Ottawa apologizes, announces $45M compensation for Nunavik Inuit dog slaughter
The federal government has apologized for its role in the killing of sled dogs in Nunavik between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s.
In Kangiqsujuaq, a Nunavik village in Northern Quebec, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree also announced $45 million in compensation for Inuit in the region.
“The dog slaughter occurred across Nunavik, spreading grief and devastation from the brutality. For this, words are not enough to express the sorrow and regret we feel,” Anandasangaree said at a ceremony Saturday afternoon.
“The federal government takes responsibility for its role in the dog slaughter. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, federal officials knew that the dog slaughter was occurring and allowed it to continue, aware that Inuit way of life, health, and well-being depended on the dogs.
“On behalf of the government of Canada and of all the Canadians, I am sorry. Please forgive us.”
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
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