Project Team An interdisciplinary team of respected scholars and professionals came together to make this project successful, some hired on as consultants while others were representative of their partner organizations and offered their services “in-kind.” Tim Bernard Tim Bernard has been a guardian and promoter of the Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek: Mi’kamw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website project since its inception, as well as the Project Director offering guidance and support for each stage of the development. Employed by The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM) as a Land Claims Researcher from 1988 to 1994, he gained extensive historical knowledge under the direction of Dr. Donald Julien. He now brings his management expertise to The CMM as the Director of History and Culture, and to the development of the Mi’kmawey Debert project. Mr. Bernard is a member the Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Tripartite Forum, and the Mi’kmaw Place Names sub-committee, where the Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tik: Mi’kamw Place Names project (formerly Pjila’si Mi’kma’ki) was conceived and and enacted. Mr. Bernard has served on the task force of the Nova Scotia Heritage Strategy and is regularly involved with overall heritage and tourism sector development. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre. He is well known beyond his own community of Millbrook as the Manager/Editor of the Mi’kmaq Maliseet Nations News and Eastern Woodland Print Communications. as well as the chair of the History Month Day committee. Through these and other avenues, his direction affects communities across Nova Scotia. He has set forth and achieved realistic and meaningful outcomes through these avenues, advancing knowledge and appreciation for place names, language growth and retention, cultural resources for educators and the importance of the stories of Elders and others in the communities. Trudy Sable, Ph.D. Dr. Trudy Sable, Director of the former Office of Aboriginal and Northern Research, Saint Mary’s University (SMU ) (2002-2016), wrote the initial feasibility study for the development for the project in 2008 on behalf of the Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Tripartite Forum and CMM. Subsequently, she was the Principal Investigator on the two Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grants that provided major funding for the initial phases of the development of the website and digital atlas (2010-2016), along with other supplemental grants, e.g., the Tripartite Forum Project Fund and student grants. With thirty years of research and program development in collaboration with the Mi’kmaw Nation, she has contributed her knowledge and resources to the development of the website and atlas, and to the Cultural Landscapes research with Roger Lewis. In her current position as the Community Engaged Research Facilitator or Panawti’kek (the Mi’kmaw term given to the position) for the Office of Vice President and Academic and Research, SMU, she has continued to act as the liaison between SMU and CMM to develop the site, seek funding, supervise student researchers, and work with partners and team members. She is co-author of “The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki” with Dr. Bernie Francis, and the chapter, Mi’kma’ki Telo’ltipni’k L’nuk Mi’kma’kik – How the Mi’kmaq Live in Mi’kma’kik, with Roger Lewis for the textbook, “Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience”. Bernie Francis, Doctor of Civil Law, DLitt Dr. Bernie Francis is a Mi’kmaw Elder and has served as the linguistic expert for the project from 2010-2019, and continues to contribute his expertise. Dr. Francis, along with linguist Doug Smith, rewrote the Mi’kmaw orthography (spelling system) in the 1970s to better reflect the spoken language. This orthography has been adopted by the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Tripartite Forum as the official spelling system for Nova Scotia and used in this website and digital atlas. Dr. Francis spent hours with our student researchers and Dr. Sable reviewing old dictionaries of place names compiled by early missionaries and historians, listening to interviews of Mi’kmaw Elders, and carefully transliterating and translating them into the names seen on the web site maps and digital atlas. Additionally, Dr. Francis’ pronunciations of each place name were recorded and uploaded to the digital atlas. He is the co-author with Dr. Sable of “The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki” (CBU Press 2012, now Nimbus Publications), and “Mi’kmaw Grammar” with Dr. John Hewson (CBU Press 2015). Dr. Francis is the recipient of two honorary doctorates, one from SMU (2018) and one from Dalhousie University (1999), and has received numerous awards in recognition of his contributions to the preservation and continuity of the Mi’kmaw language, including the Grand Chief Donald Marshall Senior Elder Achievement Award. Roger J. Lewis Roger J. Lewis, M.A., is the Curator of Mi’kmaw Culture and Heritage, Collections and Research Unit, Nova Scotia Museum, and has been an advisor and partner to the project since 2010. An archaeologist originally from the Sɨkɨpne’katik (Shubenacadie) First Nation, Nova Scotia, he has comprehensive knowledge of Mi’kmaw archaeological sites, with extensive research on various eel weir architecture, function and distribution. His research has also focused on the forty-four primary rivers in Nova Scotia that acted as travel routes and central focal points for Mi’kmaw settlement patterns throughout Nova Scotia to the present day. Due to his in-depth knowledge of the Nova Scotian landscape, he has assisted researchers in geo-referencing the specific locations of each place name and provided valuable historical context to the research into the names. He also works closely with Mi’kmaw communities to record, compile and map invaluable ethnographic information and cultural stories. Mr. Lewis has utilized Mi’kmaw place-names as a vital research aid in understanding significant activity sites or ‘critical land and resource use’ locations. He co-authored a chapter with Dr. Sable entitled Mi’kma’ki Telo’ltipni’k L’nuk Mi’kma’kik – How the Mi’kmaq Live in Mi’kma’kik, for the text book, “Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience” (Oxford University Press, 2014) as part of his cultural landscape research. Kenny Prosper Kenny Prosper, Eskissoqnik (Eskasoni) First Nation currently residing in Halifax, has played a key role in helping set up and conduct interviews in Mi’kmaw throughout the project. As a Mi’kmaw first language speaker, and a respected member of the Mi’kmaw community, Mr. Prosper’s knowledge of the language and place names has allowed researchers to interview Elders and community members within the Mi’kmaw communities where the language is still spoken. Mr. Prosper’s knowledge has also proved invaluable in listening to the place names for subtle differences in pronunciation that affected the translation of them to the Smith/Francis orthography. He has assisted in background historical research for the project, including names of chiefs from the early colonial period for the Cultural Landscape research. He continues to support this and other projects in the translation of interviews and place names. Mr. Prosper also acted as CMM’s Native Hospital Liaison Interpreter with the Indian Health Branch of Medical Services, until his retirement in in 2019. Membertou Geomatics Solutions Membertou Geomatics Solutions and CMM have worked with our partners at Saint Mary’s University and Access NS and Internal Services to renew GIS software and create a refreshed website to relaunch Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project. Atlantic Canada’s First Nations Help Desk In 2017, a partnership with Membertou Corporate, its subsidiaries Membertou Geomatics Solutions, Membertou Data Centre (MDC); and Atlantic Canada First Nation Help Desk (ACFNHD) the Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project began a process of transition from SMU as the host institution to CMM. CMM worked with both the MDC and the ACFNHD to migrate both the digital atlas and website contents to its new secure home at MDC where it will be hosted on behalf of the Mi’kmaw Nation. Peter Gravel Peter Gravel, Halifax, Nova Scotia, spent thirty-five years with Parks Canada as an Audiovisual Specialist, and he now owns and operates PRG Audiovisual. Mr. Gravel has worked at various stages of the project since 2013, first recording the sound bites for each place name with Dr. Francis for the Digital Atlas. Subsequently, he has trained student researchers, as well as Dr. Sable, in video-editing techniques using Final Cut ProX, a sophisticated video-editing program. This training has allowed the researchers to create short video clips of interviews with Elders and other community members discussing specific Mi’kmaw place names. These video clips are then uploaded to the digital atlas and provide valuable oral histories relating to the landscape of Mi’kma’ki and relevant to specific place names. Rob Ferguson Rob Ferguson, served as a federal representative on the Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Tripartite Forum from its inception in 1997 until his retirement from Parks Canada in 2011. During this time, he was chair of the Mi’kmaw Place Names sub-committee and worked with his team to develop the proposal for the Pjila’si Mi’kmaki website project, now the “Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek: Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website. He continued as an active advisor and Parks Canada partner on the project until his retirement in 2011. As an archaeologist with Parks Canada from 1976 to 2011, his work covered broad aspects of Canadian heritage, which involved First Nations in a number of First Nations sites, most notably the Eel Weir settlement and petroglyphs in Kejimkujik National Park/National Historic Site. He was active in developing national and regional training programmes in cultural resource management for Indigenous partners. He was also involved in a major initiative by Parks Canada to expand the recognition of First Nations heritage within the National Historic Sites system, working with community partners in Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Notable achievements were the designations of the cultural landscape of Kejimkujik, the Bedford Barrens and the Wolastoq (Saint John River), as well as individuals Mattie Mitchell, Sylvester Joe and Gabe Acquin. Mi’kma’ki All Points Services (MAPS) staff Jennifer Copage, Paul J. Prosper (front), Michael Weiler, Jim Michael (back left to right). MAPS represents the Union of Nova Scotia Indians (UNSI) and its staff contributed input and direction during the many project meetings concerning the development of the digital atlas and web site. Ms. Copage also secured a summer student grant that offered matching grants to fund a student for the summer of 2012, in this case, Matt Meuse-Dallien. William Jones, exp. Services Mr. Jones, was the geomatics consultant for the project until Spring, 2014. Mr. Jones became involved with mapping MI’kma’ki in the late 1990s when he assisted Dr. Sable in mapping the legends and the landscape research for Dr. Sable as part of her legends as maps research. Mr. Jones is responsible for the development of the maps and map layers on this web site, as well as overseeing the development of the digital atlas and its transferal to SMU. Mr. Jones also helped with training our interns in how to geo-reference place names, attended numerous meetings, and assisted on the Mi’kmaw Cultural Landscape research by generating maps with Roger Lewis and Trudy Sable. Greg Baker Greg Baker, Research Instrument Technician, Maritime Provinces Spatial Analysis Research Centre, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Saint Mary’s University, was instrumental in transitioning the digital atlas to the SMU server in 2014. Mr. Baker continued to work on the site and help create a hard copy map of the Mi’kmaw place names throughout Nova Scotia. He also played a key role in transitioning the digital atlas and website (2017-2018) from SMU to Membertou Geomatics Solutions’ Membertou Data Centre where it currently is hosted. Richard Pannell Rickey Pannell, is an IT professional with broad experience played a significant role in development and design of the website and connecting it to the digital atlas during the final months of its initial development (2015-2016). Rickey spent his early career as a software developer for Amazon and as an innovation consultant in more recent years. Currently, he is the CTO of the start-up, Lauft, a remote work focused business based in Toronto. He lives in Halifax with his family Julia, Corrin, and Emery. Additionally, the following people have made contributions at various points in the project: Alan Sylliboy, highly acclaimed Mi’kmaw artist from Millbrook First Nation, Truro, Nova Scotia, provided the art work for the hard copy of the Mi’kmaw place names map for the project, as well as images used in the website. We are anticipating the map will be released in 2021-2022 after corrections and new additions of place names have been completed. Ruth Holmes Whitehead, assisted in some of the editing and writing of the information sheets and the research of chiefs. Dr. Whitehead has over thirty-five years of ground-breaking research concerning Mi’kmaw history, and is the author of a number of books including, “The Old Man Told Us” and “Stories From the Six Worlds.”