The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, today announced that four bridges in Labrador will be named to commemorate four leaders of the Innu Nation.

The four bridges are located on the Trans-Labrador Highway.

The designated bridges and the names are:

• Penote Michel Memorial Bridge Manatueu-shipiss (Traverspine tributary), approximately 42 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay;
• Tanien Ashini Memorial Bridge, Manatueu-shipiss (Traverspine River), approximately 42 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay;
• Kanikuen Penashue Memorial Bridge, Tshenuamius-shipu (Kenamu River), approximately 75 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay; and
• Munik Pone Memorial Bridge, Uapushkakamau-shipu (Pinus River), approximately 80 kilometres west of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

More information about the four Innu leaders is available in the backgrounder below.

Names for the bridges were proposed by Innu Nation and accepted by the Provincial Government. Signs will be installed near each of the bridges to commemorate the lives of the Innu leaders, beginning this week.

Quotes
“It gives me great pleasure to join with the Innu Nation in announcing that four bridges on the Trans-Labrador Highway will proudly display the names of four Innu leaders. The people being honoured with this distinction have made significant and long-lasting contributions throughout their lives in the areas of governance, preserving cultures and traditions, and standing proud and tall for the Innu people and the Innu way of life.”
Honourable Dwight Ball
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

“The names of these four bridges will commemorate Innu who were important in the history of the Innu people of Labrador. Signs at each of the four bridges will allow travellers on the highway to recognize the legacy of the Innu leaders. We thank the Innu Nation for its co-operation in naming the bridges.”
Honourable Steve Crocker
Minister of Transportation and Works

“Today is an important day for the Innu, for the province, and for all Canadians. The bridges that have been officially named after respected Innu leaders are symbolic of the long road that we have all taken to get here today. It’s not been an easy road. Too often in the past, our history was ignored, yet the path to reconciliation means recognizing that history is not just written in books. It is recorded on the land and it tells the stories of the people who have lived there. Innu Nation thanks Premier Ball and Minister Crocker for recognizing the importance of Innu placenames and for their role in making this historic occasion possible.”
Grand Chief Gregory Rich
Innu Nation

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Media contacts
Jeremy Reynolds
Office of the Premier
709-729-3558
jeremyreynolds@gov.nl.ca

Emily-Jane Gillingham
Transportation and Works
709-729-1758
emilygillingham@gov.nl.ca

Donna Paddon
Innu Nation Communications
709-899-5799
donna.paddon@kashkuan.ca

BACKGROUNDER

Information on bridges being named for Innu leaders in Labrador

Kanikuen Penashue Memorial Bridge – The late Kanikuen Penashue was the president of the Naskapi Montagnais Innu Association for 10 years prior to the change of name to the Innu Nation. Kanikuen was the first president of the Innu Nation and was well-loved by the Innu. He spent much of the first 17 years of his life with his family in the Mealy Mountains area and used the Tshenuamius-shipu (Kenamu River) regularly to travel between this region and the Hudson’s Bay Company trading post at Sheshatshiu/North West River.

Tanien Ashini Memorial Bridge – The late Tanien Ashini was a former president of the Innu Nation and a land claims negotiator who was a tireless defender of Indigenous issues. He was well-known and respected by Innu and everyone who knew him. The bridge crossing at Manatueu-shipiss (Traverspine River) borders the Labrador Innu Settlement Area under the terms of the Tshash Petapen (New Dawn) Agreement.

Penote Michel Memorial Bridge – The late Penote Michel was a well-known former president of the Innu Nation who did much to advance issues and educate the public about Indigenous affairs throughout Labrador, the Province, nationally and internationally. The bridge crossing at Manatueu-shipiss (Traverspine tributary) borders the Labrador Innu Settlement Area under the terms of the Tshash Petapen (New Dawn) Agreement.

Munik Pone Memorial Bridge – Munik Pone was a highly-respected and important person for the Innu women of Labrador and Quebec, a social advocate and encouraging voice to many. Her ashes were placed in the Uapushkakamau-shipu (Pinus River) at the bridge crossing and a cross was erected in her memory.