Ryan Beaton and Audrey Mayrand appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples yesterday to defend the hundreds of Innu of Essipit who lost their status last year, including Jérémie Roussel, Guillaume St-Gelais Dubé, Claude Girard and Henrick Morin, seen here with Senator Michèle Audette from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam.