Impacts of Non-Aboriginal Activities on Inuit-Metis


Rather than identifying with either their Inuit or English ancestors, the Inuit-Metis people developed a distinct culture and society that blended qualities from both their Aboriginal and European heritages. Seasonal migration was central to their way of life and allowed them to harvest furs in the winter, seals in the spring, and catch fish in the summer. Non-Aboriginal activities did little to interfere with the Inuit-Metis way of life until the second half of the 20th century, when a variety of industrial developments, game laws, resettlement programs, and other developments threatened land and resources the Inuit-Metis used.

Before Confederation

By the time the first generation of Labrador Inuit-Metis was born in the 1800s, Moravian missionaries had much influence over the lives of the Labrador Inuit. Alongside controlling trade operations, they provided the Inuit with religious, educational, and medical services. The Moravians opposed unions between Europeans and Inuit and at first would not allow the Inuit-Metis (then known as Settlers or Kablunângajuit) onto their lands. By the 1860s, however, Moravians accepted Inuit-Metis into their congregations and schools – although not in the same classes as the Inuit students. Anthropologist John C. Kennedy suggests that by maintaining such distinctions, the Moravians helped create an atmosphere in which the Inuit-Metis further distinguished themselves from their Inuit ancestors (1997).

During this period, many Inuit-Metis also began moving south, while others remained in the north. Eventually a divide formed between these two groups. In the north, the Kablunângajuit maintained fairly close ties to the Inuit and many continued speaking Inuktitut. Moravian missionaries helped preserve Aboriginal practices among Inuit and Kablunângajuit by barring European fishers and traders from entering mission grounds. No such administration existed in the south to isolate the Inuit-Metis (or Settlers) from their English-speaking neighbours and many began using this language instead of Inuktitut. Inuit-Metis also spent much of the year isolated from one another during the long winter trapping season and had few opportunities to form a group or cultural identity.

As a result of their geographic separation, cultural differences emerged between the Kablunângajuit and Inuit-Metis people despite their similar ancestries. This was further intensified after Confederation when federal policy provided funding to Aboriginal people based on where they lived and not on their ancestry. Under this program, many northern communities became eligible to receive federal funding, but not those to the south.


The 20th century, however, brought a series of changes to Labrador that threatened Inuit-Metis way of life. The Great Depression caused fur prices to drop significantly during the 1930s and made trapping an almost profitless enterprise. Many Inuit-Metis families experienced deep poverty until the Second World War, when construction of a military air base at Goose Bay created thousands of jobs for Labrador people. Although the base provided a much-needed source of income for Inuit-Metis workers, it also altered their way of life. Many families abandoned their coastal communities and seasonal economies to work year-round at Goose Bay, where they became increasingly dependent on cash and the material goods it could buy.



Instead, federal officials gave the provincial government money to help pay for health, education, and other social services in northern Labrador communities showing high concentrations of Aboriginal residents, including those where Moravian mission stations once operated. As a result, Kablunângajuit living in northern Labrador benefited from federal money, but not Inuit-Metis in the south. The designated community system undermined the Inuit-Metis people's claim to Aboriginality by failing to provide them with the same level of funding Labrador's other Aboriginal people received.

The provincial government's resettlement policy of the 1960s further undermined Inuit-Metis lifestyle and identity by encouraging southern Labrador families to leave their traditional homes and move into larger growth centres, including Cartwright, Port Hope Simpson, and Mary's Harbour. This placed greater pressure on local resources and created tensions between long-time residents and newcomers.

At the time of resettlement, Inuit-Metis life had changed little from what it was in the 19th century – technological advances made life in the bush and at home more comfortable, but most families still relied on a seasonal economy of trapping, fishing and other resource-harvesting activities. However, provincial game laws and rapid industrialization during the late 20th century dramatically impacted Inuit-Metis resources and practices. Particularly devastating was the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, which flooded vast tracts of wildlife habitat and Inuit-Metis traplines. Today, a variety of developments continue to affect land and resources the Inuit-Metis use, including the Voisey's Bay nickel mine, the proposed Lower Churchill hydroelectric project, and construction of the trans-Labrador highway.

Labrador Metis Nation

The Inuit-Metis people organized under the Labrador Metis Association (now the Labrador Metis Nation) in 1985 to promote their culture and protect their land against industrialization and other outside threats. The group filed a comprehensive land claim with the federal government in 1991, although officials have not yet decided if they will accept the claim for negotiation.

The group is also lobbying for special hunting and fishing rights for Inuit-Metis people and for increased involvement in various developments on Inuit-Metis land, including the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project and trans-Labrador highway. Today, the Labrador Metis Nation represents about 6,000 people living in central and southeastern Labrador.