The Innu

The Innu form the most populous Aboriginal nation in Quebec. The communities included are Pessamit (Betsiamites), Essipit, Unamen Shipu (La Romaine), Matimekush – Lac-Saint-Jean, Ekuanitshit (Mingan), Natashquan, Pakua Shipi, Uashat mak Maliotenam and certainly, Mashteuiatsh where we the Pekuakamiulnuatsh, have been established since the creation of the «reserve», in 1856.

The ancestral territory of the Innu covers Saguenay / Lac-Saint-Jean and the North Coast, up to Schefferville.  To the south, it extends to the Saint-Laurent River and reaches the frontier of Labrador to the east, that of the Atikamekw Nation to the south, the Anishnabe Nation to the west and also the Cree Nation to the north.

During the contact period, the Innu were called «Montagnais», a name that they were given due to significant land height and the mountainous territory of the North Coast and the Saguenay.  In addition, when it is a question of the whole nation, please note that our nation is designated: Ilnuatsh.  It is simply a difference of dialect and writing by comparison with the designation of the North-coast communities.