Elder Mary Pia Benuen, Labrador's 1st Innu nurse, tells inquiry her family fought the system

Labrador's first Innu nurse was the first person to provide formal testify at the Inquiry Respecting the Treatment, Experiences and Outcomes of Innu in the Child Protection System on Monday in Sheshatshiu.

Mary Pia Benuen, who grew up in Sheshatshiu, has been the community's public health nurse for nearly 30 years, giving her a distinct perspective on the community's health and well-being.

Growing up in a home with two alcoholic parents, Benuentold the inquiry Monday, officials tried many times to remove her and her siblings from the family home. Her father always took great strides to keep them in the community, connected to their culture and language, she said.

"He went to the social services office and they locked the door on him with my two little brothers in there," said Benuen, who's now the primary health director at Sheshatshiu'sMani Ashini Health Centre. "They wouldn't open the door for him, but he kicked the door down and took his boys out of the office and took them back home."

Some of her childhood friends weren't so lucky, she said, and died young after being in the system for many years.

"They were sent out of the community, to Newfoundland, I believe," Benuen said.

"When they became of age to come home, they did come home, but they were lost in the community. They couldn't function in the community, and they turned to alcohol. They didn't feel like they belong here."

WATCH | Mary Pia Benuen, Labrador's first Innu nurse, opens inquiry's first formal hearings:

Never give in to white people: Her dad was an alcoholic but his words have guided Mary Pia Benuens life

8 months ago

Duration 2:40

The inquiry into the treatment of Innu children in care resumed Monday with Mary Pia Benuens emotional testimony. She said her parents abused alcohol but fought ferociously to prevent their children from being taken by social services or the police. Benuen said it was some of her fathers advice that strengthened a resolve in her and led her to successes like becoming the first Labrador Innu nurse and now Sheshatshiu's health director.

The inquiry's formal hearings began in Sheshatshiuon Monday, after months of informal community sessions. The inquiry was launched in April 2022 after years of delays and a push from the Innu Nation to keep children in care in their home communities, with treatment that focuseson their culture and roots.

Benuen said her happiest memories come from spending time with her parents and grandparents in the country, where her father taught her to clean and prepare animals that had been huntedand her mother showed her how to sew mittens and moccasins.

Never, ever give in to the white people, because if you let them do whatever they want to you, then you'll be there to be stepped on all through your life.- Mary Pia Benuen, relaying her father's advice

She said her home life wasn't perfectbut her father ensured that she and her siblings would grow up proud to be Innu, with words that stay with her to this day.

"[He told me] never, ever give in to the white people, because if you let them do whatever they want to you, then you'll be there to be stepped on all through your life," she said.

Benuen a good student, had to travel to St. John's to finish high school before moving on to nursing school in Ontario. She then spent seven years working at the Melville Hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, where she was able to provide the kind of care for Innu people that they'd been looking for.

Patients appreciated her ability to speak their language and understand their cultural needs, she said, and sheprovided simple language and cultural sensitivity workshops at the hospital for doctors and nurses.

She became Sheshatshiu's health director in 1997. Watching her father fight the system for most of her life had a direct impact on her own life's course, she said.

Her testimonywas scheduled to continue at the hearing in Sheshatshiuon Tuesday. The inquiry's final report is due Sept. 30.

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