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Esgenoôpetitj First Nation, also spelled Eskɨnuopitijk and formerly known as the Burnt Church Band or Burnt Church First Nation, is a Mi'kmaq First Nation band government in New Brunswick, Canada, centred south of the community of Lagacéville (approximately 4.5 km) and southwest of the village of Neguac (approximately 7 km) on Miramichi Bay. It covers two Indian reserves in Northumberland County (Esgenoôpetitj 14, previously Burnt Church 14, and Tabusintac 9) and two reserves in Gloucester County (Pokemouche 13) (Pabineau). The population was 1,715 as of 2011. The Mi'kmaq call Burnt Church Esgenoôpetitj, which means "a lookout".
History
thumb|Burnt Church, 1758. "A view of Miramichi, a French settlement in the Gulf of St. Laurence, destroyed by Brigadier Murray detached by General Wolfe for that purpose, from the Bay of Gaspe."
The land has been inhabited by First Nations peoples since at least 1727, when a map by Sieur l'Hermitte recorded it.
William Francis Ganong explained that the current name arose after the 1758 Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758), when British General James Wolfe directed Colonel James Murray to destroy the Acadian settlements of Miramichi which included burning the stone church.
Burnt Church was included in one of the very earliest Indian reserves set aside by New Brunswick. The reserve was officially established March 5, 1805, with . At the time of Ganong's writing it was "still a favorite Micmac settlement, and much the largest in all New Brunswick".
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Notable people
See also
- List of communities in New Brunswick
- First Nations in New Brunswick