10,000 years. But how did they get here? Historians have yet to come to a conclusion regarding how North America was peopled, however, based on anthropological, genetic, and logistical studies, many scholars and researchers believe that the first people arrived in North America via a bridge between Siberia (Northern Russian Federation) and Alaska.
During the last ice age, extensive glaciation locked up much of the Earth's water as ice, causing sea levels to drop by as much as 100 meters. Some of the exposed land linked Siberia with North America, forming a land bridge known as Beringia. This period, (Wisconsin Ice Age) was characterized by two significant advances of ice, separated by a relatively ice-free interval. This ice free interval ended approximately 25,000 years ago, and it is generally believed that migrations to North America occurred during the second period of heavy glaciation. Beringia was submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the ice age, approximately 14,000 years ago.
Following the disappearance of the great ice sheets of the Wisconsonian Ice Age, the forefathers of the Mi'kmaq moved into the area now known as Atlantic Canada and made it their home, living in harmony with nature. Here they lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place in a regular pattern as they followed the cycle of the seasons in search of food and resources. As they did so, they developed their own distinct customs and language, and eventually became the culture known as the Mi'kmaq. Eventually they created the seven districts, which became the Mi'kmaw nation.
European contact was made first through Portuguese, Basque, English and French fishermen who came to the New World. A casual trade in furs gave the Mi'kmaq metal axes and knives. The French, who in the 1600s claimed Nova Scotia as part of Acadia, used trade and Roman Catholic missionaries to develop relations with the Mi'kmaq, who became their allies against the British until the 1760s.
Relations with outsiders grew more complex when the Mi’kmaw began converting to Catholicism. This process occurred over a seventy-year period, beginning with the conversion of Grand Chief Membertou in 1610. The Mi’kmaw nation's first treaty with a European nation was an agreement with the Vatican and the Holy See. This treaty was recorded on a wampum belt, whose symbols represented the incorporation of Mi’kmaw spirituality within the context of Roman Catholicism.
But the growing rivalry between France and England meant increasing trouble for the Mi'kmaw population, which in 1746 was devastated by epidemic disease brought by European ships. The lowest point in Mi'kmaw-British relations was the 1749 scalp bounty that the governor placed on Mi'kmaq rebels.
Finally, after a long period of conflict as the British battled the French and their Mi’kmaw allies, the Mi’kmaq eventually established a series of treaties with the British Crown that gave Britain an alliance with the Wabanaki Confederacy and security across the region. It was during this time that the eight-pointed star design was created; seven of the points represented the seven districts of Mi'kma'ki, with the eighth point standing for Great Britain and the Crown.
Muin'iskw (Jean) and Crowfeather (Dean). “Mi’kmaq Spirit.” http://www.muiniskw.org/pgIssues0.htm> (13 July 2007).
Applied History Research Group. “ Peopling North America: Population Movements & Migration.” http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/migrations/ ( 27 August 2007).
Graphic Organizer: A Brief History of the Mi`kmaq
Date:
Title of Article:
Key Vocabulary / Important Information / Summary Sentences
Picture(s) I see in my head as I read
(Describe illustrate) / Connections to Things I Already Know / Questions I have or others may have
Lesson 2: The Seven Districts
Outcomes:
Materials:
Atlas – one per group of 4
Blank maps of Nova Scotia – one per group of 4
PPT – The Seven Districts
Formative Assessment – The Seven Districts
Procedures:
Begin with the PowerPoint journey. The first slide asks students to think about a journey of a person from the southern tip of Nova Scotia to the top of Cape Breton. Ask students how they would get there and what they would pass through.
Review the remainder of the Poweroint which guides students through the journey as if they are living as a mi’kmaw person before contact.
The last slide asks students to break into groups of 4. Each group is given the task of dividing the maritimes into what they think would be logical divisions. They will be directed to use 7since the Mi’kmaw before contact used 7.
Ask students to share their divisions.
Review the actual divisions by giving students the map of the districts as well as the English divisions.
Go back to the PPT where students are guided through the meaning of the districts, why they were labeled in the way they were and why it was important to get permission/discuss the movement through districts.
The students will be asked to complete a formative assessment as part of their last task.
A. The Mi’kmaq: Who We AreThe Traditional Seven Districts
Traditional Name / Geographic Location / DescriptionSikniktewaq / Cumberland and NB. Counties of West Moreland, St. Johns, Kent and Queens / Drainage area
Sikepne'katik / Halifax, Lunenburg, Kings, Hants, and Colchester / Ground Nut Place/ Wild potato Area
Eski'kewaq / Guysborough to Halifax Counties / Skin Dressers territory
Epekwitk aqq Piktuk / Pictou and PEI / Lying in the water and where explosions are made
Kespukwitk / Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, and Annapolis / Last Flow
Unama'kik / Cape Breton Island / Land of the fog
Kespe’kewaq / Richibucto and Gaspe / The Last Land
Points to Remember:
· Messages had to get from one end of the territory to the other
· Geography determined their organization
· Travel from one district to another was done with respect and consideration of the impact of their travel on the people and the wildlife
Specific Curriculum OutcomeStudents will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of who the Mi’kmaq people are, including their connections to the traditional lands called Mi’kma’ki.
Formative Assessment:
1. On a blank map of the Maritimes label the original seven districts. Include the Mi’Kmaw name and the English translation.
2. Referring to your Seven Districts Map, describe a journey from “Land Ends” to “Land of Fog”. What areas are you passing through? What does the area look like? What kinds of things do you see? On your way back you are sent by elders from “The Skin Dressers Territory” to “Last Land”. What do you see? How many territories did you pass through? Which areas are you passing through? Why do you think it would be important to pass through each territory considering the people and wildlife you find with the upmost respect?
Lesson 3: Reserves in Nova Scotia
Materials:
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCs_SAOQUwg
· Article – Reserves in Nova Scotia
· Organizer – Reserves in Nova Scotia
· Formative Assessment – Reserves in Nova Scotia
Lesson:
Ask students to think about what they have heard about native peoples and reserves. Assist students in the brainstorming process – what would it be like to live on a reserve?
Show students http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCs_SAOQUwg . How does this begin to shatter or change their image.
Distribute copies of Reserves in NS article. Read and review with students. Complete the organizer
Complete the formative assessment and have them pass in at the end of the class.
Graphic Organizer: Mi’kmaw Reserves in Nova Scotia
As you read the article “Mi’kmaw Reserves in Nova Scotia” write down ideas of land ownership, why the seven districts were not fixed, lifestyle before the Indian Act and life after the Indian Act was imposed.
Mi’kmaw Land OwnershipWhy did the seven districts NOT have fixed boundaries?
Life BEFORE the Indian Act
Life AFTER the Indian Act (Changes that resulted from the Indian Act)
A. The Mi’Kmaq: Who We Are - Mi’Kmaq Communities
Specific Curriculum Outcome
Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of who the Mi’kmaq people are, including their connections to the traditional lands called Mi’kma’ki.
Formative Assessment:
Referring to the “Mi’Kmaq Reserves Map” below. Complete the following questions.
1. List at least three pieces of evidence that show you that the districts were decided by geography. Use your other map if you need.
Helpful hints:
- Look at the English names of the seven districts map – first handout you received- what do you notice about the names? What do they describe?
2. If I lived in Restigouche and wanted to go to Chapel Island what seems to be the route that will let me visit the most communities? Which districts will I pass through? What do I have to remember while I travel?
3. Were the boundaries of the seven districts written in stone? What could change them?