The Assembly of First Nations has thrown its weight behind the Innu Nation of Labrador, passing a motion at its annual general meeting in Ottawa in support of the community's fight to defend its own history. At the heart of the matter is a bitter dispute with the Newfoundland and Labrador government, which the Innu say is leaning on a discredited and unscientific theory that they arrived in the region only about 300 years ago.
The measure came as an emergency motion, brought forward by Chief Eugene Hart of the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador. First Nations chiefs used the gathering to denounce the provincial archaeology office's account of the Innu timeline, framing it not as a dry academic disagreement but as an attempt to cut short a presence in the land that the Innu say stretches back thousands of years.
The debate was charged with emotion. Placing her hand on her heart, Innu elder Elizabeth Penashway told the assembly that she had been hurt by the province's dismissal of the Innu footprint in Labrador. She said she wanted to leave behind a legacy of ancestral knowledge and tradition, so that Innu children would know where they come from and who they are.
The row erupted around a cultural exhibit that was meant to celebrate that very history. The Innu Nation had been preparing to open a show called Innu Pakassiun in North West River, Labrador, in partnership with the provincial gallery, the Rooms, timed for National Indigenous Peoples Day. The exhibit was curated by Innu people and included artifacts that had been repatriated from Ottawa.
Just days before it was due to open, Innu leaders say, they learned that the provincial government took issue with their planned timeline of Innu presence in the region, and the exhibit was cancelled. For a community that had gathered repatriated objects and its own knowledge keepers to tell its story, the last-minute clash turned a moment of pride into one of frustration and hurt.
At the core of the disagreement is the province's reliance on the idea that the Innu arrived in Labrador only in the 1700s, after Europeans, a claim that effectively limits their recognised history in the area to roughly 300 years. Innu leaders say this erases thousands of years of their heritage, and note that the premier did not recognise their own timeline, acknowledging only the far shorter span.
Experts have lined up against the 300-year theory. Archaeologists, including researchers at Memorial University, say the accumulated evidence demolishes the argument, describing it as a fringe position that very few specialists familiar with the region actually accept. The province's stance has drawn criticism from far beyond Labrador, with observers as far away as Washington and Quebec describing it as a political rewrite of history.
By the end of the emotional session, the response from the assembly was unanimous. All members of the Assembly of First Nations voted to support the Innu Nation in its fight to reclaim its historical timeline, and pledged that the concerns would not stop in Ottawa. First Nations leaders said they would carry the issue directly to provincial leaders and the prime minister this fall.