Mashteuiatsh
| Mashteuiatsh | |||
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| Location in Quebec | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | Quebec | ||
| Administrative region : | Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean | ||
| Coordinates : | 48 ° 34 ′ N , 72 ° 14 ′ W | ||
| Area : | 13.06 km² | ||
| Residents : | 1749 (as of 2006) | ||
| Population density : | 133.9 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Time zone : | Eastern Time ( UTC − 5 ) | ||
Mashteuiatsh , formerly also called Pointe-Bleue , is a place in the Canadian province of Québec, which is located on the west bank of the more than 1000 km² Lac Saint-Jean , more precisely west of what the Innu called Piékoagami or Pekuakami ("shallow lake") Lac Saint-Jean, about 6 km from Roberval . It is also the headquarters of the Montagnais du Lac St.-Jean , a First Nation of the Innu , which, due to its traditional fish and tribal areas around the lake, is known as the Première Nation of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh or Ilnuatsh du Pekuakami (derived from Pekuakami - “flat See ", and Ilnuatsh -" people "). Of the (as of March 2013) 6,182 Pekuakamiulnuatsh, 2,046 live in Mashteuiatsh, a further 21 in other reservations and the rest outside the reservation. They speak Nehlueun ("Our Language"), which together with the Leluwewn of the band of Innus de Pessamit (also called Pessamit Innu Band ) forms the so-called Southern Montagnais dialect of Ilnu Aimun (also Western Montagnais ) - and Quebec French .
They are Catholic and their community bears the name of the first indigenous blessed (1980), by Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680), who had a Mohawk father and an Algonquin mother.
history
The region is still the seat of the Innu who called themselves Ilnuatsh today. They used it as a meeting place even before the European colonization. Their ancestors, the Tshishennuatsh, lived here for at least 6000 years; they were followed by the pekuakamiulnuatsh. They named Lac Saint-Jean Pekuakami or Piékoagami .
After the French founded a trading base in Tadoussac in 1604 , Innu from the region around Mashteuiatsh also moved there for the first time. Therefore they were Montagnais for the French , because they came from the mountains to the coast. They called themselves Kakouchak , after their totem animal, porcupines . They exchanged skins and furs for iron goods such as pots, pans and knives. They quickly became the only suppliers, and thus received a monopoly that they maintained until the middle of the 17th century. In doing so, they carefully ensured that the French did not learn about their territories, nor the trade customs or exchange values. But then wars between the French and English, smallpox, excessive hunting and hunger brought the population to a collapse, so that they let other indigenous people into their country for the first time. The Francophone population called the Innu simply "Montagnais du Lac-saint-Jean".
With the takeover of New France by Great Britain in 1760 and 1763, London began to reserve areas for Indians, leaving them to decide about habitat and religion, but they now decided who was Indians . After the death of the chief (Otchimao) Siméon in 1849, Peter McLeod acted as his successor. He made the first attempt in 1852 to establish a reservation for the Indians of the area in Metabetchouan.
On July 25, 1856, under British colonial rule, the Ouiatchouan reserve was established, for which the name Pointe Bleue gradually established itself, after the reflection of the lake, while the Innu initially called the place Ka Mestasiats, pointe de terre. It stretched 5.35 km along the lake and was about 16 km wide. In 1869, the Innu had to cede most of the hinterland, so that only a strip 1.6 km wide, i.e. a tenth of the area, remained. In 1870 30 families lived there. Their chief was Basile, but the first Abenaki came to them as early as 1857.
In 1866 the Hudson's Bay Company opened a trading post on the reservation, and in 1875 the wafers appeared for missionary work. The reserve was reduced step by step. The place got its current name in 1985; he was officially recognized in 1987. In 1921 the reserve had 1,878 residents, plus 549 members who lived outside the reserve. In 1984, 1,428 of the 1,947 tribesmen lived on the reservation.
In 1977 the local museum was founded, which deals with the history of the Innu in the region. The Amisk school existed as the entrance school; to attend the secondary school, the students had to go to Roberval or Saint-Félicien. 1983-84, 296 students attended primary school, 140 a secondary school, 35 attended a Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel and a further 25 a university.
In 1978, 44% of the community spoke French only, 19% spoke Innu and French, 21% spoke English and French, and 14% spoke all three languages. The tribal council (band council) was the largest employer with 80 posts, 65 of which in the teaching company. At the same time, the community, which had integrated many whites and in which numerous descendants of mixed marriages lived, threatened to split up into a group of traditionalists and one of the assimilated. Some were inappropriately referred to as Métis (not to be confused with the ethnic group of the same name), the others as "pure Indians". The former had adapted culturally, dominated local politics, accumulated more wealth, and were much more competitive. Access to resources and information from the band office increased this division.
Since then, the linguistic situation has changed. Over half of the Innu speak their mother tongue, but in 2005 this proportion was almost 95% in the municipality and in Essipit.
literature
- Mashteuiatsh , in: Harold Bherer, Sylvie Gagnon, Jacinte Roberge: Wampum and Letters Patent. Exploratory Study of Native Entrepreneurship , Halifax: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1990, pp. 89-108.
- Christiane Noël, Marie-Diane Siméon: Culture traditionnelle des Montagnais de Mashteuiatsh , Silléry: Les éditions du Septentrion, 1997.
- René Boudreault: Mashteuiatsh, Wendake , Institut culturel et éducatif montagnais, 1994.
- Camil Girard, Gervais Tremblay, Marc-André Bourassa: Les Innus de Mashteuiatsh et la trappe aux castors sur la rivière Péribonka, Chicoutimi , Université de Québec à Chicoutimi 2003.
Web links
- Portrait of the community mashteuiatsh.ca (French)
- Mashteuiatsh Museum of America
Remarks
- ↑ Pekuakamiulnuatsh - First Nation of the Pekuakami (Lac-Saint-Jean)
- ↑ Christiane Noël, p. 18.
- ↑ Harold Bherer, Sylvie Gagnon, Jacinte Roberge, p. 94.
- ↑ Harold Bherer, Sylvie Gagnon, Jacinte Roberge, p. 97.
- ↑ Alexandre Stefanescu, Pierre Georgeault (ed.): Le Français au Québec. Les nouveaux défis , Montréal: Les Editions Fides, 2005, p. 236.