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.
Innu fight for Survival | article published by Indian Country Today, December 30, 2005
Canada's Tibet | the killing of the Innu | 1999 report published by Survival International
Newfoundland Labrador threatens Innu 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 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 | June 6, 2008. Published in the St. John's, NL Telegram.
Newfoundland orders Innu families to leave | June 5, 2008. Article by RHÉAL SÉGUIN, published in the Toronto-based Globe & Mail.