Natuashish

I flew into northern Labrador on Tuesday, Oct 25th, 2011.

The company I work for has been contracted to help build various community centres and housing for the Mushuau Innu that now call Natuashish home.

The history of Natuashish is short; the community has only been inhabited for nine years. It was built to replace Davis Inlet in an attempt to help the Naskapi Innu who were facing severe social crises – brought on largely by previous government interventions and relocations.

From one point of view, it might be best for me to leave this one alone. My ability to dig deep into these subjects and to communicate with the local population is severely restricted.

Then there is the fact that I’m not an investigative journalist. I might like to pretend that I do a little freelance reporting here and there, but that’s not quite my reality. I have no mandate to do such things, and I could end up causing trouble for myself and for my employers if I’m not smart about it.

Having said that, I do hope that over the course of the month that I’m able to generate something insightful. This is definitely a contrast to my life in Halifax, and to the lives of most of the people I know.

I’m working on collecting pertinent information about the region and it’s recent history. Especially that history as impacted by the largely European descendants who have exerted influence on the Innu way of life.

I can say this: I see positive signs – but there is a long road ahead in many respects.

For the my coworkers and myself, that involves up to 30 straight days of work, typically 12 hours a day. For some, the total number of days will exceed 50.

This will be a challenge on many levels. Three days in, so far so good.

— October 27th, 2011. 11:22pm