The Innu are living their own Quiet Revolution

In conjunction with the Greater Economic Circle of Indigenous Peoples, which is taking place in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, Espaces Indiens will present to you throughout the week a series of articles dealing with economic issues that represent challenges as much for First Nations and for Quebec society.

At the edge of Route 138, the sun is already setting, when it is barely 3:30 p.m. In the parking lot of the offices of the Mishkau construction company, in Mani-utenam, a few employees, construction site under the arm, empty a truck.

Mishkau Construction has become one of the big players in the business.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

The chef here is – among others – Jean Launière. This Innu from Mashteuiatsh is a busy man, just like his two associates, Léonce Vollant and Benoît Audette. Since Mishkau was founded in 2008, the company has diversified (distribution, part in a microbrewery, etc.) and employs between 75 and nearly 100 people.

We are a real player in the region, proudly says Mr. Launière, who is about to go to Schefferville for a major residential construction contract.

Jean Launière is one of the three shareholders of Mishkau Construction.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

Private companies, not all of the same size as Mishkau, there are about 60 in Uashat mak Mani-utenam, according to Ken Rock, general manager of the Community Development Corporation, who explains that, from now on, the Innu want to be part of the economic world.

The economic development strategy is in any case largely supported by the band council.

Essential collaboration

For this economic development to bear fruit, the Innu are open to partnerships with businesses in Sept-Îles. Ken Rock talks about the one between a security company in Uashat and GardaWorld.

Ken Rock insists on the fact that the community is very present in the economic cycle of Sept-Îles.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

Garda came to give training to community members. Now Garda asks us to use our agents, we lend them manpower and we benefit from it, because there is a transfer of expertise, explains Mr. Rock.

It must be said that Uashat benefits from an ideal geographical location which favors exchanges.

The Innu of Uashat mak Mani-utenam are close to 4,000 living in the community.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

The work between non-Aboriginals and Aboriginals is also illustrated by the contract between Hydro-Québec and Parc éolien Apuiat S.E.C., a company bringing together the Innu communities and Boralex, to set up the Apuiat wind farm project.

Luc Dion was able to see the evolution of the economic development of the community of Uashat Mak Mani-utenam.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

According to Luc Dion, former president of Sept-Îles Economic Development and former head of the Chamber of Commerce, the Innu are experiencing their own quiet revolution.

According to everyone, relations between the Septilians and the Innu have greatly improved, in particular thanks to these economic exchanges, even if no one will say that racism no longer exists.

The two communities have tamed each other. The Septilians see that the Innu are important consumers and are a big driver of the region's economy, says Mr. Rock.

There is racism on both sides, but as soon as we work together, it dissipates, continues Mr. Dion.

A philosophy of partnership

To continue along the path of partnership and exchanges, the Chamber of Commerce of Sept-Îles has become the CCSIUM, for Sept-Îles Uashat mak Mani-utenam. People were ready for this change, believes Gabriel Striganuk, one of the presidents.

He is from Quebec. His counterpart is an Innu woman: Kateri Jourdain. She is also the head of Immobilière Montagnaise, the operator of Galeries Montagnaises, the shopping center of Uashat.

There is now an Innu and a non-Aboriginal at the head of the Chamber of Commerce of Sept-Îles Uashat mak Mani-utenam

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

The merger of the Innu and non-Indigenous entrepreneurial world did not happen overnight, however. Ms. Jourdain says that some had fears, they wanted a chamber of commerce reserved for the Innu. Their main fear: a form of assimilation, as they have experienced since colonization.

We were able to demonstrate that it was possible to work together, she says. Today, out of approximately 360 members, around 30 come from the community. Before its name change, the Chamber of Commerce had only six.

The impacts of this merger are positive. I have the impression that our members are more comfortable coming to activities, they feel more legitimate, more stakeholders, insists Ms. Jourdain.

At the last census in 2016, the median age of the Uashat community was 25, making it a very young population.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Delphine Jung

CCSIUM wants the barriers between the two communities to break down and alliances to form more and more.

Beyond the reconciliation that can begin through the economy, Kateri Jourdain believes that the economic development of Aboriginal peoples also raises their aspirations for autonomy and illustrates their ability to take their destiny into their own hands.

For decades, we were told "you're going to live like this" and still today, we are under the aegis of the Indian Act. But there is this desire for affirmation, to show that we are capable, and that also involves economic autonomy, she adds.

This article is the first in a series on the economic development of the Innu of the North Shore.

Listen to Delphine Jung's speech on the program l'Heure du monde on November 23, 2021.