Fish-WIKS News

In 2010, Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project (formerly Pjila’si Mi’kma’ki: Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project) was launched to document approximately 13,000 years of Mi’kmaw presence within Mi’kma’ki, the place of the Mi’kmaq, and to raise public awareness of this ancient history. The project was initiated by the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum, Culture and Heritage Committee, Place Names Subcommitte, co-chaired by Tim Bernard and Rob Ferguson. In 2008, Dr. Trudy Sable, Director of the Office of Aboriginal and Northern Research, Saint Mary’s University (SMU), was contracted by the Tripartite Forum to undertake a study to assess the need and feasibility for the development of a place names web site. The final recommendations from the study were based on input from focus groups within Mi’kmaw communities, interviews and surveys conducted with numerous stakeholders (librarians, government agents, NGO’s, academics, educators etc.), literature searches and identification of potential funding sources, as well as input from geomatics expert, William Jones. The evidence was clear: their was a long overdue need for an authoritative source to increase awareness of the history and culture of the Mi’kmaq across all social sectors, including and primarily for the Mi’kmaq themselves. Visit the website.