NOVEMBER 2018 | BUSINESS ELITE CANADA 3
T
he Innu word Naskapi is said
to mean "people beyond the
horizon”, describing their
homeland is what is now northern
Quebec and Labrador. A nomadic
people for hundreds of years, the
Naskapi people were subjected to
major relocations for the commercial
benefit of the Hudson Bay Company
between 1830s and 1950s, which,
along with the dissemination of Cari-
bou herds and diseases from settlers
threatened the Naskapi way of life.
The Naskapi Nation of Kawawa-
chikamach came to be in the late
1970s and early 80s though the North-
eastern Quebec Agreement("NEQA"),
when the Naskapi voted to relocate to
present site of Kawawachikamach, 16
square miles of Category IA-N land
covering an area of approximately 40
