Nutashkuan (
INAC) or Natashquan (
CGNDB
GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative that is overseen by the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG). It is undertaken to ensure the provision of, and access to, a common, up-to-date and maintained base of quali ...
) (sometimes Natashquan 1) is a
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
in the
Canadian province of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, belonging to the
Première Nation des Innus de Nutashkuan band. The reserve is located on the north shore of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence at the mouth of the
Natashquan River, east of
Sept-ÃŽles and has been accessible by
Route 138 since 1996.
The reserve should not be confused with the adjacent but distinct
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
of
Natashquan just to the north and east.
The community is serviced by a nursing station, community radio station, municipal water and sewer system, fire station, and an aboriginal police force.
The site was mapped in 1684 by Louis Jolliet who called it ''Noutascoüan''. It was subsequently spelled as ''Nontascouanne'' (1734), ''Natasquan'' (1831), ''Nataskwan'' (1844), ''Natashkwan'' (1846), ''Natosquan'' (1857), ''Nataskouan'' (1858), and taking its current form, Natashquan, circa 1895. This name, spelled Nutahkuant or Nutashkuan in the contemporary
Innu language
Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada. It is a member of the Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi dialect continuum and is spoken in various dialects depending on the comm ...
, is usually translated as "where the black bear is taken" or "where one hunts for bear."
History
Historically, the nomadic
Innu lived on their hunting grounds of the interior during the winter and would move to the coast in the summer for salmon fishing and seal hunting. From as early as 1710, a trading post was established on the left (south) bank of the Natashquan River and later on the opposite bank to conduct fur trade with the indigenous. They gathered at the post during their annual migration and began to settle there permanently. The post was acquired by the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
in the middle of the 19th century, but abandoned circa 1914 due to lack of profitability.
In 1909, the first land survey was conducted for the creation of a reserve. In 1952, the first of land were bought by the Government of Canada and transferred for the use by the Innu on 31 March 1953. The reserve was incrementally enlarged in 1954, 1970, and 1993.
[Natural Resources Canada – Legal Surveys Division, Historical Review â€]
Natashquan land title history
/ref>
Demographics
As of May 2022, the band counted 1,212 members, of which 1,095 persons lived on the reserve. In the 2021 Canadian census
Climate
Nutashkuan has a subarctic climate ( Dfc), typical of communities along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Summers are mild and rainy, with mild days and cool nights. Winters are cold with extremely heavy annual snowfall, averaging . Nutashkuan receives around 1,900 hours of sunshine per year.
Economy
Nutashkuan's economy is mostly based on arts and handicrafts, trapping, tourism, and some construction, transport, and commercial fishing. In all there are some 20 businesses on the reserve. The Band council owns a boat and holds a crab-fishing licence.[
Local economic development is promoted by and the responsibility of the ''Corporation de développement économique de Natashquan''.
]
Education
There is only one school on the reserve, ''École Uauitshitun'', that provides pre-Kindergarten to Secondary grade 3.[
]
See also
* List of Indian reserves in Quebec
The following is a list of Native reserves in Quebec, Canada. It includes only the reserves that are officially designated as Indian reserve and fall under the jurisdiction of the Canadian government's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Th ...
References
External links
Conseil tribal Mamuitun – Nutashkuan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natashquan, Quebec (Reserve)
Innu communities in Quebec
Communities in Côte-Nord
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts