Travel Routes

Innu history is about life on the land as told through stories. Grandparents share these stories with their children and grandchildren who then become the custodians of Innu history for future generations. The museum objects displayed on this web site come from the history of the Innu. Many objects are no longer made or used by the Innu, and knowledge of them is but a distant memory of a handful of Tshishennuat (Elders).

In this section, information about these objects is presented through stories about life on the land where the objects were being used. Two stories are told through the eyes of a teenage boy and girl: Shimiu Pasteen, a teenage boy from the Mushuau (Barren ground) territory to the north; and Shanut Pun, a teenage girl from the Akami-uapishkᵘ (Mealy Mountains) territory to the south.

The people in these stories are almost all fictional (not real), but the places, activities and events described are inspired by real experiences of Innu people in the days before settlement.

Innu families traveling by dog team. 1966. Photo by Georg Henriksen

Canoeing in the fall. 1963. Photo by Hans Hvide Bang. Courtesy of Erik Sandberg Ingstad, Ingstad Archives and the Norwegian National Library