Madawaska Maliseet First Nation facts for kids

The Madawaska Maliseet First Nation (in their language, Wəlastəkwewiyik Matowesekok) is also known as the St. Basile 10 band. They are one of six Wolastoqiyik or Maliseet Nations located along the Saint John River in Canada. Their traditional land is in Northern New Brunswick.

The main reserve for the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation (MMFN) is called St. Basile no. 10. It is located about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) east of Edmundston in the northwestern part of New Brunswick. The First Nation has about 350 members in total. Around 114 of these members live on the St. Basile reserve. They are part of the Saint John River Valley Tribal Council. Some common family names in the community include Bernard, Cimon, Francis, and Wallace.

History of the Maliseet People

Maliseet Territory

The Maliseet, also called Malecite or Étchemins, call themselves Wəlastəkwewiyik or Wolastoqiyik. This name means "People of the Beautiful River." The "Beautiful River" they refer to is the Saint John River. Their traditional lands stretched along this river in New Brunswick and Maine. At one time, their territory even reached as far as the St. Lawrence River.

The Maliseet people speak an Algonkian language. Their lands shared borders with the traditional territories of the Mi'kmaq people to the east. To the west, they bordered the Passamaquoddy (or Peskotomuhkati) and Penobscot Nations. When Europeans first arrived, the Maliseet lived in villages surrounded by walls. They grew crops like corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. They also got food by fishing, hunting, and gathering fruits, berries, nuts, and other natural foods.

Early Settlements and European Arrival

For a very long time, the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation territory was an important place. It was a common spot for Maliseet people to camp and meet during their seasonal travels. By the mid-1700s, the Maliseet villages in the Madawaska area had grown to be some of the largest. However, by the early 1800s, their numbers had decreased a lot.

A large community of settlers began to form in Madawaska in the early 1800s. This started when the Acadians moved there in 1785 from further down the Saint John River. The French settlers named the area Petit-Sault, which means "Little Falls." This name referred to the waterfalls where the Madawaska River flows into the Saint John River.

Land and the Railway

In the late 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) took over three pieces of the reserve land. These pieces of land added up to almost 13 acres and cut right through the MMFN territory. The CPR built a section of railway that ran from Woodstock to Edmundston.

Around 1971, the railway section was no longer used. The CPR then made an agreement with Fraser Papers Inc., which is now called Twin Rivers. This company owns the largest pulp mill in the area. Fraser Papers Inc. built a pipeline above the ground. This pipeline ran from their mill to a pond where waste materials were stored, using the old railway land.

One person from the community described the pipeline: "People couldn't go from the south to the north side of the pipeline because you know, it was on the ground…it was made of wood staves, 4 feet tall."

Getting Their Land Back

When the railway was no longer used, the MMFN made a claim to get their land back. The land they claimed is part of the St. Basile no. 10 reserve. About half of the 228 members of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation live on this reserve. It is located 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) east of Edmundston in New Brunswick. It is important to note that non-Indigenous people whose land was also taken for the railway had their land returned to them.

The Madawaska Maliseet First Nation argued that the Government of Canada did not protect their land. They said the government failed to keep their interest in the reserve safe when the Canadian Pacific Railway stopped using the land for railway purposes.

The pulp mill is connected to another Fraser paper mill across the Saint John River in Madawaska, Maine. Liquid pulp is sent through a pipeline between these two mills. This is the only such pipeline along the Canada–United States border.

Chief Joanna Bernard, who was the Chief of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, successfully worked to resolve this specific land claim. The agreement included $5.7 million in payment and the return of the reserve's land. This settlement was about the use of three pieces of reserve land, totaling almost 13 acres. This land was used by the Canadian Pacific Railway to build a railway section in the late 1800s.

By 2012, the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation also reached an agreement with Twin Rivers. Twin Rivers is the new owner of Fraser Papers. This agreement allowed the company to keep operating the pipeline on the reserve.

Chief Bernard explained: "We've signed a permit and allowed the pipeline to continue to exist…it's now underground…it's no longer above ground…so the relationship continues and we try and make it a continuing positive relationship." She also mentioned new developments: "The Trans Canada Highway divides our First Nation and because we have the ramps now, now we are actually able to develop the other side of the highway for commercial leasing and our very first anchor tenant will be…a Shell truck stop."

In 2013, on New Brunswick Day, Premier David Alward announced that Chief Joanna Bernard was one of ten people chosen for the Order of New Brunswick. Chief Bernard was recognized for her hard work. She worked to make sure her community and all First Nations communities in the province were doing well and had good economic opportunities.

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