“The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation.” Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples . Specifically, in 1953 and 1955 the Canadian government relocated eleven Inuit families from the Port Harris region and four families from Pond Inlet to new communities at Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay. 4. 30. Sure, they apologized, but I don’t know if they really knew what they were apologizing for. This phrase was unfortunately ambiguous and was thought by some to refer a hunting population outstripping available game food resources. Who were held in particular awe by the Inuit. The information available to the government in early 1950’s does not indicate that the Inukjuak area was experiencing population growth. The government failed to ensure that the conditions under which the Pond Inlet Inuit were participating were made clear to them. officials and the Inuit themselves, as a way of breaking out of a growing pattern The relocation took place at a time when the government was concerned about the facto Canadian sovereignty arising from the presence of the United States in the Arctic. All there small elements of coercion became additionally coercive when carried out by a police force. Even the Pond Inlet Inuit at Grise Fiord, who where used to the support of a store, found conditions too hard. The youth have got opportunities now, because we are well aware of our rights right now. They worked extremely hard, became proficient hunters, and in the end, they became well established. Not all Inuit were equally dependent or vulnerable in their relations with non-Inuit. And don’t forget we are living on an island, and we have to wait for the freeze up before we can go to other islands. The relocatees believed that there would be boats available for them in the new land.

In this respect, the decision would turn the clock back to the era when there were no such facilities. Officials considered that greater reliance on hunting on the trade store would restore Inuit self-reliance and arrest the perceived moral decline. PA: They [federal government] couldn’t convince anyone else to go and they were getting desperate. The relocation created new communities that would have no schools, no nursing station and no missions. The Inuit are hunters like myself. A small trade store would be establish but would carry limited and basic stock. They had to travel long distances just to catch one caribou up here. The environment in the new High Arctic communities was, in addition to the dark period, considerable different from Inukjuak. Many Inuit needlessly perished during the beginning of the relocation experiment, though most survived through fierce adaptation. They just survived and tried to prosper. 31.

The lost years must be taking into account.

René Dussault and George Erasmus. 32. economic opportunities through improved hunting, trapping and wage The government fails to honour the promise to return, and the resulting hardship is not fully redressed by an offer to pay for a return many years after the return should have been provided. The government saw little prospect for increases earned income in the Inukjuak area, with the result that periodic reliance on relief would become a permanent feature of life and that other ‘handouts’, such as family allowance and old age pensions, arose periodically as a result of the cyclical nature of the fur trade, with poor years following good years over a four years cycle. Game failed to materialize in the Cape Herschel area in the winter of 1953-54, and the land would not have been able to support the relocatees. In this sense, and in this sense only, The Inukjuak area was considered to be “over-populated in relations to available resources”. The spread of Tuberculosis to Resolute Bay. 34. In fact, it characterizes an economic concern of the government related to a desire to require Inuit to hunt more and rely less on earned income. Thus, the relocation scheme was aimed not only at changing expectations relief, but also at discouraging reliance on the universal programs. The Inukjuak Inuit were not told that they would be joined by Pond Inlet Inuit. 14.

Hunting and shelter was scarce, winters were darker, and partnership options were limited because only a few youth were brought into the new community. My parents were promised good hunting and lots of animals.

Moreover, by 1953, conditions had improved considerably since the collapse of fur prices in 1949-50, and no able-bodied Inukjuak Inuit were receiving relief, outs’ and the understanding of local officials that this was ‘rehabilitation’ project served only to reinforce stereotypical attitudes that would adversely complicate relations between the relocatees and the local officials responsible for their well-being. They only had the dog teams. The relocatees would need caribou skins for bedding and clothing, which are vital for people living on the land. The weight of the evidence points to sovereignty as a material consideration in the relocation decision, although the primary concerns were social and economic. Despite extensive oral histories, the Canadian government failed to accurately reflect Inuit colonial experiences in official government records of Canadian history. 12. There was consensus among all those with an interest in Arctic affairs, including the various government departments concerned, the RCMP, the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and the Hudson’s Bay Company, that relocation would solve perceived economic and social problems.

At time of the 1953 relocation, the fur cycle was reaching its peak, and no able-bodied Inuit were on relief at Inukjuak. The Objective of Increased Reliance on Hunting. 37. Instead, government decisions reflected a paternalistic view of what would be good for the Inuit and tended to minimize or disregard Inuit needs and desires. 29.

The RCMP would be responsible for administering the store and, with the limited and basic stock, would be required to … “We have to overcome distrust and hostility, make things compatible, and become agreeable. The relocatees were all not alike. The recruitment of Inuit for the project was not, therefore, limited to those who had continued to live relatively distant from trading post, with income from trading providing only a supplement to what obtained from hunting. This objective was never communicated to the Inuit. The position of the government now is that the sovereignty was not a consideration. If the promise was meant to apply only to the whole group, this was not conveyed to the Inuit. The Inukjuak Inuit were also used to burning wood, and although would could be found in the base dump in Resolute Bay, at Grise Fiord, seal oil lamps were the only means of cooking and provinding heat. The concern applied both to government support programs, such as family allowance and old age security, which were available to Canadians on a universal basis, and to relief, which was available only in case of hardship. Nor were there indications of serious decline in food game resources. There was also isolation from those non-Inuit facilities that did exist in the new communities as a result of the separation of the Inuit settlement from non-Inuit facilities.

The fact that the Department had arranged the relocation using the device of a loan limited the Department’s financial ability to respond to contingencies that developed in what was in substance a government-initiated relocation.
In the 1950’s these “relocated” Inuit were part of the federal government’s master plan to establish a Canadian presence in the High Arctic and assert its sovereignty. The apparent focus of the government action has been to defend itself against these complaints and to put the government’s actions in the best possible light. The plan, as approved by the Deputy Minister, was very general in its description of what was to be done and for that purpose. The federal government ship annually visited all of the communities in the Arctic and High Arctic to check on the health of the Inuit or the Eskimos as they were referred to at that time. But the Inuit originally from northern Quebec quickly developed the ability to catch seal, polar bear, beluga, narwhal and fox. Sovereignty as a Factor in the Relocation. Each study or report that has been critical of the government has been met with a more extensive study commissioned by the government. The generalized concern about reliance on ‘handouts’ was also applied to all Inuit. No plan was developed by the Department to give effect to the promise, and the means to return were not made available to the Inuit. PAUL AMAGOALIK:  I was born on the coast guard and medical ship, the C.D. Had a different approach been adopted, the government might have been led to a new awareness that would have permitted it to see the validity in the relocatees’ complaints and to move forward resolving them in a more positive way. (Cycles would not necessarily coincide in the same years in different parts of the Arctic; however, the typical cycle was of four years’ duration.) The government’s desire was to have Pond Inlet Inuit involved in the relocation to help the Inukjuak Inuit adjust to High Arctic conditions. It was perceived that decreased reliance on the trade store through increased reliance on hunting would not be possible in the Inukjuak area unless Inuit were relocated to other parts of the Quebec coast, to the islands of Hudson Bay off the Quebec coast, or to other parts of the Arctic.

I believe there is a future for young people right now. The small trade store were chronically under stocked and, particularly at Grise Fiord, people suffered hardship year after year through the 1950s. 17. It also served as an attempt to disseminate and remove Inuit culture from modern society. This attachment was known by non-Inuit at the time of the relocation. The Relocatees’ Experience were Predictable. The Commission’s conclusions, based on the preceding evidence and analysis, are, in summary, as follow: 1. 20. Fortunately, the descendants of the relocated families pushed for further reevaluation and were unrelenting in their request for an official government apology (which they were repeated denied).

Captured by Inuit vocal histories, these early interactions are pivotal to framing the contemporary Crown and Inuit relationship.
The Pond Inlet Inuit found themselves providing a service to the government, giving guidance to the Inukjuak Inuit; they expected to be paid for this service but were not. The curriculum in the school has improved a little bit, although it was forced on us. The Arctic is changing. Rather, high mortality rates tended to result in a stable population. Whether of not the people were unhappy or had desire to return home, they would still have to hunt. Conversely, Arctic historian Shelagh Grant explains that Inuit communities generally consider themselves as part of the environment and distinct from Canadian society. Howe, which transported the Inuit families from Inukjuak, to establish Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord. For this to happen, from the Inuit perspective, many things need to be considered.” – Amagoalik, Jon.

39. Large boats formed an important part life in Inukjuak ans were an important aspect of status in the community.

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