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Kamistastin, Labrador
MCC volunteer takes part in Innu homecoming at Kamistastin


John Wiens was looking for information about a hometown reunion when he saw a want ad for experienced log builders in Kamistastin, northern Labrador. Responding to the ad gave the Leamington, Ont. resident the opportunity to be part of a different kind of homecoming.

Wiens, along with two other volunteers, spent two weeks in Kamistastin helping to train local Innu in the art of log building for a healing centre. Wiens says that it became obvious to him that Kamistastin, an ancestral gathering place for the Innu, had become a place of education and healing even before they finished the work they were commissioned to do by the Tshikapisk (pronounced sheek´-a-peesh) Foundation.

Kamistastin was built to help the Innu deal with a variety of social issues including alcohol addiction and suicide.

The Tshikapisk Foundation was created to help the Innu deal with a variety of social issues including alcohol addiction and suicide. The Foundation chose Kamistastin, on the shores of Lake Mistastin, as the location for a 2000-square-foot log cabin to help deal with some of the social issues. The location was chosen as a teaching site for its spiritual significance and its location on traditional caribou migration routes.

Mennonite Central Committee helped with some of the logistics of the project – finding people with the necessary construction skills and transporting people from Happy Valley, Labrador to Kamistastin.

The Innu had already collected 400 logs for construction the previous winter. By the time Wiens and the others arrived, the logs had been debarked. Together, they cut and notched the logs that would make the cabin walls.

During the construction, a group of about 20 Innu, including elders, women and children, arrived by plane. There was concern there would not be enough food to feed everyone. A hunting expedition was organized, and enough venison to last the duration of the project was obtained. The group also helped with the construction and explored the area. For the Innu, it was a kind of homecoming, says Wiens.

 – Jonathan Tiessen, for MCC Canada

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Last modified July 19, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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