A Crucial Acknowledgment for the Atlantic Region
While this first Maritime/Atlantic stencil features a Mi’kmaw moccasin, Moccasin Identifier recognizes that the Atlantic region is home to other distinct, sovereign Nations, including the Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy, and Peskotomuhkati, among others.
The Mi’kmaw stencil represents a starting point based on the first phase of our capital city regional scope. It is not meant to stand in for all Nations across the Atlantic landscape.
The Treaty Summary research also reminds us that the Peace and Friendship Treaties were made with several First Nations in what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, parts of Quebec, and the northeastern United States, including Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik/Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot Peoples. These Treaties were about peace and friendship, not land surrender, and they remain legally and culturally significant today.
Moccasin Identifier’s goal is to continue building relationships, seeking partnerships, and securing funding to support dedicated stencil designs that honour the distinct footwear knowledge, territories, and histories of sister Nations across the Atlantic region.
Pre-Contact Mi’kmaw Oonisk
The Mi’kmaw Oonisk represents pre-contact Mi’kmaw footwear knowledge and the deep, ongoing relationship between Mi’kmaw Peoples and Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq. Mi’kma’ki extends across the Atlantic region, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, and Northern Maine.
The Oonisk is a one-piece, soft-soled moccasin traditionally made from the shank of a moose’s back leg. The material is carefully cut above the natural joint for boot height and below the joint for foot size, allowing the natural shape of the animal to help form the structure of the footwear. The design typically features a single sewn seam at the toe, with a tongue created by one or two slits and secured with lacing
In the Mi’kmaw verb-based language, “Oonisk” means “the shoes made from the shank of a moose.” This name directly describes the material and method of construction, showing how language, land, animal knowledge, and design are deeply connected.
This style represents a fully natural, pre-contact technology used for thousands of years. Moose hide provided durability, flexibility, warmth, and protection suited to the environment of Mi’kma’ki. Its construction reflects careful knowledge of animal anatomy, seasonal movement, available materials, and the practical needs of travelling through forests, wetlands, coastlines, and changing weather.
The Oonisk also carries regional and cultural significance. Research notes that Mi’kmaw communities from other regions referred to the Mi’kmaw of Nova Scotia as “Oonisk” because that was the name of the shoes they wore. In this way, the Oonisk became connected not only to footwear, but to identity, place, recognition, and relationship.
This moccasin also reminds learners that Mi’kmaw relationships to land long predate colonial treaty-making. The Treaty Summary’s preface explains that Indigenous Peoples have occupied these lands since time immemorial, with ways of life shaped by close relationships with the natural world, oral histories, ceremonies, and teachings from Elders. It also emphasizes that land was not understood as a commodity to be owned, bought, or sold, but as a living relationship carrying responsibility, food, medicine, shelter, and spiritual meaning.
For visitors today, the Oonisk reminds us that Mi’kmaw presence across Mi’kma’ki is ancient and ongoing. Through its moose shank construction, one-piece form, soft sole, toe seam, slit tongue, and natural material knowledge, the Oonisk reflects innovation, resilience, and a deep relationship with land and animals.
In the context of the Moccasin Identifier, the Oonisk invites learners to understand Mi’kmaw footwear as living knowledge carried through language, land, design, and cultural continuity.
Post-Contact Mi’kmaw Beaded Leather Moccasin
The post-contact Mi’kmaw beaded leather moccasin represents the ongoing evolution of Mi’kmaw footwear traditions after European contact. While the Oonisk reflects pre-contact moose shank construction, this later moccasin style shows how Mi’kmaw makers adapted to new materials while continuing to carry forward traditional construction knowledge.
This moccasin is a one-piece, soft-soled style made from tanned deer hide or cattle leather. Following European contact, new materials such as deer hide, cattle leather, and glass beads became more available through trade and settlement. These materials influenced both construction and decoration, while Mi’kmaw makers continued to apply long-standing knowledge of form, fit, movement, and function.
Materially and artistically, the post-contact Mi’kmaw moccasin carries both adaptation and cultural expression. Decorative beadwork on the upper became a prominent design feature, allowing makers to express cultural identity, artistic innovation, and family or regional styles through floral and geometric motifs. Internal MI notes describe this moccasin as a one-piece soft-soled moccasin made from tanned deer hide or cattle leather and decorated with glass beadwork on the upper.
This style does not replace the Oonisk. Instead, it shows a continuum of Mi’kmaw knowledge. The two styles together — pre-contact Oonisk and post-contact beaded leather moccasins — illustrate Mi’kmaw innovation across time. They show how Indigenous techniques remained strong while materials, trade relationships, and artistic practices changed.
This moccasin also connects to the broader Treaty history of the Atlantic region. Between 1725 and 1779, the British made a series of Peace and Friendship Treaties with several First Nations in what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, parts of Quebec, and the northeastern United States, including the Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik/Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot Peoples. These Nations were part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, which worked together to protect their lands and ways of life.
The Peace and Friendship Treaties were about peace, relationship, and coexistence. They were not agreements to surrender land. The Treaty Summary explains that these Treaties confirmed that First Nations never gave up their land and still had the right to hunt, fish, farm, and live freely without interference. It also notes that the Peace and Friendship Treaties remain legally valid in Canada and remind people that these lands were meant to be shared in peace and friendship, not taken away.
For visitors today, this moccasin reminds us that Mi’kmaw culture is not frozen in the past. It is adaptive, creative, and ongoing. Through its soft sole, leather construction, beadwork, and continued relationship to traditional form, the Mi’kmaw beaded leather moccasin reflects resilience, artistry, cultural continuity, and relationship to Mi’kma’ki.
In the context of the Moccasin Identifier, it invites learners to understand Mi’kmaw footwear as both ancestral knowledge and living design, while also recognizing the Peace and Friendship Treaties as living relationships rooted in land, responsibility, and respect.
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
Community Partnerships: Help Us Grow the Atlantic Stencil Collection
Moccasin Identifier actively invites First Nations communities, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, artists, and creators from coast to coast to coast to partner with us.
We are seeking partnerships to:
Share Knowledge
Help us research traditional footwear archetypes connected to your territory, Nation, and community.
Design Stencils
Work with our curatorial team to introduce distinct historical and cultural designs into the national educational program.
Mark Your Land
Bring Place-Knowing Installations, Treaty markers, and educational resources directly to local school boards, municipalities, community spaces, and public places.
🔗 How to get involved: Click here to fill out our community partner intake form.