Who Are the Innu?
The Innu (meaning "human being") are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula in northeastern Canada, numbering approximately 20,000 people. They speak Innu-aimun (also called Montagnais-Naskapi), an Algonquian language with dialectal variations. Formerly known by the colonial names Montagnais (southern groups) and Naskapi (northern groups), they are now collectively known as Innu. The Innu have inhabited the vast subarctic interior of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula for thousands of years, developing a nomadic hunting culture centered on caribou that only recently transitioned to settled village life, with profound social consequences.
Nomadic Caribou Hunters
Traditional Innu life was fully nomadic, following the George River and other caribou herds across the vast interior barrens. Small hunting groups traveled by canoe in summer and toboggan in winter, living in conical caribou-skin tents (shaputuan). Caribou provided nearly everything—food, clothing, tent covers, sinew for sewing, bone for tools. Fishing, small game hunting, and gathering supplemented caribou. The interior was harsh—long winters, vast distances, limited resources—requiring intimate knowledge of the land and animal behavior. Social organization was flexible; hunting groups formed and reformed based on kinship and practical needs. Spiritual practices centered on maintaining proper relationships with animal spirits, particularly caribou, through rituals, dreams, and respectful treatment of remains.
Forced Settlement
Innu nomadism continued into the 1960s, far longer than most North American indigenous peoples. Beginning in the 1950s-60s, Canadian governments pressured Innu to settle in permanent villages—partly to assert sovereignty over contested Labrador territory, partly through assimilation ideology. Communities like Davis Inlet and Sheshatshiu were created where no traditional gathering sites existed. Settlement brought extreme social disruption. People accustomed to constant movement and purposeful activity were confined to inadequate housing with no economic base. Alcoholism, gasoline sniffing (particularly among youth), suicide, and violence reached epidemic levels. Davis Inlet's social crisis gained international attention in the 1990s, leading to relocation to Natuashish in 2002.
Contemporary Innu
Modern Innu communities continue struggling with settlement's legacy while fighting for their rights. Land claims remain unresolved; the Innu have never signed treaties and their territory is being developed without consent. The Voisey's Bay nickel mine and Lower Churchill hydroelectric project raised issues of indigenous rights versus resource development. Innu Nation political organizations negotiate with governments while communities work on healing. Many Innu maintain connections to the land through country food harvesting and cultural camps that take families into the interior. The Innu-aimun language remains strong compared to many indigenous languages. The Tshikapisk Foundation works on cultural preservation and land-based healing. The Innu experience illustrates both the violence of forced settlement and indigenous resilience in maintaining identity and fighting for rights.
References
- Henriksen, G. (1973). Hunters in the Barrens: The Naskapi on the Edge of the White Man's World
- Samson, C. (2003). A Way of Life That Does Not Exist: Canada and the Extinguishment of the Innu
- Wadden, M. (1991). Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland