Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive by Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue (review)

NITINIKIAU INNUSI is a collection of diaries of Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue, an Innu woman well known for her opposition to low-level flying and bomb testing by NATO jets on Innu land in the 1980s and 1990s. Tshaukuesh's diary entries were originally written in Innu-aimun and were cotranslated and coedited for this book by friend and ally Elizabeth Yeoman, professor emerita from Memorial University. The book is divided into four parts and covers Tshaukuesh's years of environmental and cultural activism from 1987 to 2016. Tshaukuesh was given an Indspire (formerly National Aboriginal Achievement) Award for environmental activism in 2008. Her diaries provide a glimpse into her thoughts and feelings during this tumultuous time, including her fears, doubts, heartache as well as joys and hopes for the future.

Tshaukuesh was happiest when we she was on the land, living the life of her ancestors. She writes, "I loved learning from my parents when we were in nutshimit. We were never impatient or dissatisfied . . . we're so healthy when we're in the bush" (58–59). Tshaukuesh's reflections on her experiences on the land are a mix of her descriptions of hard work, the happiness she felt, and the stark differences between a traditional Innu life and the rapidly changing realities of life in colonial Canada. What was simply life in the bush during Tshaukuesh's childhood, over the course of her lifetime, morphed into conscious efforts of cultural activism as she became a mother and grandmother. As modern living pulled her children and grandchildren away from the land for school and work, Tshaukuesh organized walks and canoe trips into nutshimit. She lamented the growing disconnect from the land that her people experienced over time. In a poignant diary entry about her daughter Kanani, she writes,

I see you walk outside to your car. You're so well-dressed and elegant as you drive away. I want you to know how much I miss you since you took this job. Now you won't be able to go on the land, you who loved nutshimit so much and who used to help me do all the work that needed to be done. You won't be able to take your children to nutshimit, either. It seems you're always working, and I'm afraid you've abandoned forever the way of life that you loved so much in nutshimit.

(72)

At times, she felt her community had given up protecting the land. Her son Peter, who was elected president of the Innu Nation and later, Member of Parliament and minister of intergovernmental affairs, negotiated land claims and ultimately supported the building of a dam that Tshaukuesh and others opposed. She stated, sadly, that "the people aren't united anymore, they're distracted and confused by money. The government paid us off so they could destroy our land" (170).

In many ways, Nitinikiau Innusi reads as a tragedy of loss of traditional Indigenous ways due to living under settler colonialism, but Tshaukuesh's life, activism, and words are also an inspiration. Tshaukuesh traveled all over Canada, the United States, and Europe speaking out against NATO and many resource extraction projects. She spoke at Harvard, testified before the Human Rights Tribunal in the Hague, and even met the Queen of England. She also organized protests and occupations, often being sent to jail for her efforts. Through her experiences she developed a strong appreciation for the organizing power of Indigenous women. In 1988, Tshaukuesh wrote, "I had never known how strong women could be until then. Until then I thought it was up to the men to stand up to these forces, but since I spoke out, stood up to NATO, I will never again believe that there are any limits to what women can do" (17). Indigenous women remain at the forefront of cultural and environmental activism all over the world. Tshaukuesh writes, "We're very strong women; if we sit down together and...