Kameshtashtan, a cultural landscape located in northern Labrador, is representative of the profound and immeasurable importance of the Innu homeland known as Nitassinan for the Mushuau Innu.
For generations, Mushuau Innu families have lived in and followed the network of travel routes that pass through Kameshtashtan, a cultural landscape in northern Labrador. Kameshtashtan is tied to oral histories, legends, and spiritual meanings where there are known places of births and deaths, and ancient campsites dating back at least 6,500 years.
Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, announced the designation of Kameshtashtan as a place of national historic significance under Parks Canada's National Program of Historical Commemoration, on the recommendation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Kameshtashtan, composed of Kameshtashtan (a lake known in English as Mistastin Lake) and its surrounding environment, is representative of the migratory lifestyle of the Mushuau Innu. Their association with Atikuat, the caribou, is demonstrated in camp sites situated near caribou drive locations, in water crossing ambush places, in food storage caches, and in the ritual crushing of caribou bone noted in many of the ancient hearths.
