What is Wabanaki Area?

Where is it?

Wabanaki Area was created in 2003 due to a reorganization of Districts and Regions in New Brunswick.  It was formed by combining the former Districts of Charlotte, Woolastook, Courtenay and eventually Fundy Coast.  Charlotte District included the Groups of Charlotte County.  Woolastook District included groups in the Westfield/Grand Bay Area as well as West Saint John.  Courtenay District included groups in the centre of Saint John as well as East Saint John.  Fundy Coast spreads east along the Fundy Coast towards St. Martin's.

Where did the name come from?

When the area was first formed, Scouters in the Area decided that it needed a name that had some significance.  Some joker suggested that we combine the names of the three Districts that originally made up the area.  But WoolyCourtLotte was not only cumbersome but also not very dignified.  Then it was suggested that the name should honour the First Nations people of the Fundy Coast.  According to the website Native Languages of the Americas:

"The Wabanaki (Eastern) Confederacy was a coalition of five Algonquian tribes of the eastern seaboard, banded together in response to Iroquois aggression. These tribes--the Abenaki, the Penobscot, the Maliseet, the Passamaquoddy, and the Mi'kmaq--each retained their own political leadership, but collaborated on broader issues such as diplomacy, war, and trade. The confederation officially disbanded in 1862, but the five tribes remain close allies, and the Wabanaki Confederacy lives on in the form of a political alliance between these historically friendly nations.

Armed with this information, it was decided that Wabanaki would be a perfect name for our new Area.  With a name, we then had to design a crest.  Ideas were submitted by youth from all over the Area.  The final design actually incorporated ideas from a number of the submissions.  The rising sun was featured in a lot of the submissions.  The lighthouse, salmon and Martello Tower are found in the District Badges of our four former Districts.
 

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Modified 2009-10-03