Equality of Autonomy: Innu People and Military Games

BY CHRISTINA STARR

Though the issues of educational, employment and pay equity are of urgent importance for many women in Canada, there are others fighting simply for the recognition of themselves as people and for their rights as human beings.

The Innu, who live in the Quebec/Labrador peninsula, have been struggling to preserve their land and their way of life from encroaching militarization. These people (not to be confused with the Inuit) have lived on their land, "Nitassinan," for at least 9,000 years. For nearly all this time they have followed a traditional lifestyle, living in tent settlements in the winter and traveling into the bush every spring and summer to hunt and fish.

During Word War II, a military base was established in Goose Bay, Labrador. Since 1980 it has been developing into a low-level flight training centre for pilots from Germany, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands. Currently the number of flights that pass over Nitassinan in one flying season (April-October) is approximately 7,500, but the Canadian government is negotiating an expansion of the base which would increase the number of flights to 40 000 and add to them activities such as dog fighting, bombing practice and simulated nuclear strikes.

The Innu have never signed any treaties nor agreed to exchange their land for the protection of any government. Since about 1960, they have been forced onto the welfare rolls and into permanent settlements where there is no running water nor any sewage treatment. The Innu cannot live in health or hope, let alone continue their traditional way of life, in these conditions. They have begun a protest, led mostly by the women, of camping on the military base, particularly on the runways. They have been charged by the RCMP with trespassing and have spent time in jail. Following is the statement given in court by Elizabeth Penashue, an Innu woman arrested for trespassing, last April 6.

"We, the Innu, have never signed any document to give away our land. We have never been consulted about how our land was going to be used. The government has simply stolen our land from us. Where is the paper that says we have given away our land? There is no such paper.

"They have stolen Nitassinan from us. They (the government) are lying when they say it's theirs. And they have come to our land to destroy the land, our culture, and the life the Innu know best, living off the land. And today, I can't understand why we are brought into this court. What crime did we commit? This is our land. There is no reason at all for us to be tried in court: no reason to be spending time in jail. This is our land. We have a deep respect for our land and it means a whole lot to us, and especially to our animals.

"They (the government) are the ones who should be brought into the court to be tried on the crimes they have done against the Innu. They are the ones who should be spending time in jail for the outright stealing they have done from our land. We, the Innu, have never given them permission to take away our land. They just grabbed at whatever resources our land had. They have polluted our land and weakened our animals, who once were healthy. And we, the Innu, still use our land to hunt. This land wasn't meant to be used as a war land. This is an Innu's hunting land. Not a war land.