Innu

Innu

 also called Montagnais and Naskapi

North American Indian peoples living in Quebec and Labrador, Canada. The southern group has been referred to as the Montagnais and the northern group as the Naskapi. They speak almost identical Algonquian dialects. The southern Innu traditionally occupied a large forested area above the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They lived in birch-bark wigwams and subsisted on moose, salmon, eels, and seals. The northern Innu lived on the Labrador plateau, where they hunted caribou and fished; their name for themselves is Nenenot, meaning “true, real people.” Both groups used canoes in summer and sleds and snowshoes in winter. Religious belief centred on manitou, or supernatural power; much importance was attached to nature and animal spirits. The basic social unit was the nomadic band. Population estimates indicated some 9,500 Innu descendants in the early 21st century.

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Innu

1. a member of an Algonquian people living in Labrador and northern Quebec

2. the Algonquian language of this people