Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band
First Nations band government
Flag of the Mi'kmaq people.
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Settled	17th Century
Recognition under the Indian Act	2011
Capital	Corner Brook
Government
• Type	Band government
• Chief	Brendan Mitchell
• Central Region Vice Chief	Joe Bouzanne
• Western Region Vice Chief	Erica Samms Hurley
Population
• Total	21,429
Time zone	Newfoundland Time Zone Atlantic Standard Time Zone
Area code(s)	709

The Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band (Pronounced: ha-lee-boo, Meaning: Caribou), is band (First Nation) as defined by the Indian Act, created by order-in-council in 2011 pursuant to the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band. It represents the Qalipu Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland and Labrador. The band does not control any reserve lands.

The Mi'kmaq people originate from what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The Mi'kmaq would often visit Newfoundland by crossing the Cabot Strait. The Mi'kmaq called Newfoundland "Taqamkuk". The Mi'kmaq would visit Newfoundland and hunt along the south coast as far east as Placentia Bay before returning to Cape Breton Island. However, some Mi'kmaq have argued that while Mi'kmaq from Cape Breton were known to visit and later settled on the island, a group of Mi'kmaq did live there for thousands of years before Europeans first discovered Newfoundland.

The Mi'kmaq had become closely aligned with France. They fought with English settlers in New England and Canada's Maritime province's. In 1763, all of the Mi'kmaq's traditional land was ceded to Great Britain and large amounts of British settlers arrived in their territory.

Newfoundland however, was still sparsely populated and most Europeans lived on the eastern portion of the island and only in small isolated coastal settlements allowing the Mi'kmaq living on the island to continue their traditional way of life on the island's west coast and interior. With the decline of the Beothuk in the 1800s, the Mi'kmaq no longer shared Newfoundland's interior with anyone. In 1857, a census of Newfoundland revealed that there were Mi'kmaq settlements at St. George's Bay, Codroy Valley, Bay d'Espoir and the Bay of Exploits.