Ethnonyms: L'nuk, Mi'kmaq, Micmac, Souriquois, Tarrateen, Gaspesian, Cape Sable Indians, Jack-a-tars, Matueswiskitchinuuk, Shonack
Total population: 66,748
Ethnolinguistic classification: Algic > Algonquian > Eastern Algonquian
Homeland: Mi'kma'ki
Regions with significant populations: Kespukwitk, Sipekne'katik, Eskikewa'kik, Unama'kik, Epekwitk aq Piktuk, Siknikt, Kespek, Ktaqmkuk
Languages and dialects: Mi'kmaw, Cape Breton Mi'kmaw, Mainland Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw, Prince Edward Island Mi'kmaw, New Brunswick Mi'kmaw, Listuguj Mi'kmaw, Newfoundland Mi'kmaw, English, French, Basque–Mi'kmaq Pidgin, French–Mi'kmaq Pidgin
Religion: Traditional Mi'kmaq Spirituality, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Baptist Church, Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, "Two-Eyed Seeing", Secularism, Non-Religious
The Mi’kmaq are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, historically rooted in Mi’kma’ki—their ancestral homeland across present-day Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, parts of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, Newfoundland, and nearby areas of northeastern Maine—and they are widely described as among the original inhabitants of Canada’s Atlantic region. Their own traditions and public heritage records emphasize deep continuity on the land, with histories preserved through oral testimony, hieroglyphic literacy, wampum, and Mi’kmaq language and symbolism, rather than through writing alone. Before and after European arrival, Mi’kmaq life was shaped by seasonal movement and close attention to the coastal and inland ecologies of the Atlantic world: people hunted, fished, gathered, and traveled through a network of rivers, lakes, shorelines, and portages, spending different parts of the year inland and at the coast depending on resources. Their social and political organization was traditionally grounded in district-based governance, with Mi’kmaq communities linked through a Grand Council that coordinated relations among districts and with other nations; Nova Scotia treaty materials also explain that Mi’kmaw and L’nu are identity terms connected to “the people” and to shared language and community. The Mi’kmaq are also part of the wider Wabanaki Confederacy, alongside the Wolastoqiyik, Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot, reflecting long-standing diplomatic and cultural ties among Algonquian-speaking nations in the region. Their language, Mi’kmaw, remains a central marker of identity and continuity, and contemporary institutions such as Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey explicitly work to protect Mi’kmaw language rights and support education across Mi’kmaq communities in Mi’kma’ki. Colonization profoundly affected Mi’kmaq life, but it did not erase Mi’kmaq sovereignty, cultural memory, or treaty relationships; provincial treaty education materials note that the Peace and Friendship Treaties signed with the British in the 18th century were not land-cession treaties, but agreements aimed at coexistence, trade, and ongoing relations, and modern public statements in Nova Scotia continue to frame the Mi’kmaq as treaty peoples with enduring rights and responsibilities. Today, Mi’kmaq identity is characterized by resilience, language revitalization, community governance, and a strong sense of connection to territory, history, and intergenerational responsibility.