Ekuanitshit
Innus of Ekuanitshit (French: ''Les Innus d'Ekuanitshit'') are a First Nation band in Quebec, Canada. They live primarily in the Indian reserve of Mingan on the north coast of the St Lawrence River. , the band had a registered population of 677 m ...
innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
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
Québec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...
, in the
Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...
region), is an indigenous writer and poet, councillor for culture and education in the
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
nation.
Biography
Indigenous activist
Born in the small Innu village of
Ekuanitshit
Innus of Ekuanitshit (French: ''Les Innus d'Ekuanitshit'') are a First Nation band in Quebec, Canada. They live primarily in the Indian reserve of Mingan on the north coast of the St Lawrence River. , the band had a registered population of 677 m ...
, Mestokosho spent a great part of her childhood wandering the forest with her parents, who were hunter-gatherers. After her high school in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
and then in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Rita Mestokosho began studying political science at the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi. Returning to her native community, she has participated for several years in the creation of an "''Innu mitshuap uteitun''", a house of Innu culture, where she still works as a coordinator.
Rita Mestokosho is an indigenous activist who fights for the recognition of the
Innu-aimun
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 ...
language and the development of the culture and heritage of the Innu Nation.Le défi autochtone: le combat de Rita Mestokosho pour la minorité innue au Québec /ref> She is a member of her local Innu Council and a spokesperson for her community. She fought against the project for the construction of a Hydroelectricity dam on the Roman river''.''
Her poetry and activism are deeply interlinked. Michele Lacombe has argued that Mestokosho has not chosen poetry but that she thinks it is "more useful than political speeches for defending environmental causes closely allied to Innu people's traditional homelands". In the Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature, Sarah Henzi argues that Mestokosho's work uses poetry to "take control".
Writer and poet
Rita Mestokosho has published poems in several international journals and regularly participates in meetings of writers of the native language, at international festivals of literature and poetry and at book fairs.
In 1995, she published her first poetry book, ''Eshi Uapataman Nukum''. In 2010, Swedish publishing company Beijbom Books re-published this work in Innu, French and Swedish. She was quoted in a speech by J.M.G. Le Clézio before his Nobel prize acceptance on universal literature. Christophe Premat show how the issue of survivance is important in Mestokosho's work and how it relates to resilience by comparing her work with the one of
Naomi Fontaine
Naomi Fontaine is a Canadian writer from Quebec, noted as one of the most prominent First Nations writers in contemporary francophone Canadian literature. She is a member of the Innu nation.
Biography
A member of the Innu nation from Uashat, ...
.
Another feature of Mestokosho's poetry is her use of bilingual editions. Nicolas Beauclair has analyzed her writings and describes her poetry as an "epistemic mobilization" using another language to decolonizing borders. She is also the first person writing in Innu and French according to The Routledge Companion to Transnational American Studies.
Her next book, ''Née de la pluie et de la terre'', was published in September 2014.
She won the
Governor General's Award for French-language poetry
This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for French-language poetry. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for French language poetry or drama was divided.
Winners and nominees
1980s
1990s
2000s
...