Editing Innu (section)

{{Short description|First Nation in the Labrador Peninsula}}
{{distinguish|Inuit}}
{{redirect|Montagnais}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=June 2024}}
{{For-multi|the language|Innu-aimun|other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2009}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Innu
| flag = 
| image = Davis Inlet 1903.jpg
| image_caption = Innu traders outside the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] trading post in [[Davis Inlet]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador]], 1903
| total = 28,960
| popplace = Canada
| total_ref = <ref name=Ipop>{{Cite web|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/ipp-ppa/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&DGUID=2021A000011124&GENDER=1&AGE=1&RESIDENCE=1&HP=0&HH=0&SearchText=Canada |title=Indigenous Population Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table: Canada [Country] |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]]|website=www12.statcan.gc.ca|access-date=June 15, 2024|date=2023-06-08}}</ref>
| total_year = 2016 census
| rels = [[Christianity]], other
| langs = [[Innu-aimun]], [[Naskapi language|Naskapi]], English, French
| related = [[Cree]], [[Algonquin people]], [[Naskapi]], [[Atikamekw]]
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=Innu, Ilnu / assi<br/>"person" / "land"|person= Innu / Ilnu|people= Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh|language= [[Innu-aimun]]|country= [[Nitassinan]]}}
The '''Innu'''/'''Ilnu''' ("man", "person"), formerly called '''Montagnais''' (French for "[[Hill people|mountain people]]"; {{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɔː|n|t|ə|n|ˈ|j|ɛ}}), are the [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous Canadians]] who inhabit northeastern [[Labrador]] in present-day [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] and some portions of [[Quebec]]. They refer to their traditional homeland as ''[[Nitassinan]]'' ("Our Land", ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ) or ''Innu-assi'' ("Innu Land").

The ancestors of the modern [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] were known to have lived on these lands as [[hunter-gatherer]]s for many thousands of years. To support their seasonal hunting migrations, they created portable tents made of animal skins. Their subsistence activities were historically centred on hunting and trapping [[Reindeer|caribou]], [[moose]], [[deer]], and small game.

Their language, which changed over time from Old Montagnais to [[Innu language|Innu-aimun]] (popularly known since the French colonial era as Montagnais),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.innu-aimun.ca/modules.php?name=InnuHome&lang=english |title=Innu-Aimun - the language of the Innu (Montagnais)|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930123457/http://www.innu-aimun.ca/modules.php?name=InnuHome&lang=english}}</ref> is spoken throughout Nitassinan, with certain dialect differences. It is part of the [[Cree language|Cree]]–Montagnais–[[Naskapi language|Naskapi]] [[dialect continuum]], and is unrelated to the [[Inuit languages]] of other nearby peoples.

The "Innu/Ilnu" consist of two regional tribal groups, with the [[Première Nation des Innus de Nutashkuan|Innus of Nutashkuan]] being the southernmost group and the [[Naskapi]] being the northernmost group. Both groups differ in dialect and partly also in their way of life and culture. These differences include:
* the ''Ilnu'', ''Nehilaw'' or "Western/Southern Montagnais" in the south, speak the ''"l"''-dialect (Ilnu-Aimun or Nenueun / Neːhlweːuːn), and 
* the ''Innu'' or "Eastern Montagnais" ("Central/Moisie Montagnais", "Eastern/Lower North Shore Montagnais", and "Labrador/North West River Montagnais") live further north; they speak the ''"n"''-dialect (Innu-Aimun)
Both groups are still called "Montagnais" in the official language of [[Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada]]. The Naskapi ("people beyond the horizon", ᓇᔅᑲᐱ), who live further north, also identify as Innu or ''Iyiyiw''.

Today, about 28,960<ref name=Ipop/> people of Innu origin live in various [[Indian settlement]]s and [[Indian reserves|reserves]] in Quebec and Labrador. To avoid confusion with the [[Inuit]], who belong to the [[Eskimo]]an peoples, today only the singular form "Innu/Ilnu" is used for the Innu, members of the large Cree-language family. The plural form of "'''Innut'''/'''Innuat'''/'''Ilnuatsh'''" has been abandoned.