Editing Labrador (section)

==Self-government==
A Royal Commission in 2002 determined that there is some public pressure from Labradorians to break from Newfoundland and become a separate province or territory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.exec.gov.nl.ca/royalcomm/finalreport/default.html |date=2002 |title=Final Report of the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada |access-date=May 17, 2021 |publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador |archive-date=December 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217171940/https://www.exec.gov.nl.ca/royalcomm/finalreport/default.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Indigenous self-government===
After decades of negotiation with the provincial and federal governments, the [[Nunatsiavut]] region of northern and northeastern Labrador was created in 2005 as an autonomous region with its own elected [[Nunatsiavut Assembly|Assembly]] and executive drawn from members of the region's Assembly. Some of the [[Innu]] nation would have the entirety of Labrador become a homeland for them, much as [[Nunavut]] and Nunatsiavut is for the [[Inuit]], as a good portion of [[Nitassinan]] falls within Labrador's borders; a 1999 resolution of the [[Assembly of First Nations]] claimed Labrador as a homeland for the Innu and demanded recognition in any further constitutional negotiations regarding the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://64.26.129.156/article.asp?id=960 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810210100/http://64.26.129.156/article.asp?id=960 |archive-date=August 10, 2011 |title=Resolution No. 11 – Innu Traditional Territory |work=Assembly of First Nations Resolutions 1999 |date=July 20–23, 1999 |publisher=Assembly of First Nations |access-date=May 18, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Labrador's Innu became status Indians under the ''[[Indian Act]]'' in 2002. [[Natuashish]] became a [[Indian reserve|federal Indian reserve]] in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mushuau Innu First Nation Band Order SOR/2002-415 |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-415/FullText.html |publisher=[[Department of Justice (Canada)|Justice Canada]] |date=21 November 2002 |access-date=7 January 2022 |archive-date=13 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413033812/https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-415/FullText.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100018920/1100100018921 |title=Archived - Reserve Creation at Natuashish |publisher=Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada |access-date=Oct 16, 2020 |date=Nov 2007 |archive-date=October 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014042425/https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100018920/1100100018921 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Sheshatshiu]] became a [[Indian reserve|federal reserve]] in 2006.<ref name="Reserve Creation at Sheshatshiu"/>

The Labrador Inuit Association had filed a [[Indigenous land claims in Canada|land claim]] for portions of Labradorian land in 1977.<ref name="landclaim">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/labrador-s-inuit-cheer-land-agreement-1.556062 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120102816/https://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/01/22/labrador-land050122.html |archive-date=January 20, 2007 |title=Labrador's Inuit cheer land agreement |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=January 23, 2005 |url-status=live |access-date=April 22, 2010}}</ref> In 1988, the Labrador Inuit Association, the government of the province of Newfoundland, and the [[government of Canada]] began negotiations based on the land claim.<ref name="negotiation">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/nunatsiavut.html |title=Nunatsiavut: Our beautiful land |publisher=[[CBC News Online]] |date=July 2, 2004 |access-date=April 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811172337/https://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/nunatsiavut.html |archive-date=August 11, 2013}}</ref> An agreement-in-principle was achieved in 2001, and on May 26, 2004, the agreement was ratified by over 75% of eligible voters subject to the land claim.<ref name="negotiation" /> On January 22, 2005, the Inuit of [[Nunatsiavut]] signed the Labrador Inuit Lands Claims Agreement<ref name="LILCA"/> with the federal and provincial governments covering {{cvt|72520|km2|sigfig=4}} of land,<ref name="landclaim" /> including the entire northern salient of Labrador north of [[Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador|Nain]] as well as a portion of the Atlantic coast south of there. The agreement also includes {{cvt|44030|km2|sigfig=4}} of sea rights.<ref name="landclaim" /> Although the Inuit will not own the whole area, they were granted special rights related to traditional land use, and they will own {{cvt|15800|km2|sigfig=4}} designated Labrador Inuit Lands.<ref name="landclaim" /> The agreement also establishes the [[Torngat Mountains National Park]] in the northern area of the land claim. The agreement was ratified by the Labrador Inuit, the [[General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador]], and the [[Parliament of Canada]], where it received [[Royal assent|Royal Assent]] on June 23, 2005, whereafter elections would be held for the Nunatsiavut Assembly and self-government would begin.<ref name="assent"/>

In the late 1970s, the Labrador Metis Association was created by the inhabitants of Labrador's southern coast to gain recognition as a distinct ethnocultural group,<ref name="unveiling_nunatukavut" /> as at the time despite a pre-existing treaty protected under the constitution, the "Inuit-Metis" were considered to be merely the descendants of Inuit who had joined Western society.<ref name=InuitStudies /> Little was known about the history of the "Inuit-Metis" of the time. In 2006, the Labrador Metis Association initiated a project with [[Memorial University of Newfoundland]] to better understand their past through the Community-University Research Association (CURA).<ref name="unveiling_nunatukavut"/> Following research by CURA, the "Labrador Metis" were understood to be a continuation of the Inuit of southern Labrador.<ref name=InuitStudies>{{cite journal |last=Stopp |first=Marianne |date=2002 |title=Reconsidering Inuit presence in southern Labrador |journal=Études/Inuit/Studies |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=71–106 |doi=10.7202/007646ar |s2cid=128735957 |doi-access=}}</ref> In 2010, the Labrador Metis Association changed its name to reflect their newly discovered heritage, and became the [[NunatuKavut Community Council]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/labrador-s-m%C3%A9tis-nation-adopts-new-name-1.927252 |title=Labrador's Métis Nation adopts new name |date=Apr 13, 2010 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=Oct 27, 2020 |archive-date=June 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616091555/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/labrador-s-m%C3%A9tis-nation-adopts-new-name-1.927252 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Southern Inuit of [[NunatuKavut]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-09-17/article-3076486/NunatuKavut-says-it%26rsquo%3Bs-not-backing-away-from-the-Lower-Churchill-development/1 |title=NunatuKavut says it's not backing away from the Lower Churchill development |first=Ashley |last=Fitzpatrick |date=September 17, 2012 |newspaper=[[The Telegram]] |access-date=28 March 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006013322/http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-09-17/article-3076486/NunatuKavut-says-it%26rsquo%3Bs-not-backing-away-from-the-Lower-Churchill-development/1 |archive-date=2012-10-06}}</ref> who are also seeking self-government, have their land claim before the Government of Canada. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador refuses to recognise or negotiate with the Inuit of NunatuKavut until their claim has been accepted by the Government of Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/iias/wp-content/uploads/aboriginal_consultation.pdf |title=Government of Newfoundland Consultation Policy |access-date=2019-04-06 |archive-date=2018-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116222409/https://www.gov.nl.ca/iias/wp-content/uploads/aboriginal_consultation.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>