Peskotomuhkatikuk Learning Hub

A Learning Experience Towards The Restoration of Passamaquoddy Bay

The Peskotomuhkati Nation has lived in reciprocal relationship with Passamaquoddy Bay for millennia and Western science has found a record of our inhabitation going back at least 14,000 years

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For the last 500 years, the Bay has been under attack from a system that continually degrades the Bay’s health, as well as the health of its animals, plants, and people (Indigenous and non-Indigenous). The system is on track for many more years of destruction, but the Bay won’t last that long.

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Now is the time to restore Passamaquoddy Bay and all of its inhabitants. The Peskotomuhkati Nation has been leading this renewed effort for the last 30 years, envisioning a region that is self-sustaining and self-respecting in every facet of life, from the environmental to the social, the economic to the cultural.

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Peskotomuhkatikuk Learning Hub is an online space to begin your restoration journey.

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A restoration actor is anyone who is actively experimenting to find their unique contribution to restoration in the Territory, through any medium and with any skill level. There are many interconnected aspects of life that need restoration in the Territory, not just environmental. So there’s room for you. The journey can be winding and complicated, even confusing at times; but it is beautiful, nutritious, and absolutely essential for all of life to thrive, including yours.

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The journeys within this site are like the yearly migration of Siqonomeq (Alewife) as they move from the cold, deep waters of the Atlantic ocean, into the dynamic flow of Passamaquoddy Bay, and up the Skutik river to their spawning grounds, which lie at the very heart of Peskotomuhkatikuk.

You are like this beloved fish, who must move or perish, like us all. Come in from the cold. Learn to move with the tides, listen to them. Follow the fish and you will spawn new life. Come close and involve yourself.

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A deepened relationship awaits you. We hope that, at the end, which is really the beginning, it can be said of us all, wikuwaculkun etolokehkimsit (learning has her affection, gives her pleasure).

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THIS SITE IS IN THE REVIEW PROCESS

There will not be any AI generated art in the final Peskotom.land site, because this project was conceived as a vehicle for Indigenous artists and designers to engage in an act of co-creation between the artist or artist collective and the knowledge that the Learning Hub is sharing with online participants.

In addition, the questions of creativity, originality, and ethical uses of archives of images that arise with AI, as well as the potential positive uses when not under corporate control, are important questions that we want to discuss with Indigenous artists and designers as part of the call for work process. We do not foreclose on the use of new technologies, but rather seek to learn together how to go forward.

Finally, we do not support AI data centers, their water usage, or their political maneuvering in local communities (including our own).

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Guided Journeys

Experience 1: Relationships & Stories

Learn about the unique mode of relationship-building that has powered the last 30 years of Peskotomuhkati-led restoration.
Hear Peskotomuhkati storytellers as they apply valuable ecosystem knowledge to present day challenges in the Bay.

Experience the story Koluskap and Kci-Qapit (Giant Beaver) as we seek to understand what is happening in the Bay and how marine science and traditional knowledge interact toward that goal.

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Experience 2: Giving & Taking

Two histories converge, the 14,000 year management of the territory by the Nation and the 400 year history of European presence in the same. We learn that ‘Civilization’ was already here, as was technology, governance, economy. We learn a bit about the current state of commercial fishing (and its regulation) in the Bay. Enjoy the story of the return of Siqonomeq (Alewife), accomplished through the Peskotomuhkati-led removal of the Milltown Dam.

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Experience 3: Data & Experience

In marine restoration work, the tools and perspectives of marine science, Indigenous Knowledge, and direct experience are complimentary, each enriching the other. Learn about the magnificent Zooplankton and their role as the nervous system of the Bay. Explore the scientific determination to continually and honestly assess the methodologies and tools chosen to build and maintain our understanding of an ecosystem. As Fred Page, ocean physicist at DFO, says, “it’s about asking the right question.”

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Experience 4: COMING SOON!

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