Mushuau Innu First Nation

The Mushuau Innu First Nation is a First Nations band government located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.[2] The band has one reserve which has been located near the community of Natuashish since 2002 when it moved from Davis Inlet. The reserve has an area of roughly 44 square kilometres (11,000 acres).[1]

Mushuau Innu First Nation
Band No. 32
PeopleNaskapi
HeadquartersNatuashish
ProvinceNewfoundland and Labrador
Land area44.26[1] km2
Population (October 2019)[2]
On reserve991
On other land1
Off reserve80
Total population1072
Government[2]
ChiefJohn Nui[3]
Council
  • Mary Lucy Dicker
  • Angela Pasteen
  • Simon Pokue
  • Mathias Rich
Website
Innu.ca

The Mushuau Innu and the Naskapi tribe were once the same people, speaking the same dialect and writing in syllabics, but split off and headed to Eastern Labrador, probably for sustainability reasons. Very few (if any) Mushuau Innu are able to write in syllabics any more. The majority of the tribe is Catholic and use the Montagnais Bible which does not use syllabics.

The chief of this First Nation is John Nui.[4][5] As of October 2019, the Nation has a registered population of 1072 people, of whom 991 live on-reserve.[6] The 2016 Canadian Census performed by Statistics Canada reported 936 people living on the reserve up from 931 in the 2011 Canadian Census.[1]

History

The Naskapi traditionally lived in the interior of Labrador and Quebec. In 1830, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post at Fort Chimo, Rupert's Land and in 1831 they established one at Davis Inlet, Labrador.[7] The HBC traded ammunition, tobacco and alcohol to the Naskapi in exchange for fur. It is likely that the substance abuse problems that exist among the Mushuau Innu started when the HBC arrived.

The traditional way of life of the Naskapi was threatened in 1916 when caribou herd were too small to sustain the Naskapi.[7] The same year, a Naskapi settlement was recorded at "Old Davis Inlet" (located on mainland Labrador near the modern settlement). In 1942, the Commission of Government took control of the trading post at Davis Inlet. In 1945, a Catholic missionary (from Montreal according to the Innu) set up a church in the community. The missionary attempted to control alcohol abuse in the community around this time and allowed non-drinking Innu to have bigger punts. The 1945 census showed that a large Innu community existed at Davis Inlet and a few residents used the surname "Rich" however most residents did not use a surname. A small Innu population also existed in Nain.[8]

In 1948, the Commission moved 74 Innu from Davis Inlet to Nutak (a now-resettled Inuit community in the north. The Innu were not consulted about the move and after a year they returned on-foot to Davis Inlet. It is unclear why the resettlement took place at all. After the province joined Canada in 1949, the Indian Act was not applied to the Innu since (according to the Commission) status Indians at the time did not have the right to vote while indigenous peoples of Labrador had the right to vote before confederation. The Innu were mostly unaware of the act and its benefits to First Nations in other provinces until the "white paper controversy" in 1969. Many Innu felt like the federal and provincial governments had ignored them.[7] In 1967, "Old Davis Inlet" was abandoned and the Innu were moved to the modern settlement of Davis Inlet on Iluikoyak Island. The province hoped to improve the economic situation for the Innu by getting them more involved in the saltwater fishery while the province also provided ferry service to Davis Inlet connecting it to the rest of Labrador and to Newfoundland. The Innu were promised modern housing in the new settlement however the houses were poorly constructed and lacked running water during winter while other houses lacked running water at all. The tough land prevented the houses from having basements and prevented the community from having a sewage system. Suicide and substance abuse were commonplace among the Mushuau Innu.

In 1992, six unattended children were killed in a house fire and in 1993, a video of young children huffing gasoline and shouting that they wanted to die gained national attention.[9][10]

The Innu hoped to relocate to the mainland so they could have better housing and hopefully fix some social issues however premier Brian Tobin hoped for them to move to an existing community like Nain while the Innu wanted a new community built. After Tobin left office in 2000 the province agreed to build a new community at Sango Pond called Natuashish. In the provincial election in 1999, the Progressive Conservative Party's candidate for the Torngat Mountains was Simeon Tshakapesh, the only Innu to ever contest in a province-wide election. He was defeated by incumbent MHA Wally Andersen.

The Davis Inlet crisis was profiled in the 1996 documentary film Utshimassits: Place of the Boss.[11]

Current situation

The Mushuau Innu gained recognition under the Indian Act in 2002 and Natuashish became a reserve in 2003.[12][13] The new community has better housing that the settlement at Davis Inlet and it is now easier for the Innu to reach their traditional hunting lands. The MV Kamutik W (a ferry service operated by Nunatsiavut Marine Inc.) goes on a route from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Black Tickle, Cartwright, Rigolet, Makkovik, Hopedale, Natuashish and Nain every summer. Natuashish can also be reached via the Natuashish Airport.

While substance abuse and suicide is still a major problem for the Mushuau Innu, rates have gone down since the move to Natuashish in 2002.[14][15] Still the community continues to struggle with drug abuse and youth boredom.[16][17][18] As recently as 2017 gas sniffing by youths has been a notable issue.[19]

In a 2005 CBC report the local band council was accused of corruption, specifically that the leadership was trafficking drugs and other illicit substances to maintain power.[20][21][22][23][24]

The community's attempt to resolve its problem with alcoholism led to a ban on the sale, purchase, and possession of alcohol within the reserve. The bylaw was originally passed in 2008 by a margin of two votes.[25][26] The prohibition bylaw was upheld in a subsequent referendum held in the community in March 2010.[27]

In 2017, the Innu Nation stated that there are 165 Labrador Innu children in foster care, 80 of whom are placed outside their home communities of Natuashish and Sheshatshiu.[28][29] As of 2020, according to Innu Nation Grand Chief Gregory Rich, Natuashish and Sheshatshiu have a collective population of about 3,000 with about half of that being youths. Of that 167 of them are in the care of the Manager of Child and Youth Services.

After years of having their finances under third-party and co-management[30], in 2019 the Mushuau Innu First Nation moved out of co-management for the first time in its history.[31]

In May 2020, a 15-year-old boy from Natuashish died by suicide while in provincial care residing at a group home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Innu Nation Grand Chief Gregory Rich believes it is the first time a child in the care of the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development has taken their own life.[32]

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References
  1. "(Code 1010801) Census Profile". 2016 census. Statistics Canada. 2017.
  2. "First Nation Detail". Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. 26 September 2019.
  3. "Governance". Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. 26 September 2019.
  4. Wall, Lukas (20 November 2016). "New band chief wants to get people working together in Natuashish". CBC News.
  5. "John Nui re-elected as Mushuau Innu First Nation chief in Natuashish". CBC News. 7 November 2019.
  6. "Registered Population". Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. 26 September 2019.
  7. Powers, Timothy A. (22 August 1997). Conscious Choice of Convenience: The Relocation of the Mushuau Innu of Davis Inlet, Labrador (PDF) (Master of Arts). St. Mary's University.
  8. "1945 Newfoundland Population Census, Labrador District". Newfoundland's Grand Banks Site. 19 February 2013.
  9. Davis Inlet: Innu Community in Crisis. CBC News.
  10. "A New Home and a Fresh Beginning for the Mushuau Innu of Davis Inlet". Cultural Survival. 2018.
  11. Place of the Boss: Utshimassits (1996) on IMDb
  12. "Mushuau Innu First Nation Band Order SOR/2002-415". Justice Canada. 21 November 2002.
  14. Ossie, Michelin (10 February 2019). "The hardest part of being from a Northern Indigenous community is all the deaths". CBC News–Indigenous–Opinion.
  15. Pollock, Nathaniel J.; Mulay, Shree; Valcour, James; Jong, Michael (July 2016). "Suicide Rates in Aboriginal Communities in Labrador, Canada". American Journal of Public Health. 106 (7): 1309–1315. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303151. PMC 4984749. PMID 27196659.
  16. Power, Peter (April 27, 2016). "A decade after the people of Davis Inlet were relocated, they are still hunting demons". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  20. CBC, "From Davis Inlet to Natuashish", February 14, 2005
  25. CBC, "Labrador Innu village votes for booze ban", February 1, 2008
  27. CBC, "Natuashish votes to keep alcohol ban", March 26, 2010

Further reading

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