In celebration of Mi’kmaq History Month, UINR is participating in CBU’s dedication of  Kina matneway Na Klinkn (Embracing Knowledge) at the CBU Courtyard.

UINR’s Executive Director Lisa Young will plant Switey and Pakosi, traditional Mi’kmaq plants to celebrate the garden’s dedication.

Elder Albert Marshall will plant a Wisqoq (Black Ash) tree on behalf of UINR’s new organization MELC (Mi’kmaq Environmental Learning Centre).

CEPI members: Shelley Porter, Annie Johnson, Dan Christmas, René Lavoie, Lisa Young, Anthony Morris and Charlie Dennis

With a vision for the protection and sustainability of the Bras d’Or Lakes and watershed, the document is a “process plan” for people and government who work and live around the Lakes.

Lisa Young, UINR Executive Director and member of CEPI Management Committee, was in attendance. “It took some time to get here but it was well worth the wait. It’s been quite an experience working with the partners around the CEPI table. They are a dedicated bunch of people who are very generous with their time and knowledge. I personally feel very proud and privileged to have played a part in the development of a document that is as special and unique as the Bras d’Or Lakes.”

The CEPI process plan describes a way to work together to address environmental management issues around the Bras d’Or Lakes. Inspired by the medicine wheel and two-eyed seeing, the plan proposes seven guiding principles to help decision-making and action. These principles influence how decisions are made and actions taken:

We are part of nature, not the owners of her.

We will assist in healing previous damages.

We will consider the impact of our present actions on future generations.

We will pay attention.

We will cause no net loss of habitat.

We will work together.

We are accountable.

You can download The Spirit of the Lakes Speaks at brasdorcepi.ca

Presenters Mike MacKenzie, Jessie Helen MacNeil and Annie Johnson;Audience members review reportHandmade gift presented to friends of CEPI

Several months ago, with funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sage Environmental Program and the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation, UINR hired researcher Matthew Bryden to do a study on exactly what scientific information is out there on this important species. His research was led by the findings from the CSI (Collaborative Salmon Initiative) conference Dialogue on Plamu/Atlantic Salmon in Cape Breton, held in June of 2006.

Matthew’s task was to find out what information was available, who holds it and how accessible it is. This brought him to a wide variety of organizations around Cape Breton including the Margaree Salmon Association, Cape Breton University, libraries at Fisheries and Oceans Canada  and Parks Canada, ADI, Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife, Environment Nova Scotia and Fisheries and Aquaculture Nova Scotia. He also spoke to fisheries guardians in Eskasoni.

Much of the information that Matthew found focused on the Margaree River, “Margaree River is important economically and, as an indexed river, it is the one that others in the area are most often compared to.”

Matthew has been impressed on both the amount of work organizations have been doing and the amount of time that salmon has been studied. “I  found information going back to the 1930s but generally speaking, the amount of research being done today has dwindled as stocks declined and the economic importance was reduced. There are fewer rivers being monitored today and the amount of monitoring has also been scaled back.”

Matthew is working with Membertou Geomatics to set up an online database that will allow researchers to access all of the information that he has found. In addition to the titles of the work and short abstracts of what the research contains, researchers will be able to locate where that information is stored or located.

“Salmon people have been very helpful in sharing their information with me and it is amazing how much work has been done and continues to be done by groups like the Margaree Salmon Association, DFO and CSI Cape Breton. If their commitment to the species is any indication, salmon should have a brighter future in Unama’ki.”

CSI Cape Breton is working on several projects to help plamu in Unama’ki. A Traditional Ecological Knowledge workshop is being planned to gather first-hand accounts of Elders and fishers on what they have seen over the years and their ideas on solutions.

As a further step, UINR is working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to set up a smolt wheel in Middle River to help estimate the number of salmon smolt making their way downstream. A smolt wheel floats in the river, directing fish into a tank where they are counted and studied before being released. This will allow us to estimate the salmon numbers in the river and get biological information that could help us address salmon decline.

Because of its location on the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes the land is subject to serious coastal erosion due to climate change. And it is happening fast. Important monuments to Mi’kmaq history are being lost.

UINR has been studying the situation and taking active measures to preserve the area, bringing together individuals, government departments and industry to come up a solution for the rapidly eroding area. In addition to the technical work UINR is doing to preserve the area, we are preparing an application to designate the area an historic site.

Tonia Sylliboy knows a lot about Mala’s history. Tonia was hired by UINR to find everything she could on Malagawatch from early documents and oral history to current knowledge. She discovered some interesting things:

• Malagawatch was one of four main gathering areas
• for Mi’kmaq Grand Council.
• Mala was used as a wintering camp and known for
• its abundance of medicinal plants, game, eels and cod.
• In 1650, Nicholas Denys, a French explorer
• traded with Mi’kmaq from Malagawatch.
• Malagawatch or Mirliguech means a triangular piece of land
• formed by a river and a large body of water.
• In 1722, Malagawatch became Mi’kmaq headquarters,
• playing an active part in the politics of Unama’ki until 1750.
• An early Mission was held yearly.
• A church and presbytery was built in 1725
• and fell into disrepair in 1739.

Another St. Anne’s Mission has come and gone and, thanks to the dedication of the teams of workers organized by the Pitu’paq partnership, it was cleaner both during the Mission and afterwards.

Once again, students from the Nova Scotia Youth Corps were involved in the recycling and waste disposal program. They worked weeks before the Mission began to get the site ready, clearing debris and sprucing up the Island and putting a recycling program in place. Boatload after boatload of garbage was removed from the Island to be properly disposed of.

This year, there was also a forestry program in place that removed diseased and fallen trees from the Sacred Path, service roads and cabins.

UINR’s Laurie Suitor co-ordinated the project, organizing the Youth Corps team, other students from Chapel Island and staff provided by Membertou, Eskasoni and Chapel Island: This year was quite a challenge. Thanks to all the teams that worked tirelsessly to make sure we achieved all our targets and to all of the companies and people who donated goods, services and funding to the success. A special thanks to Nova Scotia Environment, Parks Canada and the Aboriginal Forestry Program for assisting us with funding and, of course, the Pitu’paq partnership.

laurie@uinr.ca

Representatives from the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) visited UINR recently to talk about their plan to work with First Nations communities across Canada to help with the development of watershed plans and develop a watershed-planning tool to share across the country. First Nations have been developing watershed plans that are based on their needs, perspectives and knowledge. These plans are being used by First Nations to ensure safe and healthy First Nations’ managed watersheds.

CIER is a national, First Nations-directed environmental organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It recognizes the need for Aboriginal peoples to have the capacity to solve environmental problems affecting their lands and resources. While in Cape Breton, CIER met with groups involved in watershed planning–Pitupaq, CEPI, the Eskasoni Watershed Planning Committee and the Potlotek Source Water Protection Plan. They found a strong commitment to collaboration between the municipalities and First Nations.

CIER has teamed up with leaders in the field: Hupacasath First Nation on Vancouver Island, the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Northern Alberta, and local groups in Cape Breton, UINR and the Union of Nova Scotia Indians, to develop and test a tool to assist communities in designing relevant and effective watershed plans.

In the upcoming months, CIER will be visiting other partners, discussing the ways that watershed planning is done in First Nations, and how they can transform that into a useful tool for First Nations. They will be returning to Cape Breton in the fall to share this knowledge

To learn more about this project or CIER, please visit its website at www.cier.ca.

However, in the 1800s, moose disappeared from Unama’ki and this ancient relationship came to an abrupt end that lasted for almost 100 years. Cape Breton Mi’kmaq were separated from a very valuable resource and all it offered.

In the 1940s, Parks Canada brought 18 moose to the Cape Breton Highlands to give tourists a large mammal to see in the Park. The moose liked it here. Lots to eat, room to roam and they flourished and spread. In the absence of their major predators, wolves, Unama’ki became a moose haven, especially after the spruce budworm devastation of the 1970s. With a massive clearcutting of damaged softwood, hardwood shoots began to grow, offering ideal browse conditions for moose to thrive.

The 1970s and 80s were a also a time of heavy litigation in the courts, with Mi’kmaq hunters being charged and treaties tested. Late in the 1980s, the Mi’kmaq proved that our treaties were valid, proving to Canada and the rest of the world that Mi’kmaq treaties still existed and were in
force. These litigation victories coincided and grew with the moose population–10,000 animals from the original 18. A real population explosion!

With the traditional relationship between Mi’kmaq and moose reestablished, the Mi’kmaq felt it was time to become managers and stewards of
the resource, to manage the hunt for our children and their children–the next seven generations. Mi’kmaq Elders advised that with these rights come great responsibilities. They saw the importance of balance, conservation and preservation of the herd and said the time had come for self-management.

In response to Elders and community members concerns, Grand Council asked Charlie Dennis to take on moose management as part of his duties. With Parks Canada, he established two committees and began to develop draft guidelines. This process reached a stumbling block–Mi’kmaq could not govern our people while off reserve where the hunting takes place.

It was clear that we were dealing with Mi’kmaq rights and, in the early 2000s, the issue was brought to the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs. As a result, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMK) established the Moose Working Group and moose management became an important first issue to establish Mi’kmaq rights and unify the concerns of the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq communities.

In 2006, Clifford Paul was hired as Moose Management Coordinator. His role at UINR is to engage Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq communities in active discussions around moose issues and promote discussions on the management of the Cape Breton moose herd and hunting practices. Clifford’s philosophy is simple. We come to your community with a blank book. You tell us what is right and what you feel is important and we will listen.

Over the next couple of years, Clifford and a team of advisors from KMK visited every Mi’kmaq community in Nova Scotia to talk moose. He heard a deep concern for conservation and protection of the herd so it will available for future generations. A more respectful relationship is required and, as stewards of the resource, communities’ communal rights take priority over individual rights.

Clifford visited each community several times, gathering information and seeing common themes arising at every meeting. In September of 2008, Mawikwamk Wjit Tia’muk–Mi’kmaq–Gathering on Moose was held in Wagmatcook, bringing together delegates from across Nova Scotia to look at some of the issues important to moose management. The two-day event reached consensus on three issues:

1. Non-native accompaniment
2. No-hunting time/A Mi’kmaq hunting season
3. Hunter advisory groups

A fourth issue, selling moose, did not achieve consensus and further discussions are needed.

Out of this session, draft guidelines were developed and brought to the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs for review. Changes were made and now Tiamuwel Netuklimkewe–Unama’ki Moose Harvesting According to Netukulimk was approved.

The Guidelines will be officially released on August 17 asking Mi’kmaq hunters for voluntary compliance over the next two years. Over this time, Clifford and his team will again visit communities to talk about the Guidelines, answer questions and work out more details for the future.

Clifford explains, The Guidelines are just one tool in the management plan. The Mi’kmaq Legal Support Network is developing the legal regulations and at the same time, we are moving forward with our Natural Resource Officer Program.

The key component in our management plan is the Mi’kmaq response to these initial Guidelines. It is a living document and through the hunters’ and communities’ feedback we will once again regain stewardship over this important resource.

clifford @uinr.ca

Tiamuwel Netuklimkewe–Unama’ki Moose Harvesting According to Netukulimk will be released on August 17 at a press conference in Wagmatcook. Following the official release, it will be available in every Mi’kmaq community and can be downloaded at www.uinr.ca.

The voluntary guidelines focus on 5 main areas:

• Safety
• Community Authority and Hunting Advisory Groups
• The No-Hunting Time
• ID and Non-Mi’kmaq Helpers
• Hunter Reporting

Take thousands of people, put them on an island for four days with no sewage system and no where to dispose of their garbage and you can imagine what is left behind. This was the scene every year at the annual Chapel Island Mission in the small community of Potlotek.

Back in 2006, the members of the Pitu’paq committee decided that something needed to be done and they were going to do it! Pitu’paq is composed of representatives from the five Mi’kmaq communities and five municipalities around the Bras d’Or Lakes. Working together with the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, UINR, Health Canada and the Union of Nova Scotia Indians, Pitupaq developed a sewage and waste management plan for the Mission and put it in place.

Pictured in the photo above are members of the Chapel Island teams. From left to right: Darrell Morris, Brian Marshall, Kevin Johnson, Rueben Paul, Kendall Marshall, Keenan Bernard, Dennis Nevin, Derrick Dennis, Noah Johnson, Laurie Suitor, Justin Nicholas, Buck Levesque, Jude Johnson, Katie Lameman. Missing from the photo are team members: Clark Paul and Brandon Tracey.

For the third consecutive year, there is a plan in place and, once again, project

co-ordinator Laurie Suitor from UINR is working with students from Nova Scotia Youth Corps, eight students from Chapel Island and other staff provided by Membertou, Eskasoni and Chapel Island.

The student task force will distribute Green Kits to trailer owners, cabin dwellers and visitors. Included are clear and blue bags, cabin notification/trailer permits and a brochure.

Over the years, sewage has been a major issue at the Mission. Among the main concerns are water contamination from trailer waste and cottage potties being dumped into the Bras d’Or Lakes. Now, in addition to portable toilets on the Island that are pumped regularly, a sewage-pump-out service is available for trailers on the mainland.

The work you see during the days of the Mission starts many weeks before, with clearing brush, making service roads and cleaning up debris and cabins.

The success of Pitu’paq’s plan is summed up by Laurie, “Last year we were able to keep the beaches open before, during and after the Mission. Let’s keep up the good work!”

laurie@uinr.ca

Throughout June UINR staff will catch, measure, and release elvers (young eels) as they enter the rivers and brooks between Ingonish Beach and Neil’s Harbour.

The project is looking at the migration of the elvers from the ocean into the freshwaters of the Park. The project is part of a larger Parks Canada study designed to better understand the status of the American eel in Atlantic Canada.

UINR biologist Shelley Denny explains “I think this is an excellent opportunity to learn about eels in other habitats around Cape Breton Island. We often forget that that eels can be found in virtually any body of water, from the smallest stream or pond to large estuaries such as the Bras d’Or Lakes.”

In 2006, American eel was listed as a species of special concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Eels live in freshwater, but breeds only once in the saltwater of the Sargasso Sea before it dies.

“It’s great that Parks Canada has taken a keen interest in learning about their local eel population and we are honored to have been invited to assist with their project” Shelley concludes.

UINR is Cape Breton’s Mi’kmaq voice on natural resources and the environment. UINR represents the five Mi’kmaq communities of Unama’ki on Mi‘kmaq natural resources and their sustainability.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park is part of a system of national parks, national historic sites, and national marine conservation areas committed to protecting and presenting Canada’s natural and cultural heritage for generations of Canadians.

UINR’s partnerships with other organizations are an important part of what we do and the successes we have achieved.

Our lead role in organizations such as Pitu’paq and the Bras d’Or Lakes Collaborative Environmental Planning Initiative have resulted in important accomplishments in achieving our environmental and management goals.

Through our partnerships with Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Cape Breton University, Georgia Pacific, New Page, the province of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton municipalities, and a host of other government departments and organizations, UINR has ensured that Mi’kmaq perspective and knowledge have been an integral part of many projects.