Without warning, a deafening boom drove us to the ground, even Nutaui. I heard my heart pound hard against my chest. Seconds later another earsplitting blast struck us. When low-level flying by NATO jets upsets their way of life, Nanass, a young Innu girl, is eager to join her father and the other members of her Sheshatshiu community in protest. Then her father and other protesters are arrested. Nanass has little to comfort her, except her father’s well-worn ball cap and the promise of the land itself that the Innu people will one day triumph. Nutaui’s Cap has been translated into two dialects of Innu-aimun, which appear alongside the English; it includes a glossary, map, and backgrounder to tell more of the Innu’s story. This book is a co-publication by Mamu Tshishkutamashutau Innu Education and Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides
Bob Bartel was raised in the small town of Waldheim, Saskatchewan. He twice uprooted his family to spend three-year terms with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - a global relief, development, and justice organization--in Jamaica and Labrador.
From 1986-89, Bob's family resided in Happy Valley, Labrador as regional coordinator for MCC. Happy Valley, the adjoining NATO air force base of Goose Bay, and the nearby Innu community of Sheshatshiu formed a diverse and uneasy trio of cultural outposts on Canada's remote eastern coast. All are part of Nitassinan, the traditional homeland and unceded territory of the Innu people.
While in Happy Valley, Bob and his family supported the Innu struggle against the destructive effects of NATO supersonic flight training. There are many personal stories associated with this historic time of protest, but perhaps none as poignant as that of the young Innu girl Nanas' response to her father's arrest. Bob and his family remain forever indebted to the Innu for their friendship, trust, and teachings about life under Canadian colonization.
Bob now lives, writes, and gardens in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with his wife Dorothy.
Mary Ann Penashue is an Innu artist born in 1964 in Birch Island near Goose Bay, NL. Raised by her grandparents in a small village called Mud Lake, Mary Ann learned from them Innu culture and traditions. She began painting in her early 30s; her original commitment to communicate her culture and people through her art has never wavered. Her art has been celebrated for its combination of modern technique and colour to portray traditional Innu cultural images.
In 2007 Mary Ann was named "Emerging Artist of the Year" by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. In 2011, she was accepted into the Ottawa School of Art's Fine Art Diploma program, and graduated in 2016.
Mary Ann has been commissioned by several Aboriginal organizations throughout Labrador and Quebec to paint images of Tshenut (Elders), and has immortalized their faces in approximately 500 pieces. Her work has been exhibited throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario and she has been show-cased at the Northern Lights Show in Ottawa, Canada's capital city.
With her work in Nutau's Cap, she is bringing her artistic talents to children's book illustration for the first time.
She resides with her husband, peter Penashue, their children and grandchildren in Sheshatshiu, Labrador.
