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From Davis Inlet to Natuashish: A glimmer of hope
"We are a lost people." That description by an Innu chief seemed fitting when a shocking video of six gas-sniffing teens, screaming they wanted to die, was broadcast to the world. The once-nomadic Innu of Labrador have struggled under a haze of isolation, poverty and addiction ever since their 1967 settlement. A second relocation, this time from the shantytown of Davis Inlet to the new community of Natuashish, offered much promise, but it was just the beginning of a long healing process.
Healing for filmmaker Christine Poker is telling the story of her people. For the president of Next Generation Guardian, an Innu woman's group, healing means bringing the women of Natuashish together and providing support. And for ex-chief Katie Rich, it means looking for political solutions, such as banning drugs, for a better life for her people.
. Terry Ryan, a former first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, became involved with the Seedwater Youth Opportunity Society, a non-profit youth development program aimed at helping the children from Natuashish. Ryan is part of a group helping 20 minor hockey players from Natuashish with skills on and off the ice.
. In April 2001, 1.5 tonnes of donated hockey equipment were delivered to the children of Davis Inlet. Four Peterborough, Ont., residents organized the equipment drive after learning the children were wearing shoes and boots and using sticks and brooms to play hockey.
Program: The Current
Broadcast Date: Oct. 25, 2004
Reporter: Dick Miller
Duration: 21:38
Last updated: November 27, 2012
Page consulted on March 28, 2013
All Clips from this Topic
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Six unattended children burn to death in the tiny Innu community of Da...
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Addictions counsellor Bill Partridge describes finding the six comatos...
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Haunting images of gas-sniffing Innu children shock the world.
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An anthropologist who lived among the Innu on their misguided relocati...
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Former chief of Davis Inlet Katie Rich says Innu have themselves to bl...
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A damning report describes the plight of Canada's Innu as beyond hope.
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Harmonica player Mike Stevens on playing for the gas-sniffing Innu chi...
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The Innu children use solvents to escape their hopeless reality.
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Excited Innu families begin their move to Natuashish.
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A year after the move, the Innu community of Natuashish falls into a f...
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A construction worker in Natuashish describes the extent of the damage...
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Three Innu women attempt to make a difference in their troubled commun...
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A report paints a bleak picture for the Innu children of Labrador.
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A depressingly similar story reemerges on the streets of Natuashish.
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"We are a lost people." That description by an Innu chief seemed fitti...