Labrador Friendship Centre celebrates Inuit, Innu cultures on National Indigenous Peoples Day

Growing up, Heather McLean always looked forward to National Indigenous Peoples Day as a time to experience Inuit culture.

“It’s not always easy to do that, so having a day that’s highlighted and special for traditional foods and activities is really special,” she says about the annual holiday.

McLean is from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which is located in central “Labrador,” and she is Inuk from Nunatsiavut.

McLean works at the Labrador Friendship Centre as a Northern Women’s Circle Co-ordinator, and is helping plan the centre’s National Indigenous Peoples Day event on June 21. 

McLean says to expect traditional foods, prize events, live music, drum dancing, an Indigenous craft market, and more for the event today.

The event is one of dozens planned across the country to mark the annual holiday that takes place on the summer solstice. The day has been formally recognized since 1996. 

In “Labrador,” this year’s events hold added significance as the Innu Nation is accusing the province of “erasure” of their culture and history.

A planned exhibition called “Innu Pakassiun” had been set to open at the Labrador Interpretation Centre in North West River on National Indigenous Peoples Day — but was cancelled after the Newfoundland and Labrador government intervened.

The province wished to portray Innu existence dating back only 300 years in “Labrador,” which the Innu Nation said is not accurate and pulled the exhibition as a result. The Labrador Friendship Centre released a solidarity statement with Innu Nation’s decision.

For the centre’s National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, McLean designed a t-shirt that celebrates Innu and Inuit culture.

Displayed on the t-shirt, there is an Inukshuk, Inuit drum, blueberries, Labrador tent, ulu, bakeapples, fish, and Innu drum. The words around the designs say “It’s a good day to be Indigenous” and “National Indigenous Peoples Day.”

She says she wanted to “make something that when they look at it they can see something that represents them or interpret however they want.” 

Proceeds from the shirt will raise funds for the Labrador Friendship Centre, which offers programs that address food insecurity, housing insecurity, navigation in the justice system, community outreach, and more to urban Indigenous Peoples in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. 

“I wanted to try and find symbols that are representative of all the different, unique Indigenous groups in Labrador because we have so many traditions, but there are so many similarities shared between them,” she says.

Inuit in Nunatsiavut represent approximately 7,000 Inuit in “Labrador.” The Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement spans across northern “Labrador” to the border of “Quebec” with five Inuit communities Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Postville, and Rigolet, and is one of four Inuit Nunangat regions in the country.

The Innu Nation in “Labrador” represents approximately 3,200 Innu, with Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation and Mushuau Innu First Nation in Natuashish. Innu Nation spans across Nitassinan in both what is now called “Quebec” and “Labrador.” 

To create her National Indigenous Peoples Day t-shirt, McLean found pictures online to reference and draw from, and cut them out to place on a blank piece of paper to her liking numerous times. She says she’s always been creative, but doesn’t have a background in graphic design. 

“I was like, ‘I want to find something that would be a nice saying, and maybe could be worn all throughout the year,’” she says.

The centre’s National Indigenous Peoples Day event is set to take place across the street from the facility at Leon Cooper Memorial Park between 1 and 4 p.m.