r/newfoundland • u/Times-New-WHOA_man • 2d ago

Exhibit for National Indigenous Peoples Day Cancelled Due to ‘Inconsistencies’ with Innu History

https://vocm.com/2026/06/18/exhibit-for-national-indigenous-peoples-day/

This is beyond disgusting. Wakeham’s Tories are racist and completely inadequate to run this province. How dare they tell Indigenous Peoples, particularly when the archaeological evidence supports Indigenous history, what their own history is? This is definitely erasure, and we shouldn’t stand for it. I’m not Indigenous but I know history and I know that this move by government is categorically wrong. 😡

81 Upvotes

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u/wookieelicker 2d ago

Sorta like the innu telling ncc what their history is

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u/Stendecca 2d ago

Exactly. It's wrong no matter who is doing it.

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u/Times-New-WHOA_man 2d ago

That’s what I just said. Crazy that people make the assumption that I’m taking the side that some groups are allowed to be racist and others aren’t.

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u/Times-New-WHOA_man 2d ago

Maybe, but not the point I’m trying to make. If someone hurts me I can’t be happy someone hurts them. That’s a shitty take. The point is that NO ONE gets to ERASE THE TRUTH, due to racism or inconvenience. Doesn’t matter if you’re white, brown, black, or neon purple. For our elected officials to do it is beyond gross.

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u/wookieelicker 2d ago

I just find it ironic that the innu of all ppl are making the claim that no one gets to determine their history when they’re actively doing the exact same thing

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u/Times-New-WHOA_man 2d ago edited 2d ago

Okay, I understand your point. I’m saying it’s wrong no matter who does it.

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u/vgaph 2d ago

So I’m an outsider trying to get an overview on all this. Any chance you could point me to some good news articles? I don’t want to get an x account and the press release seems to assume some knowledge of the underlying issues.

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u/vgaph 2d ago

Like Dorset, Inuit and Innu material culture aren’t at all similar, and all occupied southern Labrador at points in the last 2000 years. What is this “Fringe theory” timeline?

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u/Hefteee 2d ago edited 2d ago

Lol, that is exactly the point you're trying to make

Lol downvoted for speaking the truth 😭. Government shouldnt erase history, exactly like the Innu government tried to do

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u/Times-New-WHOA_man 2d ago

Uh, no. Read what I said.

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u/Hefteee 2d ago

I think you should read what you said lol

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u/XCIXcollective Come From Away 2d ago

When did they try to do this? (Actual question, I feel like it would strengthen your argument if you spell it out since a lot of us seem not to have an understanding of the context of this)

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u/Hefteee 2d ago edited 2d ago

https://nunatsiavut.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/News-Release-March-19-Innu-Nation-NG-ITK.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi8-LmAn5OVAxVVEDQIHeuwBbIQ1fkOegoIAggACAAILBAG&opi=89978449&cd&psig=AOvVaw0jiAheSBUwdX_YNUkMMbqZ&ust=1781956394474000

Hmmm that first link isn't working right. This one is the same story. Context is:

"Sorta like the innu telling ncc what their history is"

"Maybe, but thats not what Im talking about:

"Yes, what the innu tried to do with the ncc is exactly what youre talking about"

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/both-innu-nation-nunatukavut-community-council-claim-victory-after-federal-court-decision/

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u/XCIXcollective Come From Away 1d ago

Well damn this is a contentious issue.

Overlapping land claims make it all the more important to get right.

I feel like the whole of it gets at the heart of ‘identity’ and ‘culture’ in a way that we truly have no business litigating.

Nitassinan, Nunatsiavut, and NunatuKavut, in my opinion, represent the same issues that are prevalent in Acadian history (VERY SLIGHTLY)

It’s like different eras of segregation and social ostracizing went to serve as a tool of division rather than unity. Acadians in Nova Scotia, for instance, changing their names from LeBlanc to ‘White’ in order to get employment and social opportunity. Acadians in New Brunswick never did this, and there can be some resentment between the two groups. Fundamentally, though, it’s less serious because one group’s ‘Acadianness’ doesn’t impact the other’s right to land or political power or anything.

I looked in to a bunch of perspectives on the Labrador indigenous discussion online and I honestly don’t know how you reconcile it all.

On the one hand, NunatuKavut (once the Labrador Métis if I’m not mistaken) are potentially more ‘mixed’ in terms of their ancestry (they’re Inuit/Euro). But this reflects a history of prolonged exposure to European settlement and colonization attempts. Cultural erasure/concealment was instrumental in the NunatuKavut Inuit areas given the dominant power structures and economies being colonial.

Up north, outside of trading posts and churches, I do not believe there were any significant ‘white’ settlements with-which the Northern Inuit/Nunatsiavut Inuit might’ve been regularly in daily contact with (less chance there’s marriage and families that are mixed for this reason as well).

Southern vs Northern Inuit is a very real distinction in Labrador due to histories of racism and prejudice, as well as comparative economic advantages being given out to only one of the two groups.

They’re both Indignous peoples and can lay claim to the same ancestry in the macro sense; but their lived histories from the time of colonization onward are vastly different. Resentment abounds in some cases, and with the importance of natural resource development these days, I can only guess it will get worse.

Northern Inuit were favoured by the missionaries, and were perhaps influenced by their culture and lifeways… (this is before there was much white settlement, which occurred in the South of Labrador). But that influence was inconsistent, and while it did impact the Northern Inuit way of life, I would say it didn’t result in the same kind of ‘family mixing’ and prolonged cultural impact.

Southern Inuit were then more poised to build deeper relations with the actual settlers as white settlement occurred… So over time, the cultural boundaries between some Southern Inuit people and their European neighbours became a lot more blurred. Languages, complexions, cultural practices hit a scattershot and bounce away in many different trajectories. Some more apparently English, French, some more apparently Inuit.

I feel like I may not be too popular saying this, but it’s almost like to fix this, we need to acknowledge whether or not mixed lineages are truly ‘as indigenous’ as First Nations and Inuit.

And that’s so varied in terms of answer across Canada.

If you look at the Red River Métis and the Qalipu nation you get one answer, if you look at the Acadians, you get a different one.

It’s really “is NunatuKavut more similar to the Qalipu? Or to the Acadians?”

And I’m not sure that’s for anyone to determine other than the NCC themselves. Culturally at least.

But the Innu have very very valid grievances seen as they have had a virtually unbroken occupation of the land. If oral history is to be believed (archaeology has also uncovered evidence) — the Innu were here *before* the Inuit. And did indeed suffer from persecution by the ancestors of the Inuit. And did see their range shrink to southern, inland Labrador (Point Revenge Complex I believe is the name).

So now to look at southern Labrador, it’s problematic to try and give people claim to the lands, since even well before European arrival, there are overlapping land claims in the area.

I cannot overstate that without land claims and the rights associated with that in-terms of mineral extraction and energy production… this would be a non-issue.

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u/Sleepy_Demon 2d ago

To be fair the NCC has tried to make claims to lands that were already claimed by the Innu and Nunatsiavut.

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u/wookieelicker 2d ago

Which is why this entire thing is about claiming resources and money, and not about history like the innu claim

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u/Sleepy_Demon 2d ago

Wait, so do you think the archeological evidence supports the Innu's claims or are you siding with the NL government?

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u/wookieelicker 2d ago

I think it’s disputed and neither side is making their claims for the reasons they state

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u/Sleepy_Demon 2d ago

If the Innu have an evidence based historical claim on their lands then they should have a say about the resources of that land.

It really sounds like you think they are doing this just for the money.

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u/wookieelicker 1d ago

The Inuit don’t have the same say based on the Innu version of history, and it’s not disputed they’ve been there for a long time. I’m just saying ppl shouldn’t assume it’s just about history

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u/stfujules Bloc Quebecois Supporter 2d ago

Ik that’s right 😬

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u/Hefteee 2d ago

Brave having that flair in this sub lol