The Madawaska Maliseet First Nation app is coming sooncoming soonalmost herenearly ready

Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, known in its own language as Wəlastəkwewiyik Matowesekok, is a Wolastoqey (Maliseet) Nation in northwestern New Brunswick. The name Madawaska comes from Matawaskiye, the land where the Madawaska River meets the Saint John River, the Wolastoq. The community sits just east of Edmundston, near the Quebec and Maine borders. The Nation says it signed the Peace and Friendship Treaties of the 1700s and never surrendered its lands.

The community is working to revive the Wolastoqey language and culture. Family names such as Bernard, Cimon, Francis and Wallace carry the community's history. Since 2007, every elected leadership term has been made up entirely of women. Chief Patricia Bernard currently leads the Nation with Council.

In 1787, 3,900 acres were set aside for the Maliseet, but much of that land was later taken without lawful authority. Building on work started by Chief Louis Bernard in the 1800s, the Nation won a tribunal ruling in 2017. In 2021 it reached a $145 million land claim settlement, the largest federal settlement in Maritime history. A legacy trust named for Louis Bernard was created from the settlement. Learn more about the land claim.

The Nation's Economic Development Corporation runs businesses that include the Grey Rock Power Centre, along with entertainment, retail and commercial projects.