Global InformationInnu information
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 Innu traders outside the Hudson's Bay Company trading post in Davis Inlet, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1903 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 27,755[1] (2016 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Canada | |
| Languages | |
| Innu, Naskapi, English, French | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, other | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cree, Algonquin people, Naskapi, Atikamekw |
| Innu, Ilnu / assi "person" / "land" | |
|---|---|
| Person | Innu / Ilnu |
| People | Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh |
| Language | Innu-aimun |
| Country | Nitassinan |
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period (French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: /ˌmɔːntənˈjeɪ/), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the northeastern portion of the present-day province of Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to their traditional homeland as Nitassinan ("Our Land", ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ) or Innu-assi ("Innu Land").
The Innu are divided into several bands, with the Montagnais being the southernmost group and the Naskapi being the northernmost.
Their ancestors were known to have lived on these lands as hunter-gatherers for several thousand years. To support their seasonal hunting migrations, they created portable tents made of animal skins. Their subsistence activities were historically centred on hunting and trapping caribou, moose, deer, and small game.
Their language, Ilnu-Aimun or Innu-Aimun (popularly known since the French colonial era as Montagnais),[2] is spoken throughout Nitassinan, with certain dialect differences. It is part of the Cree language group, and is unrelated to the Inuit languages of other nearby peoples.
The "Innu / Ilnu" consist of two regional tribal groups, which differ in dialect and partly also in their way of life and culture:
- the Ilnu, Nehilaw or "Western/Southern Montagnais" in the south, speak the "l"-dialect (Ilnu-Aimun or Nenueun/Neːhlweːuːn), and
- the Innu or "Eastern Montagnais" ("Central/Moisie Montagnais", "Eastern/Lower North Shore Montagnais", and "Labrador/North West River Montagnais") live further north; they speak the "n"-dialect (Innu-Aimun)
Both groups are still called "Montagnais" in the official language of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada. The Naskapi ("people beyond the horizon", ᓇᔅᑲᐱ), who live further north, also identify as Innu or Iyiyiw.
Today, about 18,000 Innu live in eleven settlements within reserves in Quebec and Labrador. To avoid confusion with the Inuit, who belong to the Eskimo peoples, today only the singular form "Innu / Ilnu" is used for the Innu, members of the large Cree-language family. The plural form of "Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh" has been abandoned.
- ^ "Aboriginal Ancestry Responses (73), Single and Multiple Aboriginal Responses (4), Residence on or off reserve (3), Residence inside or outside Inuit Nunangat (7), Age (8A) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada. 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
- ^ Innu-Aimun - the language of the Innu (Montagnais) Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine