Inuit elders applauded, with one throwing their hands in the air, as the federal government provided an apology to Inuit over the massacre of their sled dogs.
In a crowded community centre in Kangiqsujuaq, a small village in northern Nunavik in Quebec, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree asked Inuit for forgiveness for the killing of Inuit’s sled dogs.
“On behalf of the government of Canada and of all the Canadians, I am sorry. Please forgive us,” he said.
The apology comes more than 14 years after former Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Jacques Croteau issued a report finding Quebec provincial police officers killed more than 1,000 dogs in Nunavik “without any consideration for their importance to Inuit families.”
Croteau found the federal government failed to intervene or condemn the actions and said the implementation of mandatory schooling and residential school was fundamental in the lead-up to the dog killings.
In delivering the apology, Anandasangaree acknowledged the killings in the 1950s were done under federal authority. He also recognized the additional harm “caused by federal responses that did not fully acknowledge the role of the federal government, including the 2006 RCMP report that has been particularly painful for your communities.”
Receiving a federal apology has been a top priority for Makivvik, the organization that represents Inuit in Nunavik.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Canadian government knew that provincial authorities slaughtered sled dogs across Inuit communities in the north but did nothing to prevent it.
Alongside this apology, the federal government has committed $45 million to launch programs to promote the revitalization of communities in Nunavik.
Anandasangaree said this apology was years in the making. It was organized by both the Canadian government and Makivvik.
“They are finally beginning to say yes we were involved in dog slaughters,” George Berthe, treasurer for Makivvik said in a speech ahead of the apology.
Berthe said there was constant denial from the federal government but they never gave up for the truth of the Inuit to be heard.
Ahead of the apology, Anandasangaree met with Elders to hear their experiences.
In his speech, Anandasangaree said he had read about the dog slaughter before, but speaking with the Elders made him truly understand the deep loss and impact this had on Inuit communities.
The role of sled dogs in the community
“Dogs were integral part of life”, Berthe said. “They helped us survive in the most unforgiving in treacherous environments.”
Sled dogs were the main form of transportation and a safety tool because they could determine when sheets of ice were too thin, allowing Inuit to commute safely in the north.
The slaughter of the sled dogs pushed Inuit into a sedentary way of life and assimilated them into non-traditional ways of transportation.
“We had to adapt to costly foreign technology that broke down and needed gasoline,” Berthe said. “It couldn’t bring us home like dogs could.”
“Apologies and acknowledgment will not bring back what you lost,” Anandasangaree said.
He said he hoped it could give Inuit communities some closure and that Inuit and the government can move forward together.
Pita Aatami, president of Makivvik said the $45 million will go toward revitalizing the culture of dog team ownership in the region, and “all the things people need to raise dog teams.” That includes training, food and fencing.
“Historically, Inuit didn’t tie their dogs. That was one way of keeping them healthy. And it’s only when the non-natives came, that they started having to tie their dogs. And that’s when the dogs became more vicious, lazier. Not as good as before, kind of a thing.”
Aatami said some of the money will also go toward direct compensation, but how it will be disbursed has not yet been determined.
“For me it’s just a start because we also want funds for mental healing and so-forth,” Aatami said, adding Makivvik had requested $75 million.
The 2010 report from Croteau found Canada’s liability for the deaths of the dogs arose, in part, because of the establishment of mandatory schooling and residential schools in Nunavik villages, and the failure to intervene sooner when the killing of sled dogs began in four initial villages.
“The authorities chose confrontation over negotiation by using the services of the provincial police. As a result, any untied dog was killed without prior warning, while the statute relied upon allowed anyone to kill a stray dog without incurring liability,” Croteau wrote.
Croteau found Canada knew of the issue involving the killing of sled dogs as early as 1958, but still established more schools in other villages.
Due to attendance being mandatory, and because Inuit then never allowed themselves to be separated from their children, “Inuit families were in a hurry to settle in villages, bringing their dogs with them in order to ensure their livelihood and transportation,” Croteau wrote.
With files from the Canadian Press
