{"id":106929,"date":"2026-07-16T11:47:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106929"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:47:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:47:23","slug":"assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador\/","title":{"rendered":"Assembly of First Nations rejects &#8216;discredited&#8217; theory of of Innu history in Labrador"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sarah Smellie The Assembly of First Nations passed a motion Tuesday denouncing what the Innu Nation says is the Newfoundland and Labrador&#8217;s government&#8217;s reliance on a &#8220;discredited and unscientific&#8221; theory that Innu arrived in the province just 300 years ago. Passed by consensus, the emergency motion was brought forward at the AFN&#8217;s annual general meeting in Ottawa by Chief Eugene Hart of the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador. He made an emotional plea for support to the assembly, saying the provincial government has disrespected Innu elders and communities. &#8220;It&#8217;s a slap in the face, basically,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that was right for the province to say that to us and to our people, which were here many, many thousands and thousands of years.&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m confused as&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F16%2Fassembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sarah Smellie The Assembly of First Nations passed a motion Tuesday denouncing what the Innu Nation says is the Newfoundland and Labrador&#8217;s government&#8217;s reliance on a &#8220;discredited and unscientific&#8221; theory that Innu arrived in the province just 300 years ago. Passed by consensus, the emergency motion was brought forward at the AFN&#8217;s annual general meeting in Ottawa by Chief Eugene Hart of the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador. He made an emotional plea for support to the assembly, saying the provincial government has disrespected Innu elders and communities. &#8220;It&#8217;s a slap in the face, basically,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that was right for the province to say that to us and to our people, which were here many, many thousands and thousands of years.&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m confused as... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F16%2Fassembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Assembly of First Nations rejects &#039;discredited&#039; theory of of Innu history in Labrador - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assembly of First Nations rejects &#039;discredited&#039; theory of of Innu history in Labrador - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sarah Smellie The Assembly of First Nations passed a motion Tuesday denouncing what the Innu Nation says is the Newfoundland and Labrador&#8217;s government&#8217;s reliance on a &#8220;discredited and unscientific&#8221; theory that Innu arrived in the province just 300 years ago. Passed by consensus, the emergency motion was brought forward at the AFN&#8217;s annual general meeting in Ottawa by Chief Eugene Hart of the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador. He made an emotional plea for support to the assembly, saying the provincial government has disrespected Innu elders and communities. &#8220;It&#8217;s a slap in the face, basically,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that was right for the province to say that to us and to our people, which were here many, many thousands and thousands of years.&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m confused as\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T15:47:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/assembly-of-first-nations-rejects-discredited-theory-of-of-innu-history-in-labrador\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Assembly of First Nations rejects &#8216;discredited&#8217; 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