Mi’kma’ki, April 4, 2023 – A first-of-its kind partnership is bringing traditional and ancestral Mi’kmaw knowledge to the Nova Scotian forestry sector and providing opportunities and prosperity to Mi’kmaw communities through forestry. The Mi’kmaq Forestry Initiative (MFI) serves Mi’kmaw communities, supporting the development of sustainable economic opportunities for the Mi’kmaq and promoting community prosperity through the lens of ecological practices and traditional Mi’kmaq knowledge.
“Mi’kmaw guiding principles are informing our approach to forestry,” says Lisa Young, Executive Director of Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources. “Through the practice of Etuaptmumk—Two-Eyed Seeing—we’re bridging Mi’kmaw and Western worldviews to create jobs, revenue, and economic opportunities while preserving our natural world.”
Under the direction of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, the MFI was launched jointly by Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMK), the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM), and Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR). In 2019, the Government of Nova Scotia granted the MFI approximately 20,000 hectares of Crown land through a Pilot Forest Project with KMK, CMM, and UINR. In 2022, an additional 10,000 hectares was added to the MFI land base. The MFI continues to operate under the Pilot, with negotiation of a long-term forestry agreement underway. A long-term agreement will enable the MFI to operate with the mandate of managing and overseeing forested lands while creating opportunities for a wide range of economic, social, and educational uses—from crafting, to ecotourism, to cultural teaching and learning.
The MFI will leverage its founding organizations’ expertise and experience in forestry and ecological stewardship, while creating space for traditional knowledge and practices and empowering L’nu’k people to relearn and share traditional ecological knowledge. The MFI will promote biodiversity and the long-term health and wellbeing of the forests it governs across the province, including parcels of land in the Hants, Annapolis, Halifax, Antigonish, Guysborough, Cape Breton, Richmond, and Inverness counties.
“The Mi’kmaq Forestry Initiative is rooted in Mi’kmaw values and traditions to provide, teach, and guide where we want to be today, tomorrow, and in the future,” says Chief Sidney Peters of Glooscap First Nation and Co-Chair of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs. “We all need to come together and work together for the benefit of all.”
The initiative, which will soon be rebranding to unveil a Mi’kmaw name, will also give the Mi’kmaq a platform to continue working in collaboration with the forestry sector, sharing Mi’kmaw silviculture techniques to support the industry in upholding sustainable forestry management practices, ensuring forests are maintained for generations to come—work that is in accordance with the recommendations outlined in the Lahey Report.
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For more information, contact:
Nadine Lefort
Manager of Communications & Outreach, Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources
902-979-0019
Quotes
“The MFI represents a significant milestone for our organizations, the Mi’kmaq, and our province. The Mi’kmaq were the first people living with Nova Scotia’s forests and the MFI presents an opportunity for the Mi’kmaq to have a voice in shaping the future of our province’s forests.”
- Janice Maloney, Executive Director of Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn
“For generations, our resources and lands were managed by others. This is a powerful way of bringing our people into the fold, being responsible for our own land. We use two-eyed seeing, Netukulimk, to marry Indigenous ways of knowing with Western, scientific ways of seeing, promoting economic opportunity and prosperity without the costs of destroying our natural environment.”
- Angie Gillis, Executive Director of the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq
“Forest managed by Indigenous communities are more ecologically rich and diverse. We’re providing tangible opportunities and prosperity to our communities, while preserving the forests for future generations of not only L’nu communities, but Nova Scotians more broadly.”
- Lisa Young, Executive Director of Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources
Additional Facts
- The Mi’kmaq Forestry Initiative is managed by Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn, and directed by the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs.
- The MFI will champion principles of Netukulimk and Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), combining traditional Mi’kmaw knowledge and values with Western knowledge about forestry, environmental, and conservation science.
- The MFI uses forestry practices that promote biodiversity, protect species of cultural significance, and align with natural forest growth and disturbance patterns.
- The MFI will manage approximately 30,000 hectares of forest across parcels of land in the Hants, Annapolis, Halifax, Antigonish, Guysborough, Cape Breton, Richmond, and Inverness counties.
- Projects to support the livelihood of the Mi’kmaq that MFI lands will support include gathering and crafting, eco-tourism, and education.
- In his independent review of forestry practices, Professor Bill Lahey recommended the province support a Mi’kmaq-led forestry initiative.
About the Mi’kmaq Forestry Initiative
The Mi’kmaq Forestry Initiative is a partnership serving Mi’kmaw communities and supporting the development of sustainable economic opportunities for the Mi’kmaq related to timber and non-timber industries, with the principles of Netukulimk integrated into everything they do. The MFI is governed by a Forestry Advisory Committee answering to the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs. The FAC is comprised of Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn.