Mi'kmaq knowledge of species at risk in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island : Connaissances des Mi'kmaq sur les espèces en péril du Nouveau-Brunswick, de la Nouvelle-Écosse et de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard

This study documents the type of knowledge held by Mi'kmaq of the species listed and protected by Canada's Species at Risk Act (2002) and found in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as of 2005. Nine individuals from seven Mi'kmaq communities in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia interviewed a total of 150 individuals within their own communities. In order to compare the Mi'kmaq knowledge collected with the species' known distributions, we grouped participating Mi'kmaq communities in four regions: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Community members recognized nearly half of the 71 species presented to them. Most of the species identified by the Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) and the Prince Edward Island Mi'kmaq communities were typically not found in their region while most of the species identified by the mainland Nova Scotia and the New Brunswick Mi'kmaq communities were typically found in their region. This suggests that the movement of Mi'kmaq individuals from one community to another has provided an opportunity for Mi'kmaq knowledge to be shared among communities and maintained within the Mi'kmaq Nation. We demonstrate that wildlife management agencies responsible for species recovery would benefit greatly from expanding their request for Mi'kmaq knowledge beyond communities found nearby known locations of particular species at risk.