Who Are the Lnug?
The Lnug are the indigenous people of L'num'tgi. While rarely identified on maps L'num'tgi is found in the Northeastern lands of North America, commonly included in maps of Canada. This is despite being agreed to by treaty and identified as the independent sovereign territory of the Lnug.
These lands have traditionally included the provinces of P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, parts of the Gaspé (N.E. Quebec), and the Northern part of the state of Maine. We Lnug are apart of the greater more ancient Algonquin family. The Algonquin are a large ethno-linguistic family of hundreds of nations. These 1st nations share the same genetic-root and subsequently related languages. This relationship is similar to the relationship between the Latin speaking people of Italy, France, & Spain. The Lnug, (also spelled L'nu, L'nuk, or L'nug)
meaning: "the people", share our heritage with the Mi'kmaq (or Micmac) meaning "Friend". Our history and language are one. If you understand your ethnic and national heritage to be Lnug too however are not a citizen you may apply for Apply Lnug citizenship by clicking here.
For printable pamphlets double click here
Lnug Reclamation
This site is called "Lnug Apajiaq":
The meaning of Lnug in our language is merely - "Our people, or the People".
"Apajiaq" is both, "A return to", or "As a result of".
Therefore this site is a return to our indigenous culture. Through various methods of coercion our people have largely become foreign to our own heritage. Throughout the remainder of the site it will become clear how this was accomplished, but no matter how it was achieved and who is to blame Reclamation is the resolution to the many problems that arise from loss of culture.
Lnug.ca is constantly being updated and edited. We encouragement here errors are found as our aim is for accuracy and truth. Our goals on this site are to educate & restore Lnug culture to all hereditary Lnug. Unite the Lnug internally so we can resume natural, national interaction with other peoples. While re-establishing respect-worthy cultural practices, language, tradition, religion, and valued principals of the Lnug. To this end you will find underlined words throughout the page which when clicked on will translate the term into Lnuismk. We aim to satisfy our treaty obligations with the government of Canada as our ancestors would have wanted us to do & solidly clasp our potential before us. Additionally we refuse to relinquish anymore land to ignorance of our rights, coercion by the various Canadian governments, or any of Canada's subsidiary corporations.
We aim to reclaim our self-determination through reinstitution of our governing bodies which the Euro-Canadian providence mimics on our behalf. Since you find yourself here, we Challenge you to not only engage with our site, but take this endeavour as your own and rebuild the Lnug nation. Ginu nestuita'sieg!
Kji-Saqmaw Membertou Schism
After having witnessed the extravagant decimation of the Beothuk resulting over years of abduction & enslavement by Europeans who in 1501 began abducting Beothuk at random and shipping them to ports in Lisbon & Seville, Kji-Saqmaw Membertou would have seen this example of their fate as a potential foreshadowing of his own people's. It is unlikely that the Kji-Saqmaw would have recognized the glory of the European god, & far more likely that he recognized the reality which lay before him. There stood an opportunity for a war that would likely end in the shared fate of their rivals, the Beothuk or, in joining in with the shared spoils of an empire that crossed the Atlantic. While it would be unfair to characterize Membertou's decision unfavourably in hindsight, it did serve to preserve our people, & thus facets of our culture. Inarguably Kji-Saqmaw Membertou's decision to welcome & adopt the Europeans would forever alter our people, though no one could have known how.
On June 24, 1610
Kji-Saqmaw Membertou and his family were among the earliest Afro-Americas to be baptized in the Americas. This was Kji-Saqmaw Membertou's choice, we can only speculate to his motives at this point, but what we do know is this was the first significant adoption of European traditions, customs and the like of any Natives recognized by Canadian history. While it is rarely acknowledged as such, this instance was the birth of that spirited notion that history teaches all Canadian students: "Kill the Indian, save the child". This was the beginning of the insidious idea that, the indigenous could be subdued without spending incalculable resources through conversion, rather than have our inevitable resistance quelled by exhaustive war.
"I will declare war on any of my people who refuse the Catholic faith"
- Kji-Saqmaw Membertou
With this statement Kji-Saqmaw Membertou divided our people into two the Mi'kmaq (friends of the Europeans), & the Lnug, those of us who refused to assimilate. The creation of this schism over 400 years ago has grown into a chasm, emphasized by the invading force which instigated it. Many elements have altered our populations over the centuries, but today more than ever we, the people of the dawn need each other.
Wabanaki Confederacy
Founded to repel the British imperial forces which were popping up like leper lesions across the eastern woodland terrain; the Wabanaki Confederacy is a union of 5 nations which coalesced in 1676. Like an eastern indigenous early version of NATO. Former enemy-nations, neighbours, & rivals united under a single banner and forged a common culture to defend against the foreign European invasion. These are the Nations of the Welastekwewiyik, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Abenaki & of course the Mi'kmaq. Today the Confederacy remains governed by a council of elected Saqmaw.
Wabanaki council requires consensus which means every topic raised is thoroughly debated. Wabanaki Saqmaw hold "council fires" whenever there is a need to meet.
After 186 years of wars with the British, unfortunately they were able to force the disbanding of the Confederacy in 1862. The Wabanaki reunited in 1993 with a new life. Instead of being a defence alliance like NATO, the Confederacy, now functions more like the Indigenous version of the European union with a focus on shared culture, history & heritage. Often the Wabanaki identity supersedes those of individual nations.
