The Mushuau Innu. Surviving Canada

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Stripped of their culture and forced to live in squalor, the Innu Mushua of Labrador spiraled downward into addiction, chronic disease, and a shockingly high rate of suicide. This program explores the devastating impact that living under church and government rule has had on the Innu (once known as the Naskapi), and serves as a case study in the degradation of a nomadic hunting culture made to give up its traditional ways. With insights from community members, the film chronicles the tragic attempt to assimilate the Innu through relocation to substandard housing with no sanitation facilities and schooling that proclaimed their ancient beliefs to be works of the devil. Chief Simeon Tshakapesh addresses the need for economic and educational development for his people, and Don McCrae, author of the scathing 1993 Canadian Human Rights Commission Report that brought attention to their plight, provides additional commentary.