[Indigsol] Innu Nation

[Pei-Ju Wang]

Innu People Struggle for Survival 

In the 1970s, Canada was building the controversial James Bay hydroelectric
project that flooded vast portions of Innu, Cree and Inuit homelands.  In
order to build the dams, Canada negotiated a land claims settlement with the
Cree and Inuit, but the Innu people chose not to participate, because they
objected to provisions in the land claim settlement that would extinguish
Innu ownership of their homelands. 

Canada moved forward with legislation that unilaterally extinguished Innu
land rights.  They flooded Innu hunting grounds and burial sites, bulldozed
homes, and forcibly relocated the Innu under colonial policies designed to
force the Innu from their land so it could be opened to non-Native resource
development.   

The Canadian government forced the Innu to abandon their traditional hunting
culture and coerced them into becoming ''civilized'' by relocating them to
government-built villages and sending their children to residential schools.


The forced relocation resulted in a total disruption of the Innu way of
life, and was followed by shocking rates of suicide, especially among Innu
youth.  The cultural disintegration wrought by forced relocation has
devastated the Innu people who now suffer the highest suicide rates in the
world.   

Innu traditional homelands, comprised of more than 300,000 square miles of
forests, rivers and valuable mineral deposits, were never ceded or signed
away by treaty to Canada. Innu leaders argue that Canada should have to
prove how it claims ownership of aboriginal lands belonging to people who
have lived there for more than 7,500 years. The Innu did not receive
compensation for lands taken or provisions for future generations. 

In 2007, the Center was part of an international fact-finding mission led by
Innu attorney and human rights activist Armand MacKenzie to gather
information about Canada's violations of Innu land rights. 

To assist the Innu, Center attorneys are carrying out research to determine
what legal alternatives are open to the Innu.  We hope to assist them in
seeking justice in domestic courts and if necessary in international human
rights forums. 

Map <http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/Map_Nation_Innu.pdf>
of Innu Territory 

Innu
<http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/1.22%20Innu%20fight%20fo
r%20suvival%20and%20Nitassinan.pdf>  fight for Survival | article published
by Indian Country Today, December 30, 2005 

Canada's
<http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/Canada%27s_Tibet_InnuRep
ort.pdf>  Tibet | the killing of the Innu | 1999 report published by
Survival International 

Newfoundland Labrador threatens Innu <http://www.indianlaw.org/node/301>
evictions  Aggressive action is serious violation of international human
rights law  | June 5, 2008 INDIAN LAW RESOURCE CENTER PRESS RELEASE 

Innu vow fight over eviction, but discard threats to burn
<http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/resources/Gazette_7Jun08
pdf>  cabins | June 7, 2008. Article by MARIANNE WHITE and KEN MEANEY,
published in the Montreal Gazette. 

Premier's response to Quebec Innu is unacceptable: NDP leader
<http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/resources/Telegram_June6
_2008.pdf> | June 6, 2008. Published in the St. John's, NL Telegram. 

Newfoundland orders Innu families to leave
<http://www.indianlaw.org/sites/indianlaw.org/files/resources/Globe&Mail_5Ju
ne.pdf>  | June 5, 2008. Article by RHÉAL SÉGUIN, published in the
Toronto-based Globe & Mail. 

  

 

 

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