The Economical Threat

Though there today is not a huge economic threat to the Innus, there is the economic threat to the government, which is causing the loss of land. There might not be a huge economic pressure, but in society, money equals power, and therefore the government will take everything in order to gain greater economic respect. Because of this, the government is using the original land, which is making it difficult for the innu tribe to live like they originally did. But the innu tribe has been through a lot the past 50 years, and though this can be argued, the political danger to the innus started in 1956. A man with the name of Walter Rockwood had great enthusiasm in devising and advocating the fact that the Innus where to no help in the Canadian society. In 1956 he said “Unless a strong positive approach is adopted NOW there is a danger that the Indians (Innus) will become loafers whose only aim is to extract more and more handouts from the government” (Samson, Colin, A Way of Life That Does Not Exist: Canada and the Extinguishment of the innu) He believed that the traditional hunting for caribou and sea mammals the innu tribe was doing, was not ‘economically’ productive. Therefore he demanded that the innu tribe became more engaged in activities such as trout pickling or fur trapping, which could then help the canadian society. But when the fur business collapsed shortly after, the Innus were left with no jobs and wanted to go back to their homeland. But in the 1960’s the government had by then forced the Innu tribe out of their traditional land, and flooded the land, so there was no going back. They were left begging the government for handouts. The reason behind this decisions was to gain more power over the whole of Canada, as well as gain land which could benefit them well economically. Today the Innu tribe has adapted a new lifestyle and most of them have jobs like the rest of the people in the northern Canadian Society.

News from the Innu. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/tribes?[tribe_id]=52

Though there is no solution for something that happened in the past. There is a possible solution to the negative impact it has on the innu tribe. The main impact is the fact that innu cannot pursue their beliefs and traditions because the government wants to use their land for economic beneficial use. Survival international has a few different charities that supports the perseverance of tribes. Some of this money could be used to make up for the money the government could have gotten from the land. In return, the Canadian government will then pursue to persevere some of the traditional land for the strict use of the innu tribe only.