Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Languages | |
Newfoundland English | |
Religion | |
Protestant, Evangelical Christianity, Animism. | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Inuit, Métis |
People | NunatuKavummiut |
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Language | Inuttut; Uukturausingit |
The NunatuKavummiut (also called the people of NunatuKavut , formerly Labrador Metis or Inuit-metis) are a people formally recognized by the federal government as among the Indigenous peoples in Canada. They live in central to southern Labrador, and are of mixed Inuit and European heritage. According to recent censuses completed by Statistics Canada, the vast majority of individuals living in NunatuKavut communities identify as 'Métis' as opposed to 'Inuit' or 'Mixed Inuit'. However, they are unrelated to the Metis people of the Red River Colony of Western Canada.
Nunatuĸavut or NunatuKavut means "Our ancient land" in the traditional Inuttitut dialect of central and southern Labrador. The region claimed by the NunatuKavut Community Council encompasses southern Labrador, from the Grand River (Newfoundland name: Churchill River), South to Lodge Bay and West to the extent of the official border between Quebec and Labrador. However, their proposed land use area is much more extensive. [1]
The people are claimed to be the sole ancestors of the southern Inuit of Labrador who have continuously occupied and used the region for almost a thousand years, long before the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador made any real foray into the area in the early 20th century. [2]
According to one theory, the Inuit arrived in Labrador in the 15th century from Baffin Island [ citation needed ]. Archeological evidence shows they lived as far south as the Sandwich Bay area. [3]
The Inuit were in conflict with the Basque and French whalers beginning in the mid-1500s.
During the 19th century, some European men, settled, took Inuit wives, and permanently assimilated into the local culture. Although influenced in many ways by prolonged contact with seasonal workers and merchants, the culture and way of life has remained distinctly Inuit. [4]
The area proposed for NunatuKavut consists of a region of southern Labrador that encompasses communities from the non-Indigenous community of Lodge Bay (located on the Lodge River) to the communities located on the coast of Sandwich Bay (Paradise River and Cartwright). However, there are notable populations of people of mixed European and Inuit descent in other parts of Labrador too. Many Inuit in the southern parts of Nunatsiavut are descended from fur traders that worked in the region. NunatuKavut also has a large diaspora in many other parts of Newfoundland and Labrador such as the communities located along the Strait of Belle Isle and on the island of Newfoundland [ citation needed ]. Many residents of the Quebec community of St. Augustine (known officially as "Saint-Augustin") are also of Inuit and European descent but are represented by Nunamit. [5]
NunatuKavummiut are today represented by the NunatuKavut Community Council which was formed in 2010 from its predecessor the Labrador Métis Nation (formerly Labrador Métis Association). [6] They are members of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples along with other non-Status Aboriginal groups. [7]
The people of NunatuKavut, claim NunatuKavut as their homeland, and are in process of launching an Aboriginal land claim with the Canadian courts. They are also active in the debates over the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project, and the dam at Muskrat Falls. [8]
Labrador is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its population. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in the four Atlantic provinces.
The Labrador Peninsula, also known as the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the southeast. The peninsula includes the region of Labrador, which is part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Côte-Nord, and Nord-du-Québec, which are in the province of Quebec. It has an area of 1,400,000 km2 (541,000 sq mi).
Nunatsiavut is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inuit Association submitted a proposal for limited autonomy to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The constitution was ratified on December 1, 2005, at which time the Labrador Inuit Association ceased to exist, and the new Government of Nunatsiavut was established, initially being responsible for health, education and cultural affairs. It is also responsible for setting and conducting elections, the first of which was executed in October 2006. An election for the ordinary members of the Nunatsiavut Assembly was held on May 4, 2010. Its incumbent president is Johannes Lampe who assumed office in 2016.
Lake Melville is an estuary of Hamilton Inlet on the Labrador coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Comprising 3,069 km2 (1,185 sq mi) and stretching 140 km (87 mi) inland to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, it forms part of the largest estuary in the province, primarily draining the Churchill River and Naskaupi River watersheds. Both Lake Melville and Hamilton Inlet are encircled by mountains, with primary settlements at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, North West River, and Sheshatshiu. It is the 46th largest lake globally.
Nain is the northernmost permanent settlement in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, within the Nunatsiavut region, located about 370 km (230 mi) by air from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The town was established as a Moravian mission in 1771 by Jens Haven and other missionaries. As of 2021, the population is 1,204 mostly Inuit and mixed Inuit-European. Nain is the administrative capital of the autonomous region of Nunatsiavut.
The Churchill River, formerly known by other names, is a river in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It flows east from the Smallwood Reservoir into the Atlantic Ocean via Lake Melville. The river is 856 km (532 mi) long and drains an area of 79,800 km2 (30,800 sq mi), making it the longest river in Atlantic Canada.
The Métis are an Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Northwest Ontario and the northern United States. They have a shared history and culture, deriving from specific mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, which became distinct through ethnogenesis by the mid-18th century, during the early years of the North American fur trade.
Hopedale is a town located in the north of Labrador, the mainland portion of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Hopedale is the legislative capital of the Inuit Land Claims Area Nunatsiavut, and where the Nunatsiavut Assembly meets. As of the 2021 census, it has a population of 596.
Todd Norman Dwayne Russell is a Canadian politician and was the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador from 2005 to 2011.
Cartwright is a community located on the eastern side of the entrance to Sandwich Bay, along the southern coast of Labrador in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was incorporated in 1956.
Saint-Augustin is a municipality and settlement in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada, known by its large English-speaking population as St. Augustine. Its territory stretches along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, whereas the settlement itself is located on a peninsula in the Saint Augustin Bay at the mouth of the Saint-Augustin River. On the opposite shore of this river is the Innu settlement of Pakuashipi.
North West River is a small town located in central Labrador. Established in 1743 as a trading post by French Fur Trader Louis Fornel, the community later went on to become a hub for the Hudson's Bay Company and home to a hospital and school serving the needs of coastal Labrador. North West River is the oldest modern settlement in Labrador.
Yvonne Jean Jones is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on May 13, 2013. She represents the district of Labrador as a member of the Liberal Party caucus. On December 2, 2015, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Jones is a member of NunatuKavut, an unrecognized Inuit group.
Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
George River, formerly the East or George's River, is a river in northeastern Quebec, Canada, that flows from Lake Jannière mainly north to Ungava Bay.
Akami−Uapishkᵘ−KakKasuak−Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve is a national park reserve in the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador. Established in 2015, its area covers approximately 10,700 square kilometres (4,131 sq mi). Along with the Mealy Mountains, the park protects a large portion of boreal forest, tundra and more than 50 kilometres of shoreline on the Labrador Sea and Lake Melville. It is the largest national park in eastern Canada, and the largest protected area in all of eastern North America. It is inhabited by a variety of wildlife, fish and migratory birds, including the threatened Mealy Mountains woodland caribou herd, and healthy populations of wild atlantic salmon, in decline throughout its range. Other mammals that inhabit this park reserve are wolf packs, black bear, marten and two species of fox. Agreements with the indigenous peoples of the area, including the Innu, Inuit, and NunatuKavut allow for the sharing of various management and planning responsibilities, and the continuation of Indigenous rights in the protected area.
Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic are the aboriginal peoples who live in the Subarctic regions of the Americas, Asia and Europe, located south of the true Arctic at about 50°N to 70°N latitude. This region includes the interior of Alaska, the Western Subarctic or western Canadian Shield and Mackenzie River drainage area, the Eastern Subarctic or Eastern Canadian Shield, and most of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia and Siberia. Peoples of subarctic Siberia and Greenland are included in the subarctic; however, Greenlandic Inuit are usually classified as Indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
Lodge Bay is a local service district and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is on the southeast coast of Labrador. Encompassing a population of less than one hundred residents, the community has uniquely evolved from both early European colonization of Labrador, and the inimitable patterns of land and resource use by the migratory Inuit population. The name Lodge Bay originated from the title Ranger Lodge, which was the name given to the area by trader and explorer, Captain George Cartwright in the late 18th century. "Ranger" was the name of the wooden-mercantile ship Cartwright used to trade, map and explore the Labrador coast, while "Lodge" was the name given to English hunting camps in Great Britain at that time.
The Arctic policy of Canada includes both the foreign policy of Canada in regard to the Arctic region and Canada's domestic policy towards its Arctic territories. This includes the devolution of powers to the territories. Canada's Arctic policy includes the plans and provisions of these regional governments. It encompasses the exercise of sovereignty, social and economic development, the protection of the environment, and the improving and devolving of governance.
NunatuKavut is an unrecognized Inuit territory in Labrador. The NunatuKavut people claim to be the direct descendants of the Inuit that lived south of the Churchill or Grand River prior to European contact, with recent European admixture primarily from English settlers. Despite claims of Inuit heritage, according to recent censuses completed by Statistics Canada, the vast majority of individuals living in communities that NunatuKavut claims are within its region continue to identify as Métis as opposed to 'Inuit'.