An Innu camp en-route to a caribou hunt near the Labrador/Quebec
border. Canvas tents like this have been used by the Innu ever since their
first contacts with white settlers in the 16th century and this scene would
have changed little since then. When the Innu were still nomadic, as today
when Innu choose to spend time in the country, tents like these house
a family group for months at a time.
The Innu are an indigenous people whose homeland Nitassinan encompasses most
of Labrador and much of Eastern Quebec in Canada. The Innu are often confused
with their Inuit neighbours, but are more closely related to Native American
Indians to the south.
As recently as 50 years ago the Innu were still a permanently nomadic people.
During the winter and spring the Innu would journey to find new hunting grounds
or to follow migrating herds of caribou (a kind of deer). For centuries the
caribou has provided the Innu with materials for tools and shelter as well
as food and clothing. During the summer the Innu would canoe to the coast
to meet each other and to trade.
Generation after generation of Innu lived this way, developing skills and
techniques perfectly suited to their environment.