ST. JOHN’S — The Innu Nation in Labrador has cancelled an important cultural exhibit after it accused the provincial government of disputing the Innu’s account of their own history.
Innu Cultural Guardian Jodie Ashini says she got a call from officials with the provincial art gallery days before the Innu Pakassiun exhibit was set to open in Labrador on National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Ashini says the art gallery team relayed the wishes of the provincial government that the exhibit not include an Innu timeline, nor make any links between the stone tools on display and the Innu.
She says the government espouses a fringe theory that Innu have been in Labrador for just 300 years — an idea the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website calls a “fable.”
Ashini says this theory is incorrect and the government is essentially erasing thousands of years of Innu history in Labrador.
The province’s Office of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ashini says she and others with the Innu Nation are meeting tonight with Premier Tony Wakeham and Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Lela Evans.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2026.
Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press
