September 16, 1996

"Innu Nation Calls on Labrador 'Metis' Association to Prove their Aboriginality"

(Sheshatshiu) Innu Nation President, Peter Penashue, called upon the Labrador "Metis" Association today to prove that its members are really Aboriginal people with Innu ancestry. Mr. Penashue said, "We're getting tired of hearing all these claims from so-called 'Metis' people that they are Aboriginal and have rights throughout Labrador when, in fact, they haven't presented a scrap of evidence to back up their claims."

"The so-called 'Metis' haven't provided any land use documents or family tree information to prove they have Innu ancestry and rights in Labrador, and yet, they are trying to muscle in on scarce funding that is allocated to people of truly Aboriginal ancestry," said Mr. Penashue.

"Special programs and funds are earmarked for Aboriginal people in recognition of the fact that we have special needs as colonized peoples who have suffered terribly from the impacts of European settlement. Moreover, land rights negotiations are intended to resolve outstanding issues related to the colonization of our lands. In this context, it really hurts the interests of legitimate Aboriginal people when various people of dubious Native ancestry-many of whom continue to benefit from the alienation of our lands-pretend they have Innu ancestry without a shred of evidence to back up their claims."

Mr. Penashue said "the membership criteria of the Labrador 'Metis' Association are so loose that the door is left wide open to non-Aboriginal people." He pointed to a clause in the Articles of Association of the Association that states that membership is open to "Original Labradorians," meaning people "who settled in Labrador north of the Pinware River prior to 1940, who [have] remained there since, and their descendants." According to Penashue, "This criterion means that people in Port Hope Simpson, who immigrated to the region from Newfoundland after 1934 because of lumbering operations, are members of the LMA and are considered to be Aboriginal. This is completely absurd."

"I understand that many of these people have a strong connection to this land, and I certainly recognize that many of them are descendants of the original Settlers, but being Aboriginal is something else entirely. I recognize the Settlers as real Labradorians, as passionate Labradorians, and as being very different than the people who have just come from away." Penashue continued, "But I also remember when being Aboriginal meant having brown skin and being stigmatized by non-Aboriginal people in Labrador, most Settlers denied any Aboriginal heritage. But the second they saw money in being Aboriginal, they all of a sudden became 'Metis', to the detriment of the Innu and Inuit."

"The media are giving these people a free ride, without asking any hard questions about the validity of their claims to being Aboriginal. It's high time journalists in this province stopped accepting at face value everything Todd Russell and his colleagues say about their status," stated Penashue.

In closing, Penashue said, "there's one quick way to resolve the issue of who the so-called 'Metis' really are. Let the LMA table all their historic land use and family tree information immediately with the Innu, Inuit, federal and provincial governments so that we can determine once and for all whether these people are genuinely Aboriginal or just fakes trying to grab scarce funds and programs that are supposed to be for genuinely Aboriginal people."