> Kashtin are an Inuu or Inuit group. Montagnais-Naskapi are an
> Indiangroup. There is substantial difference culturally
Inuit are the people of the high arctic. It's what they call themselves,
formerly called by outsiders as eskimo.
The Naskapi are an Indian nation whose area stretches from northern Quebec,
north of the St. Lawrence River, into most of present-day Labrador. They
have begun to call themselves once more the Innu (spelling).
The Montagnais speak a similar Aboriginal language (with differences in
dialects), share an Aboriginal culture with (again with certain differences)
and face many similar political concerns as the Innu. Their territory
stretches south of the Innu into central Quebec. There are some Montagnais
and Innu who feel their differences and separations were imposed upon them by
the drawing of a boundary between Quebec and Labrador. Many Montagnais want
to *erase* those differences - to define their own identities and reject
those imposed upon them by outsiders. As a consequence, many Montagnais,
including many of those from the village of Betsiamites where the two members
of Kashtin hail from, are now beginning to identify themselves as Innu as
well.