The Mi'kmaq Anthology

by Lesley Choyce

  A new approach: community development

  The Mi’kmaqs are attempting to cope with the realities of limited employment opportunities and high rates of unemployment. With little other choice, most continue to rely on welfare payments. For the future they hope for economic policies which will provide local control over economic development on the reserve, development which will build on the best values of traditional Mi’kmaq society, and which will lead to incomes based on jobs. They believe that not only is this possible but it is the best solution.

  Some of these economic policies are presently being put into place. At Eskasoni two different federal government programs were used in 1985 to provide financing for Ulnooweg Development Corporation, a Mi’kmaq controlled development fund intended to help Mi’kmaq-owned businesses become established on reserves. Small manufacturing and service industries have been started on the reserves at Eskasoni, Whycocomagh and Membertou, among others.

  Other initiatives have focused on resource-related industries on or near the reserves. In Cape Breton, jobs have been created in forestry. Members of the Lennox Island band in Prince Edward Island produce commercial peat moss from deposits on the reserve.

  The industries established so far have provided examples and models of possible reserve-centred economic development. This, along with the specialized education and training necessary to start and operate successful businesses, is seen by many Mi’kmaqs as a route to a better economic future.

  Mi’kmaq Socialization Patterns

  Much literature in Aboriginal education has focused on teaching and learning styles, federal jurisdiction and responsibilities, inclusivity in curriculum content, or Aboriginal teacher training programs. Some early psychological studies have identified particular behaviours (shyness, eye contact, timing) of Aboriginal children of which educators should be aware in developing motivational and education strategies. Despite this literature in Aboriginal education, we still know very little about how Aboriginal children are raised or socialized in their homes and communities and even less about how these socialization patterns can help us to understand students’ behaviour in the school or how education can be shaped from these early socialization patterns to more effectively create conducive learning environments for Aboriginal learners.

  This essay is aimed at filling the gap in Aboriginal family and child socialization, in particular in identifying some of the socialization stages, processes, language, cultural patterns and values of the Mi’kmaq* family and in particular of one Mi’kmaq community of eastern Canada. Teachers and administrators who teach Mi’kmaq children very rarely come to know these processes and stages of socialization of the Mi’kmaq child, unless they come from the Mi’kmaw community themselves or have worked for a prolonged period with Mi’kmaq families. Yet, knowing how children are raised, and what values the parents and community have, may help the educators to understand Mi’kmaq students’ attitudes and values, and ultimately help them to bridge the gap between mainstream and Mi’kmaq cultures. In addition, teachers and administrators may adapt the school environment to the children, instead of making children adapt to an alienating school environment. Knowledge of a Mi’kmaq child’s socialization provides principals and counsellors some insight into ways of helping to meet the special needs of Native children.

  While over three hundred Aboriginal communities exist in Canada, and over fifty-two different Aboriginal languages are represented among them, it is safe to say that each community is distinctive in many ways, as is each language community. It is difficult to generalize across Aboriginal communities because of their wide diversity of languages and cultures. But Aboriginal communities do share many values and beliefs, customs and traditions, as well as a socio-historic reality of oppression and historical patriarchal experiences with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada which unites them at a significant level.

  As Aboriginal communities differ, Mi’kmaq communities also differ in many ways. One element is the language base. Many Mi’kmaq communities have by virtue of federal government practices lost their ancestral language, thus affecting many cultural values and awarenesses. Further, the populations and their mobility to off-reserve and urban areas have greatly eroded some of the cultural base of socialization.

  The exact Mi’kmaq population is unknown as many are located off reserve; however, conservative estimates approximate 15,000 who are living from the Newfoundland area to the Gaspé Bay Peninsula. There are twenty-six Mi’kmaq reserves in Mi’kma’ki, the name for the districts that frame Mi’kmaq country. The federal government has designated forty-nine reserves in this territory for Mi’kmaq people, although only twenty-six of those are actually inhabited. Thirteen of those are in the province of Nova Scotia, others are found in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, as well as a large population of approximately two thousand Mi’kmaq in another Mi’kmaq district called “Pastimkewa’ki” in the United States.

  The Mi’kmaq population continues to grow at a rate of about 32 percent each decade. An average family is about six children. The community around one reserve of Eskasoni has about 2,800 people in it of which 65 percent are under the age of twenty-one. There is a large youth population in our community, but with high levels of unemployment, approximately estimated at 85 percent.

  Mi’kmaq knowledge and world view

  To examine Mi’kmaq world view and philosophy one is drawn to the stories and oral tradition which illuminates our knowledge. It is an important place to begin this discussion to contextualize Mi’kmaq socialization and transmission of culture.

  In the beginning when the Mi’kmaq people awoke naked and lost, we asked our Creator how we should live. Our Creator taught us how to hunt and fish and how to cure what we took, how to make clothes from the skins, to cure ourselves from the plants of the earth. Our Creator taught us about the constellations and the stars, to make our way in the darkest of nights, and about the Milky Way which was the path of our spirits into the other world. Our Creator taught us how to pray, to sleep, and to dream and told us to listen to the animals that would speak to us in the night bringing us guidance and support. Our Creator taught us all that was wise and good and then gave us a language, a language in which we might be able to pass on this knowledge to our children so that they could survive and flourish. Our Creator also taught us about the two worlds that were divided by a cloudlike wall that opened and fell at various intervals and the firm and believing of heart would be able to move between those worlds unscathed but the weak and unbelieving would be crushed to atoms.

  The Mi’kmaq language exists as the essential base of knowledge and survival. More than just a knowledge base, Mi’kmaq language reflects a philosophy, a philosophy of how we shall live with one another, a philosophy that reflects how we treat each other, and how all things in the world fit together. We all live in a circle and within the circle we are all dependent on each other and are in a constant relationship with each other.

  A linguistic analysis of the Mi’kmaq language offers a first look at the critical elements of Mi’kmaq thought. Mi’kmaq is a verb-based language which focuses on the processes, cycles and interrelationships of all things. Unlike English and its related languages that are noun-based, Mi’kmaq identifies objects and concepts in terms of their use or their relationship to other things in an active process. Mi’kmaq language resonates the importance of relations and relationships, for these are important to our total survival. Mi’kmaq people believe that because all things are connected, all of us must depend on each other and help each other as a way of life, for that is what it means to be in balance and harmony with earth. If we do not care about each other and about the animals, about the plants and their survival, about the trees and their survival, then we will not survive ourselves for very long. Thus a strong element of the socialization of children is built around family and extended family relationships, sharing and respect.

  All of our global universe will hinge in the next century on ho
w we respect each other. In another language such as English which reflects a noun consciousness and more “tions” than verb words, we begin to see how different the reflection of philosophy is that exists between the Aboriginal perspective and the non-Aboriginal perspective. Mi’kmaq language embodies the verb and relationships to each other; how we are kin to each other is far more important than how much material wealth we might have. How we are with one another, how we treat one another and our life together in community is more important than the degree of education, the wealth, or the kind of job we have. So within the philosophy of language is a notion of how we should relate to one another and how to retain that relationship. The verb-based language provides the consciousness of what it is to be Mi’kmaq and the interdependence of all things. The word “Mi’kmaq” thus refers to the our kinship as allied people.

  This verb consciousness has implications especially to teachers who are introducing concepts to children in the primary grades. Many teachers begin with concrete nouns, having been taught that in the early grades children are at concrete stages and need lots of nouns to help them make connections to their prior knowledge. However, providing Mi’kmaq children with many nouns or things to identify and name and categorize does not match the previous language experiences of Mi’kmaq children whose first language is Mi’kmaq. Rather children are raised in their early years with language that focuses on action, verbs and relationships, and not on nouns. Nor will they have the same categories for reference items, as these are cultural categories and how a noun is categorized will differ across cultures based on the context of its use. The use of events as relational concepts from which experience is derived is a more useful tool among early childhood teachers than nouns and categories.

  Mi’kmaq language has not a gender consciousness. There is no “he” or “she” gender relationship because gender differences only divide the great realm. Most Mi’kmaq speakers who begin school have trouble in school with the “he/she” forms of English and interchange them repeatedly. Many teachers unaware of language differences labour over trying to sort these out among students, who seem to be unaware of the difference usages for “he” and “she,” and “him” and “her.” Over time with adequate models and frequent usage this will be sorted out. However, children need to be made aware that the languages are different and Mi’kmaq language does not recognize this category in their speech. With proper and appropriate English as a Second Language strategies, this element of language transfer can be successfully achieved.

  Within the Mi’kmaq language, the world of relationships are embodied in relative relationships of animacy and inanimacy and inclusion and exclusion. Unlike English language that understands animacy as meaning not living, the Mi’kmaq concept holds that all things have a spirit and a relationship. Sometimes an object develops a very special and close relationship to us and thus develops animacy status. Thus, language holds notions of closeness of relationships and distance, rather than living and non-living status.

  To hold a view that the earth is living or not living yields a distorted concept of our earth that has led the modern world to manipulate the environment around us. Modem society envisions water, earth, sun, moon as inanimate — without life. But in the Mi’kmaq language, animacy and inanimacy refer more to the closeness of relationships of all things. Some things are close to us because we build an alliance with its spirit. In time, as such, it reflects an animate relationship with us. Many of these animate things in our language are closest to us and are things that we need for our survival, like our bow and arrow, our net, thread, spoon, soup, berries, kettle, pail, doll, baby’s bottle, cucumber, pumpkin, etc. It is interesting to note that many of these are the things that are the closest to the way in which we live.

  In the Mi’kmaq language there are so many different categories of animacy and inanimacy that it is difficult to teach since the categories at first do not entirely make “sense.” An example is a finger can be animate and thumb not. Only Native speakers know the differences and will make the right choices for endings. Mi’kmaq people come to know that relationship by being in the culture, knowing the language and listening to those around them. The Native language and our elders are important to us. For it is from the elders that we retain and maintain the essential knowledge from our Creator. This is passed on through the oral tradition.

  The family is the critically essential base of the Mi’kmaq culture. A family in a Mi’kmaq community is not just a mother and a father, for a family is a large set of relationships, grandparents, godparents, aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters, and cousins. Godparents are especially important in Mi’kmaq society. Each child is special and each child will receive the nurturance of many significant others who will protect and nurture the child’s growth through their growing years. In the Mi’kmaq culture, one group of significant others will be the godparents.

  A godmother is equal to a mother in our culture as is a godfather equal to the father. It is believed that one cannot be saved nor can you survive without your godmother or godfather. A godparent or kekunit is a person to whom the parent turns to seek advice and help with the raising of the child. The relationships are fostered with love, attention, gifts, and sharing of time together. At each milestone in a child’s life, s/he has parents and his or her own special set of godparents to share birthdays, holidays, and their spiritual growth. A godparent will be there always, even when there is breakdown in the family, or when at adolescence a youth seeks his or her own independence.

  The family is where our children begin to form their Native consciousness and identity. From the moment of conception that child is called “mijuaji’j” or child, for there is no word in our language for “fetus.” The oral tradition offers much support and good advice for the mother and her child. Elders offer much advice and information about the things the new mother should not do, and how to behave appropriately because the health of her child is going to be determined by how she behaves during her pregnancy and how she copes with changes. These events may help or hurt her, and thus her child.

  Even if a young unmarried girl becomes pregnant, she is still honoured and respected while carrying a child and is given to know that this child is very sacred. Although the parents maybe disappointed that their young daughter may have begun this experience earlier than they may have hoped, it is by no means a shunned experience. The young girl will be dealt with with openness, sheltered, and given all she needs to grow to be healthy. When children come into the world, a large extended family surrounds them to offer their support. The most important thing that the child becomes aware of is this large group association. They will come to know that they are loved by all the people around them.

  Mi’kmaq society is a society in which family, dialogue, and togetherness are valued and a child that grows up in this environment becomes involved in an adult-centered world, in which they are subjects of everyone’s attention. At all gatherings, at all events of the Mi’kmaq people, one will find our elders and children. While times are changing as well in our Mi’kmaq communities, still the majority of times the gatherings in the community involve the extended family and children. Children are ever-present, playing, talking, listening and becoming part of their community in the context of the Mi’kmaq culture.

  The language acquisition process in a Mi’kmaq child’s life begins with a very rich language environment because of the large extended family in which the child will grow. In this environment of gregarious Mi’kmaq speakers, the child will have many language models. The mother at home with her child usually will have an unlimited number of face-to-face encounters with other people during the day. They will visit or be visited. Since all adult women are referred to as “Sukwis” or “Auntie,” a child may not know until much later who the direct descendants of his or her own family are.

  A Mi’kmaq child will grow up among several close adults. If a mother finds employment, then an auntie will come in, and with unemployment so high on our reserves
, fathers will assuredly be there, as well as uncles, brothers and sisters. Children’s patterns of visiting will include going to their grandmothers and their uncles and their brothers and their sisters, and the child will become part of this group and s/he can see the wide range of people with whom s/he is connected.

  The language acquisition stage is filled with a rich language environment of the Mi’kmaq people. With more declensions than are in English, Mi’kmaq has been reported to be one of the most beautiful languages of the world (Rand, 1894). It is a language that has adjectives that describe all kinds of different behaviours, looks and actions because we have developed a tremendous perceptual observation scale, reflected in words, that can be made into a verb or adjective to describe everything.

  Mi’kmaq perception and attention to environment and the people, animals and things in that environment are important to survival. So Mi’kmaq language has a tremendous descriptive capacity that attends to every move, action and look, for they are important to the connectedness and dialogues in the community. The descriptive nature of the language makes teasing and storytelling especially vivid, leading to much humour and laughter.

  In Mi’kmaq families from the time a child is conceived, there is an acceptance that this child’s spirit has been conceived as well. There is no notion of tabla rasa theory, or a blank slate from which that spirit will grow. Rather, each person has a unique spirit already predetermined before their body grows into it. The full acceptance of babies having the feelings and attitudes that are vibrant and rich towards life is evident in the banter Mi’kmaq adults have with newborn babies. While the child may not have the vocabulary and the control of the language to express their attitudes and feelings, Mi’kmaqs provide the child with an awareness of the child’s feelings and attitudes when talking to the child. Thus the process of language acquisition evolves from a ready store of feelings, attitudes, and beliefs shared in the intimate circle of family and friends and babies.