Naskapi History

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Naskapi History

ᒋᔨᐛᐤ ᓂᒋᓴᓂᑕᒄ ᐊᓐᑦ

Our stories are deep,

ᒋᓴᒪᓂᑐᐤ ᒋ ᓴᒋᐊᑯᓂᐤ

Our history is rich.

The Naskapi people have inhabited what is now northern Quebec and Labrador since time immemorial.

Our ancestors were nomadic, relying on the land and following the caribou herds that provided essential resources.

In the 1950s, significant changes occurred when most of the Naskapi community relocated from Fort Chimo to the Schefferville area.

The move to our current home in Kawawachikamach happened in the early 1980s.

In 1984, the Naskapi Band of Québec was established through the Naskapi Act, making us and the Cree communities the first self-governing bands in Canada.

Our name was changed to the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach in 1999.

The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach is responsible for governance, management, and service delivery to its members, while also promoting development and preserving our unique culture and language.

Our history is a vital aspect of our identity, and we must actively work to preserve our culture by practicing it and passing it on to future generations.

Discover more about the rich history of the Naskapi Nation here

The Great Displacement

History in French

1600s

The earliest written reference to Naskapi appears around 1643; when the Jesuit André Richard referred to the “Ounackkapiouek”, but little is known about the group to which Richard was referring, other than that they were one of many “small nations” situated somewhere north of Tadoussac.

1700s

The word “Naskapi” appeared for the first time in 1733, at which time the group so described was said to number approximately forty families and to have an important camp at Lake Achouanipi. At approximately the same time, in 1740, Joseph Isbister, the manager of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Eastmain, reported being told that there were Indians, whom he called “Annes-carps” to the northeast of Richmond Gulf. In later years those Indians came to be called variously “Nascopie” and “Nascappe”. Not many years later, in 1790, the Periodical Accounts of the Moravian Missionaries described a group of Indians living west of Okak as “Nascopies”. The Naskapi came under the influence of Protestant missionaries, and remain Protestant to this day. In addition to their native tongue, they speak English, in contrast to their Montagnais cousins who are for the most part Roman Catholic, speaking the native language and French. The Montagnais are far more numerous than the Naskapi.

1800s

The years 1831 onwards were characterized by the first regular contact between the Naskapi and western society, when the Hudson’s Bay Company established its first trading post at Old Fort Chimo.

The relationship between the Naskapi and the Hudson’s Bay Company was not an easy one. It was difficult for the Naskapi to integrate commercial trapping, especially of marten in Winter, into their seasonal round of subsistence activities, for the simple reason that the distribution of marten was in large measure different from the distribution of essential sources of food at that season. In consequence, the Naskapi did not prove to be the regular and diligent trappers that the traders must have hoped to find, and the traders seem to have attributed this fact to laziness or intransigence on the part of Naskapi.

In the 1945 census (in the Dominion of Newfoundland) the total Innu population in Labrador (consisting of both Montagnais and Naskapi) was 100 in Davis Inlet, 33 in Nain and 137 in North

In the 1945 census (in the Dominion of Newfoundland) the total Innu population in Labrador (consisting of both Montagnais and Naskapi) was 100 in Davis Inlet, 33 in Nain and 137 in North West River/Sheshatshiu (270 in total, it has since increased to over 2,000). The previous census in 1935 only counted Innu in David Inlet. Some surnames listed in the census include Rich, Michimagaua, Mishimapu and Pokue. Most Innu in Labrador did not have surnames until after the confederation in 1949. None of the Innu lived in modern houses but instead camped in tents near North West River, Nain and Davis Inlet (all Inuit settlements) during the summer.

1900s

By the late 1940s, the pressures of the fur trade, high rates of mortality and debilitation from diseases communicated by Europeans, and the effects of the virtual disappearance of the George River Caribou Herd had reduced the Naskapi to a state where their very survival was threatened.

The Naskapi had received “relief” from the Federal Government as early as the end of the 19th century, but their first regular contacts with the Federal Government began only in 1949, when Colonel H.M. Jones, Superintendent of Welfare Services in Ottawa, and M. Larivière of the Abitibi Indian Agency visited them in Fort Chimo and arranged for the issuing of welfare to them.

In the early 1950s, the Naskapi made a partially successful effort to re-establish themselves at Fort McKenzie, where they had already lived between 1916 and 1948, and to return to an economy based substantially on hunting, fishing and commercial trapping. They could no longer be entirely self-sufficient, however, and the high cost of resupplying them, combined with the continuing high incidence of tuberculosis and other factors, obliged them to return to Fort Chimo after only two years.

Discover more about the rich history and vibrant culture of the Naskapi Nation Of Kawawachikamach. Explore how our traditions and resilience have shaped Kawawachikamach today. Join us in celebrating our heritage and help support our ongoing journey towards prosperity and self-determination through education.

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