Mobilizing theory - Governing Transboundary Waters: Canada, the United States, and Indigenous Communities - page 40

Box 2.2 Maliseet Nation/Wolastoqiyik (Maine, New Brunswick,
and Quebec)
“Indian Nations had always been considered as distinct, independent
political communities, retaining their original natural rights, as the
undisputed possessors of the soil . . . The very term 'nation,' so generally
applied to them, means 'a people distinct from others.'”
—John Marshall, 1832 Worcester v. Georgia,
31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515, 561
Maliseet Nation - Houlton Band
The term Maliseet was derived from early contact between the Mi'kmaq
peoples and the Early Europeans. The Mi'kmaq referred to their neighbors as
“broken talkers” as their dialect was significantly different from their own
language. The Maliseet referred to themselves as Wolastoqiyik - People of
the Wolastook River (which in English is known as the St. John River).
Wolastoqiyik means people of the “beautiful river”.
The Maliseets are River People who have relied on the Wolastoqiyik basin
for sustenance for thousands of years. The basin is one of the largest in the
East Coast of North America, with approximately 21,000 square miles of
drainage. The Maliseet Nation comprises dozens of bands and tribes in
Maine, New Brunwick, and Quebec.
One of the bands in the United States is the Houlton Band of Maliseet
Indians, which includes approximately 800 members, who were not officially
recognized by the U.S. federal government until 1980 - 200 years after the
international border was designated. The Houlton Band started the process
of formal recognition in the early 1970s by forming the Association of
Aroostook Indians, which included Maliseet members residing in northern
Maine and other non-recognized Indigenous groups.
The Meduxnekeag - a tributary of the St. John River - is vital to the cultural
and economic well-being of the Houlton Band of the Maliseets. It is a river
known for its bountiful brook and brown trout. To ensure the preservation of
tribal practices, traditions, and maintaining history, the Houlton Band has
actively been purchasing land along the Meduxnekeag River, meaning “rocky
at its mouth”.
The St. John River and its many tributaries have been the focus of trans-
boundary agreements through the binational organization, the International
Joint Commission. Although the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in these
processes has been historically limited, recent movements towards watershed
boards have opened up the possibility for greater inclusion of Indigenous
peoples in the discussions of transboundary waters.