- November 6, 2019
Through documenting changes to the Innu and their land, Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue’s book presents her personal reflections on her people’s land, culture, politics and history.
Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue and her daughter Kanani Davis appear together to share their book Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive.
Date: Wednesday, November 06, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), Toronto
Cost: FREE but you must register for tickets.
Q&A and book signing to follow. Books available for purchase.
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This event is part of our literary series, The Other Shelf, where we present exceptional writers in a smaller space. These events are held in the Novella Room in the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon.
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Please don’t print your tickets! We’re trying to reduce paper waste for Appel Salon events, so please don’t bother printing your ticket. We’ll either scan your ticket on your smartphone or quickly find your name on our tablets and check you in.
Arrive early, meet people. The talk starts at 6 pm, but doors open at 5:30 pm. Come early so you can chat with your fellow literature lovers, and make new friends. As with all Appel Salon events, we’ll have a cash bar with a selection of beer, wine, and liquor, as well as sandwiches and snacks.
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About the Book
Labrador Innu cultural and environmental activist Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue is well-known both within and far beyond the Innu Nation. The recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and an honorary doctorate from Memorial University, she has been a subject of documentary films, books, and numerous articles. She led the Innu campaign against NATO’s low-level flying and bomb testing on Innu land during the 1980s and ’90s, and was a key respondent in a landmark legal case in which the judge held that the Innu had the “colour of right” to occupy the Canadian Forces base in Goose Bay, Labrador. Over the past twenty years she has led walks and canoe trips in nutshimit, “on the land,” to teach people about Innu culture and knowledge.
Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive began as a diary written in Innu-aimun, in which Tshaukuesh recorded day-to-day experiences, court appearances, and interviews with reporters. Tshaukuesh has always had a strong sense of the importance of documenting what was happening to the Innu and their land. She also found keeping a diary therapeutic, and her writing evolved from brief notes into a detailed account of her own life and reflections on Innu land, culture, politics, and history.
Beautifully illustrated, this work contains numerous images by professional photographers and journalists as well as archival photographs and others from Tshaukuesh’s own collection.
