High School Block:

Wabanaki Studies 120

Wabanaki Studies 120 allows learners the opportunity to engage as modern Treaty peoples with Wabanaki cultures, histories, and identities. This course is focused on reconciliation through actions and better understanding of the interconnectedness of responsibilities and experiences. Wabanaki Studies 120 is designed to promote foundational understanding of Wabanaki perspectives of life in the land of the Wabanaki (also known as Atlantic Canada), and to then extend this learning to better understand Indigenous histories, cultures, and contributions across Canada—past, present, and future. We are all Treaty peoples who, through this course, will develop a better understanding of roles and responsibilities in honouring the agreements made as stewards of this land. While commonalities exist, Indigenous nations on Turtle Island are as diverse as the nations on any other continent. This curriculum focuses on the five Wabanaki nations while also including content related to other Indigenous nations in Canada.

Key Terms

  • Wabanaki: meaning People of the Dawn are a group of Indigenous peoples which include Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, Penobscot and Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy). Traditional Wabanaki territories includes areas of what is now known as Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. (wabanakicollection.com, retrieved June 2025)
  • Wolastoqi: Indigenous people of the Wolastoq watershed and adjacent areas. (wolastoqey.ca, retrieved June 2025)
  • Mi’kmaq: Indigenous peoples whose traditional homeland is the Atlantic coast of Canada (NB, NS, PEI, and NL) and parts of the northeastern United States. The Mi’kmaq are one of the largest Indigenous nations in North America.
  • Peskotomuhkati: Indigenous people whose traditional homeland is the watershed of the Schoodic or Skutik (St. Croix) River and Passamaquoddy Bay in what is now Canada and the United States.

For Educators:

➔ PL Hub: Wabanaki Education

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

Appreciating Wabanaki perspectives

  • Significance of oral traditions and storytelling
  • Sacred teachings of Elders and Knowledge Keepers
  • Wabanaki connection and responsibilities to nature and the environment
  • Role of language in preserving culture and identity

Wabanaki history and culture

  • Governance structures prior to colonization
  • Wampum belts between nations
  • Nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy
  • Interconnectedness of all Treaty peoples (Indigenous and non-Indigenous)
  • Wabanaki research methods
  • Preservation of culture and identity over time
  • Forms of resistance to colonization

Relationships between Wabanaki and non-Indigenous peoples

  • Changes and consistencies in relationships over time
  • Peace and Friendship Treaties
    • Responsibilities as Treaty peoples
    • Sacred nature of treaties
    • Current legal significance
  • Impact of discriminatory legislation
    • Reserve structures and locations
    • Impacts of policing
    • Acts of resilience and joy

Indigenous advocacy and allyship for social change

  • Understanding allyship
  • Contemporary Indigenous issues
  • Government responsibilities related to treaties with Indigenous Peoples
  • Role of the arts in Indigenous-led movements
  • Wabanaki and Indigenous activism
  • Addressing societal and systemic inequalities
  • National inquiry process as a tool for Indigenous-led change
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GRADE 12

Strand: Wabanaki

Big Idea: Appreciating Wabanaki perspectives

Skill Descriptor: Examine the significance of oral traditions through storytelling.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the value, meaning, purpose and worth created through oral traditions.
  • Discuss the role of oral traditions in passing on knowledge.
  • Connect the significance of stories to understanding Wabanaki worldview and historical events.
  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the role of Elders and Knowledge Carriers/Keepers in Wabanaki societies

Skill Descriptor: Explore the significance of storytelling to Indigenous worldviews.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the relationship Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaq peoples have with water (rivers, lakes, in ceremony).
  • Discuss the importance of the natural environment to Wolastoqey, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkati Peoples.
  • Examine First Nation homelands on a map and explain the significance of the location in connection to land and water.
  • Connect Seven Generations teachings to sustainability practices to ensure resources for future generations.

Skill Descriptor: Take action as an ally with Wabanaki voices to counter bias and racism.

Global Competencies: SASM, CTPS, CL, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Critically examine own biases.
  • Examine examples of discrimination and appropriation in contemporary forms of media, including popular culture, movies, and literature.
  • Demonstrate ways to make space for Wabanaki voices to heard in your communities.

Big Idea: Wabanaki history and culture

Skill Descriptor: Investigate governance structures in Wabanaki homelands prior to colonization.

Global Competencies: SGC, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine the geographical placement of Wabanaki Peoples in Eastern Canada and Maine.
  • Examine the Wabanaki governance structures.
  • Discuss the sacred and binding nature of Wampum belts between nations.
  • Examine how the Wabanaki Confederacy reflects traditional alliances between the Wolostaqey, Mi’kmaq, Peskotumuhkati, Abenaki, and Penobscot Nations.

Skill Descriptor: Investigate aspects of Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqey, and Peskotomuhkati societies.

Global Competencies: SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine the interconnectedness of all Treaty People living in Wabanaki homelands.
  • Engage with Wabanaki methods of research that focuses on experiential, visual, and spiritual knowledge.
  • Recognize ways that Wabanaki nations and peoples preserve culture and language.
  • Research the economic strategies used by Wabanaki nations as a form of resistance to colonization.

Big Idea: Relationships between Wabanaki and non-Indigenous peoples

Skill Descriptor: Engage with the changing relationships between Wabanaki and non-Indigenous people since first contact.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine the experiences for Wabanaki Nations and non-Indigenous settlers when they first made contact.
  • Determine influences on attitudes of non-Indigenous peoples historically and currently that impact autonomy of Wabanaki Peoples.

Skill Descriptor: Apply understanding of the sacred treaty-making process to the Peace and Friendship Treaties made in agreement with Europeans.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe what a treaty is and how it applies to all of society.
  • Examine rights and responsibilities of a Treaty Person.
  • Examine why treaties are sacred.
  • Analyze the Peace and Friendship Treaties and their significance today.

Skill Descriptor: Examine how discriminatory legislation is used to attempt to destroy Indigenous languages and cultures.

Global Competencies: CTPS, SGC, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine how legislature can be used to discriminate against Indigenous rights and social structures.
  • Describe Indigenous experiences at home and abroad during global conflicts.
  • Identify Indigenous Peoples’ contributions to Canada’s military and policing.
  • Explain how locations selected for reserves was politically and geographically motivated to restrict Indigenous culture and languages.
  • Demonstrate how Wabanaki ways of knowing, doing and being are preserved through acts of resiliency and joy.

Big Idea: Indigenous advocacy and allyship for social change

Skill Descriptor: Investigate significant Indigenous-led movements for social change.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the legal rights and responsibilities of the Government of Canada and its representatives to honour Treaties with Wabanaki Peoples.
  • Examine how the arts can be used as a tool for Indigenous-led movements.
  • Describe the unique characteristics of Wabanaki activists and Wabanaki activist movements.

Skill Descriptor: Engage with Wabanaki initiatives addressing systemic and social inequalities, including the national inquiry process.

Global Competencies: CM, SGC, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe ways to strengthen the relationship between all Treaty peoples (Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples).
  • Independently research a contemporary issue impacting
  • Discuss initiatives by Wabanaki Peoples to influence societal change.
  • Describe the scope and effect of the national inquiry processes.
  • Research how Wabanaki leaders engage in the national inquiry process to protect future generations.
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