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The 'Innu' are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan, which comprises most of what Canadians refer to as eastern Quebec and Labrador, Canada. Their population in 2003 includes about 18,000 persons, of which 15,000 live in Quebec. They are known to have lived on these lands as hunter-gatherers for several thousand years, living in tents made of animal skins. Their subsistance activities were historically centered on hunting and trapping caribou, moose, deer and small game. Some coastal clans also practiced agriculture, fished, and managed maple sugarbush. Their language, Innu-aimun or Montagnais, is spoken throughout Nitassinan, with certain dialect differences. Innu-aimun is related to the language spoken by the Cree of the James Bay region of Quebec and Ontario.

Contents

Montagnais, Naskapi or Innu

History

Davis Inlet, Labrador

Kawawachikamach, Québec

Culture

Innu communities

Labrador

Québec

External links

Montagnais, Naskapi or Innu

The Innu people are frequently miscategorized into two groups, the ''Montagnais'' who live along the north shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, in Quebec, and the less numerous ''Naskapi'' who live farther north. The Innu themselves recognize several distinctions (e.g. Mushuau Innut, Maskuanu Innut, Uashau Innut) based on different regional affiliations and various dialects of the Innu language.
The word "Naskapi" (meaning "people beyond the horizon") first made an appearance in the 17th century and was subsequently applied to Innu groups beyond the reach of missionary influence, most notably those living in the lands which bordered Ungava Bay and the northern Labrador coast, near the Inuit communities of northern Quebec and northern Labrador. It is here that this term finally settled upon the Naskapi First Nation. The Naskapi are traditionally nomadic peoples, in contrast with the territorial Montagnais. Mushuau Innuts, while related to the Naskapi, split off from the tribe in the 1900's and moved to Davis Inlet. The Naskapi language is quite different from the Montagnais, in which the dialect changes from y to n as in "Iiyuu" versus "Innu". Some of the families of the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach have close relatives in the Cree village of Whapmagoostui, on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay.
Since 1990, The Montagnais people have generally been officially referred to as the 'Innu', which means ''human being'' in Innu-aimun, while the Naskapi have continued to use the word "Naskapi".
The Innu should not be confused with the Inuit, a distinct people who live in the Canadian Arctic, and though the languages of the tribes varies in source, the word itself derives from the same root, meaning "people".

History

The Innu of Labrador and those living on the north shore of the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence have never officially surrendered their territory to Canada by way of treaty or other agreement. As the forest and mining operations began at the turn of the 20th century, the Innu became increasingly settled in coastal communities and in the interior of Quebec. The settlement of the Innu was furthermore encouraged by the Canadian government, the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the Catholic, Moravian, and Anglican churches, thus changing their traditional lifestyle. However, with the gradual decline of traditional activities (hunting, trapping, fishing), life in these permanent settlements was often marred by high levels of alcoholism, substance abuse by children, domestic violence and suicide.

Davis Inlet, Labrador

Survival International published in 1999 a scathing study of the Innu communities of Labrador and the impact of the Canadian government's policy of relocating them far away from their ancestral lands and preventing them from practising their ancient way of life. Survival International considered these policies to be in violation of international law and have drawn parallels with the treatment of Tibetans by the People's Republic of China. During the period from 1990 to 1997, according to the Survival International study, the Innu community of Davis Inlet had a suicide rate more than twelve times the Canadian average, and well over three times the rate often observed in isolated northern villages.
By 2000, the Innu community of Davis Inlet asked the Canadian government to assist with a local addiction crisis and the community was moved, at their request, to a nearby location now known as Natuashish. At the same time, the Canadian government created the Natuashish and Sheshatshiu band councils under the Indian Act.

Kawawachikamach, Québec

The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, of Quebec, is the only Quebec First Nations community that has signed a comprehensive land claims settlement, the Northeastern Quebec Agreement, in 1978. Since that date, the Naskapi of Kawawachikamach are no longer subject to the Indian Act, as are all Innu communities of Quebec.

Culture

The best-known members of the Innu nation are the folk rock duo Kashtin of Quebec.

Innu communities

Labrador

★ Natuashish (formerly Davis Inlet)

★ Sheshatshiu

Québec

★ Betsiamites

★ Essipit

★ Kawawachikamach (Naskapi Nation)

★ Unamenshipit

★ Mashteuiatsh

★ Matimekosh

★ Ekuantshit

★ Nutashkuant

★ Pakuashipi

★ Uashat-Maliotenam

External links

★ Official website of the Innu Nation of Labrador.

★ Official website of the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, Québec

★ "Portail Innu", Québec

★ Website of the Tshikapisk Foundation (a non profit Innu organization focussing on social and cultural renewal)

★ Virtual Museum of Canada - Tipatshimuna: Innu stories from the land

★ Canada's Tibet: The Killing of the Innu, a report from Survival International (PDF file) (A study of Innu communities of Labrador)

★ Distinctions between "Naskapi", "Montagnais" and "Innu"

★ Montagnais Indians (Quebec) - Article in the Catholic Encyclopedia

★ CBC Digital Archives - Davis Inlet: Innu community in crisis