The Social Threat

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

The settlements made by the governments, makes it difficult for the innu tribe to live socially like they previously did, and the tribe is therefore becoming extinct because of the lack of original behaviour and tradition. As previously mentioned, the government demanded that the innu tribe needed to be put into settlements in the 1950’s and 60’s. Many families tried to keep their original way of life until the 1970’s where the children were forced to go to local schools. “The Canadian government wanted to settle our people in order to educate our children like whitemen. My parents tried to maintain our way life until we got our house in the late 1970s. Then, we were forced to go to school.” (Tyler, Dominick, Survival International) The innus felt uneducated, they could not compete with the white men in the Canadian community, and they were losing contact to their traditional roots. For many the only way out was to turn to the bottle, petrol sniffing or suicide. The transition was difficult and traumatic. “Life in the communities is marked by extremely high levels of alcoholism, petrol-sniffing amongst children, violence, and record levels of suicides.” (Survival International) Today, the land of nutshimit is being handed away to government usage by the government. This land is a huge part of the inuit culture, and as their longing to go back is increasing, so is the suicide rate.Though the government is the most significant threat to the Innus, the impact that it has on their social life, is what they feel the most. The physical placement of them makes them vulnerable because their culture is seen as odd. “The Innu believe that the universe is alive with powerful spiritual forces which are able to profoundly affect their lives… Today Innu religious life is merged in a combination of Christianity and indigenous spirituality based in the human-animal relationship.” (ArcticPhoto) They have beliefs in respecting nature, plants and animals with certain events that are done in the original nature. The quote shows how much their beliefs or religion has changed in just 50 years, and it’s concerning how it might look in another 50 years. Has it changed it completely? Is the innu tribe considered extinct? Being in the settlements means that they cannot pursue their beliefs like they normally would. This is a threat to the Innus because the culture will soon die out, as it becomes less of a daily routine and more of a yearly event.

Another part of the social life, is the language that is spoken. Before the settlements in the 1960’s, the traditional tribe spoke Innu, Naskapi or Montagnais at home. The graph shows how the main language that is spoken in the Innu households of 2006 is english. There are not many homes where an aboriginal language is spoken.

(Métis Healthy Research Database, 2006)

There is not a solution because the damage that has been done, cannot be repaired. Though it is possible to work with the social life that is currently here, and to keep it at the level that it is, rather than destroying it even further by limiting the access to nutshimit, as well as accepting the traditions and beliefs of the innu tribe. The traditions include caribou hunting, which is valued highly due to the fact of their belief in animal spirit. “you have to butcher a caribou in a certain way. If you cut it in a disrespectful way, you will offend the animal spirit...A community gathering takes place once a year in the spring, which is all about teaching the Innu youth how to survive on the land.” (Tyler, Dominick, Survival International) As the quote explains, the Innu keeps the Innu youth aware of the traditions, but it’s important to notice that when the youth is older, and is the oldest generation, they can only teach what they have been learnt, and the spirit will therefore not last. Therefore, the only solution to keep some of the spirit and social life of the traditional Innu tribe, is to allow access to some of the original land. Doing this allows the youth of the Innu tribe to connect to their heritage and their roots. It’s important to realise that because if the loss of land, the innu tribe will never be the same, and therefore it’s important to keep as many of their traditions in the future, because a tribe like this is rare. The government should therefore make sure that an amount of wild land remains untouched for the use and perseverance of the innu tribe.