The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period (French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: /ˌmɔːntənˈjɛ/), are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit the territory in the northeastern portion of the present-day province of Labrador and some portions of Quebec.

These differences include: Both groups are still called "Montagnais" in the official language of Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

The people are frequently classified by the geography of their primary locations: The word Naskapi was first recorded by French colonists in the 17th century.

Some of the families of the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach have close relatives in the Cree village of Whapmagoostui, on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay.

The Innu were historically allied with neighbouring Atikamekw, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Algonquin peoples against their enemies, the Algonquian-speaking Mi'kmaq and Iroquoian-speaking Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (known as Haudenosaunee.

During the Beaver Wars (1609–1701), the Iroquois repeatedly invaded the Innu territories from their homelands south of the Great Lakes.

Since these raids were made by the Iroquois with unprecedented brutality, the Innu themselves adopted the torment, torture, and cruelty of their enemies.

[35] French explorer Samuel de Champlain eventually became involved in the Innu's conflict with the Iroquois, who were ranging north from their traditional territory around the Great Lakes in present-day New York and Pennsylvania.

As two hundred Iroquois advanced on Champlain's position, a native guide pointed out the three enemy chiefs to the French.

The following are bands of the Montagnais-Naksapi in the 17th century: By 1850, the Chisedec, Oumamiwek, and Papinachois had disappeared or been renamed, and many new bands in the north of Nitassinan were discovered: The Innu of Labrador and those living on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Canadian Shield region have never officially ceded their territory to Canada by way of treaty or other agreement.

But, as European-Canadians began widespread forest and mining operations at the turn of the 20th century, the Innu became increasingly settled in coastal communities and in the interior of Quebec.

The Canadian and provincial governments, the Catholic, Moravian, and Anglican churches, all encouraged the Innu to settle in more permanent, majority-style communities, in the belief that their lives would improve with this adaptation.

Because of these social disruptions and the systemic disadvantages faced by Indigenous peoples, community life in the permanent settlements often became associated with high levels of substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide among the Innu.

It assessed the adverse effects of the Canadian government's relocating the people far from their ancestral lands and preventing them from practising their ancient way of life.

[4] In addition to the Innu Nation, residents at both Natuashish and Sheshatshiu elect Band Councils to represent community concerns.

The Innu Nation's efforts to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of a mining project in Voisey's Bay were documented in Marjorie Beaucage's 1997 film Ntapueu ... i am telling the truth.

[37] By 2000, the Innu island community of Davis Inlet asked the Canadian government to assist with a local addiction public health crisis.

[39] According to the Sierra Club: [t]he "New York Power Authority is in preliminary discussions and considering the liability of a new contract with Hydro Quebec," a Canadian supplier of hydroelectricity.The Innu community, the Sierra Club, and the National Lawyers Guild are fighting to prevent this proposed contract, which would have to be approved by New York's Governor, under his regulatory authority.

[39] The problem is that construction of required electric transmission lines would hinder the Innu's hunting-gathering-fishing lifestyle: Chief Georges-Ernest Grégoire of the Innu community in Eastern Quebec urged the governor not to proceed with a plan to buy hydroelectric power from Canada, saying the dam complex that would be built would affect the traditional way of life for his people.Chief Grégoire's comments at a press conference in Albany, New York were translated, but whether from French or Innu-aimun is not clear.

[39] Innu have only been in Sheshatshiu since fur trading posts were established by the Hudson's Bay Company in North West River in the mid-1700s and only in Davis Inlet / Natuashish since 1771, when the Moravian Church set up the first mission at Nuneingoak on the Labrador coast.

They also negotiated compensation for another project on the Upper Churchill, where large tracts of traditional Innu hunting lands were flooded.

The Innu people grate the inner bark of Abies balsamea (balsam fir) and eat it to benefit the diet.

Animals traditionally eaten included moose, caribou, porcupine, rabbits, marten, woodchuck, squirrel; Canada goose, snow goose, brants, ducks, teal, loons, spruce grouse, woodcock, snipe, passenger pigeons, ptarmigan; whitefish, lake trout, salmon, Arctic char, seal (naskapi) pike, walleye, suckerfish (Catostomidae), sturgeon, catfish, lamprey, and smelt.

Plants traditionally eaten included raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, wild grapes, hazelnuts, crab apples, red martagon bulbs, Indian potato, and maple-tree sap for sweetening.

Cornmeal was traded with other First Nations peoples, such as the Iroquois, Algonquin, and Abenaki, and made into apon (cornbread), which sometimes also included oat or wheat flour when it became available.

Traditionally, buckskin leather was a most important material used for clothing, boots, moccasins, house covers and storage.