The traditional territory of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, centered around the St. Croix River, extends from Mount Desert Island in Maine to Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. But while the tribe has been federally recognized by the U.S. government for 40 years, the Canadian government still has not granted federal recognition.
     A recent ceremony in St. Andrews, though, is a sign that the situation may change in the next few years. The reaffirmation of the Peace and Friendship Treaties between the Crown and the Wabanaki nations was a step on the path for federal recognition of the Passamaquoddy living in Canada. The nation-to-nation ceremony, held at the St. Andrews Blockhouse on Friday, September 30, reaffirmed the treaties signed in 1725 and reaffirmed in 1760. Among the 75 people in attendance were the deputy minister of the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the deputy minister for Aboriginal Affairs in New Brunswick.
      The Passamaquoddy have been working toward federal recognition by the Government of Canada for a long time, with Chief Hugh Akagi of the Schoodic Band of Passamaquoddy noting that it's "an arduous process." Official negotiations have not yet commenced, but Akagi is hopeful that federal recognition can be achieved within the next five years.
     According to Akagi, the number of Passamaquoddy living in New Brunswick is now relatively small, between 200 and 300 people. The band is hoping to avoid what happened with the Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland, where the number of people seeking Mi'kmaq status kept increasing to perhaps 100,000 once federal recognition was granted. "We're trying to nail down the membership early," Akagi says.
     The Passamaquoddy presence in New Brunswick goes back as long as the tribe has been in the area. One archaeological site indicates a history extending 13,000 years. As Akagi notes, "That's the footprint that Native people have been here 13,000 years in this territory."
     According to a brochure prepared for the Passamaquoddy Nation at Schoodic by Paul Williams, the federal government "is about to begin negotiations with the Passamaquoddy Nation concerning its treaty and aboriginal rights and to recognize the Passamaquoddy people as an 'Indian' community for the purposes of federal law." The document notes, "In the case of Passamaquoddy treaties with the Crown, it has taken 20 years of Passamaquoddy effort for the governments of Canada and New Brunswick to recognize that the Passamaquoddy people actually still exist."
     A 1725 treaty established "the principles of the formal political relationship between the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi'kmaq Nations and the Crown." In 1760, after the capitulation of New France, "the Passamaquoddy and Maliseet Nations met with the British and again reaffirmed their relationship."
     The Government of Canada refers to the treaties between the Wabanaki nations and the Crown as "Peace and Friendship Treaties" and states, "Unlike later treaties signed in other parts of Canada, the Peace and Friendship Treaties did not involve First Nations surrendering rights to the lands and resources they had traditionally used and occupied." None of treaties in the 1700s between the Wabanaki and the Crown contain any language about surrendering land or rights.
     The traditional territory of the Passamaquoddy Nation is the watershed of the Schoodic River, or the St. Croix, and Passamaquoddy Bay. "For centuries, the Passamaquoddy way of life was a seasonal, cyclical round, in which the people left light footprints on the land. They would be in specific places at specific times of the year," the document states. "Qonaskamkuk, the present site of St. Andrews, was the fire place, the place where the councils of the nation were held. Well into the 20th century, the people lived by this extensive use of the land, and Passamaquoddy Bay was like a generous cauldron full of food."
     The document continues, "The 1725 treaty contemplated coexistence between two peoples and two distinct ways of life. The British would have permanent farming and fishing settlements, occupying the land intensively. The Passamaquoddy people would use the land in an extensive way, following their seasonal round."
      Over time, though, many Passamaquoddy people "moved to the American side of their territory, where the two reservations at Sipayik (Pleasant Point) and Motahkomikuk (Indian Township) at least provided an assured land base." Passamaquoddy families on the Canadian side were concentrated in two main areas: St. Andrews and Mohannes. The Canoose and St. Croix reserves survived into the 20th century but were sold or transferred by the Government of Canada in the 1930s and '40s. In 2014, the Passamaquoddy Council asked the province to return the St. Croix and Canoose reserves.
      In January 2016, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett confirmed to Chief Akagi that she would be seeking a mandate from the Governor General in Council to begin comprehensive negotiations with the Passamaquoddy Nation. "She also promised to fulfill the commitment made to Hugh Akagi by Minister Andy Scott in 2005: the department would do all in its power to secure the recognition of the Passamaquoddy people in Canada pursuant to the Indian Act," the brochure states.
      In May of this year representatives of the federal and provincial governments and the Passamaquoddy council met in St. Andrews and agreed that the principles of the existing treaties between the Passamaquoddy and the Crown -- respect, trust and friendship -- "would continue to guide and govern their relationship." At the meeting, the three governments agreed that the existing treaty relationship should be formally reaffirmed, according to the brochure. "To commemorate the reaffirmation of the treaties, the Passamaquoddy Council commissioned the making of a new wampum belt, which was given to the Government of Canada," the brochure states. "In giving this new wampum to the Government of Canada, the Passamaquoddy Council has created a new symbol to fulfill a role in an ancient process."