Last November 23, the Canadian Minister for Indigenous Relations, Gary Anandasangaree, went to Kangiqsujuaq, a remote Inuit community in northern Quebec, to offer the Canadian government’s official apologies for the sled dog massacre occurred between 1950 and 1963.
This massacre, systematically conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Sûrété du Québec, led to the killing of approximately 20,000 dogsfundamental to the culture and livelihood of the Inuit.
Anandasangaree, born in Sri Lanka and arrived in Canada at the age of 10, expressed his deep regret for what happened, describing the enormous economic, cultural and emotional damage that this event caused. As a sign of reparation, the Canadian government has allocated 45 million dollars to support the Inuit community in the cultural recovery and reintroduction of sled dogs.
The mass killing of dogs had a devastating impact on the lives of the Inuit, who were forced to abandon their traditional lifestyle to settle in permanent settlements. Their presence was in fact crucial in a hostile environment like the Arctic, where resources were scarce and distances immense.
The absurd justifications
Anandasangaree pointed out that many elders still remember the horror of those days, when their dogs came killed and burned in front of themleaving deep emotional scars and a sense of betrayal by the authorities.
Judge Jean-Jacques Croteau’s 2010 report revealed that Inuit were not consulted on the measures taken and that federal and provincial authorities they abused inadequate laws to justify killing dogs. According to them the dogs were disease carriers and constituted a danger to the inhabitants of the new permanent settlements.
However, many Inuit believe that the killing of their dogs was part of a larger plan to force them to abandon their nomadic lifestyle and depend on the economic and social structures of the government.
While no evidence has emerged of a deliberate plot to destroy Inuit culture, the lack of sensitivity and understanding by the authorities left an indelible mark. The destruction of the sled dogs led to the forced adoption of a new lifestyle for the Inuit, depriving them of a vital resource for hunting and transportation.
The issue of dog slaughter it only formally emerged in the 1990swhen the Inuit began to demand explanations and official apologies. Only in 2019 did the Quebec government officially recognize the suffering caused by the massacre, followed last year by an official apology from the Canadian federal government.
This event marked a deep fracture in the relationship between the Canadian government and the Inuit communities, prompting the government to recognize one’s responsibility and to commit to a future of reconciliation and cultural respect.