High Arctic relocation

The High Arctic relocation of Inuit took place during the Cold War, when 87 people were moved to the High Arctic of Canada.

The relocation has been a source of controversy: on one hand being described as a humanitarian gesture to save the lives of starving native people; and on the other hand, said to be a move by the Government of Canada to assert sovereignty over the polar regions in light of the Cold War and Canada's territorial claims to the Arctic archipelago without informed consent of the people involved. The relocated Inuit people were not given sufficient support during the first years of this movement of people to prevent extreme privation.

The move

In August 1953, seven families from Inukjuak, northern Quebec (then known as Port Harrison) were transported to Grise Fiord on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island and to Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island. The families, who had been receiving welfare payments, were promised better living and hunting opportunities in new communities in the High Arctic. They were joined by three families recruited from the more Northern community of Pond Inlet (in the then Northwest Territories, now part of Nunavut) whose purpose was to help teach the Port Harrison Inuit skills for survival in the High Arctic. The methods of recruitment and the reasons for the relocations have been disputed. The government stated that volunteer families had agreed to participate in a program to reduce areas of perceived overpopulation and poor hunting in Northern Quebec, to reduce their dependency on welfare, and to resume a subsistence lifestyle. In contrast, the Inuit reported that the relocations were forced and were motivated by a desire to reinforce Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic Archipelago by creating settlements in the area. The Inuit were taken on the Eastern Arctic Patrolship C.G.S. C.D. Howe to areas on Cornwallis and Ellesmere Islands (Resolute and Grise Fiord), both large barren islands in the hostile polar north. While on the boat the families learned that they would not be living together but would left at three separate locations.

They were left without sufficient supplies of food and caribou skins and other materials for making appropriate clothing and tent. As they had been moved about 2000 km to a very different ecosystem, they were unfamiliar with the wildlife and had to adjust to weeks of 24 hour darkness during the winter, and 24 hour sunlight during the summer, something that does not occur in northern Quebec. They were told that they would be returned home after two years if they wished, but these promises were not honoured by the government. Eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of 18,000 km² (6,950 sq mi) each year. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reports from the time stated that the two colonies were generally successful in terms of morale, housing, and subsistence living. When pressured, the federal government created a program to assist the Inuit to return to the south, and in 1989, 40 Inuit returned to their former communities, leading to a break up of families on generational lines, as younger community members often chose to remain in the High Arctic. Those that remain are described as being fiercely committed to their home.

Re-evaluation

In 1990, the Canadian House of Commons standing committee on aboriginal affairs asked the government to apologize to the Inuit who had been moved to the high Arctic in 1953, to provide compensation to them, and to formally recognize the residents of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord for their service to Canada sovereignty. In response, the government commissioned the "Hickling Report" which absolved them of wrongdoing, arguing that the Inuit had volunteered to be moved, and that they had been relocated due to the harsh social and economic conditions in Inukjuak. The report, written by a long-time government official, was strongly criticized by academics and the media.

In contrast, a Canadian Human Rights Commission report submitted in December 1991 argued that there was evidence that there were government concerns about Arctic sovereignty at the time of the relocations, and an understanding that the settlements would contribute to Canadian sovereignty, but that this was not the primary motivator in the move. It concluded that the Government of Canada had broken its promise to return the relocatees to Inukjuak after two years if they wished. A further report, written by Trent University professor Magnus Gunther, examined the various claims of academics disputing what had occurred during the relocations. It concluded that the government had acted with humane intentions, and as a result Tom Siddon, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, stated that it would be "inappropriate for the government to apologize" or provide compensation.

In July 1994, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples held hearings to investigate the relocation program. The Inuit evidence given was that they had been forcibly relocated, while government officials argued that they had moved voluntarily. The official who had been in charge of the relocation suggested that witnesses had changed their stories in order to claim compensation, and that the move had been a success. The Commission found that the government of Canada had determined to "rehabilitate" the Inuit of Port Harrison, weaning them from dependency and "moral decline" by moving them to better lands with abundant game for hunting, and that inadequate preparations were made for them. The commission recommended an apology and compensation for the survivors, as well as acknowledgment of the role the relocatees played in establish a Canadian presence in the High Arctic. and a co-chair of the Commission called the relocation "one of the worst human rights violations in the history of Canada". The federal government refused to apologize, but established a "Reconciliation Agreement" in March 1996, creating a $10 million CAD trust fund for relocated individuals and their families. The government admitted that the Inuit suffered "hardship, suffering and loss in the initial years of these relocations" but required recipients to "acknowledge that they understand that in planning the relocation, the government officials of the time were acting with honourable intentions in what was perceived to be in the best interests of the Inuit at that time.

People

Some of the Inuit who were transferred had been involved a generation before in the making of Nanook of the North, the 1922 hit film, which presented itself as a documentary of Inuit life and culture. The pioneer of this technique, Robert J. Flaherty, made his name through the film, but he never acknowledged the illegitimate son he left behind, or attempted to help him or the community that had hosted him for two years, though he knew of the move.

See also

• Human rights in Canada
• Territorial claims in the Arctic