For what it's worth, this Canadian is disgusted (but not surprised) that
the federal government would COMPENSATE people for the pain and suffering
they endured without having the decency to APOLOGIZE to them for what
happened.
It is interesting to note that less than two weeks ago the Catholic Bishop
of the Arctic offered an unequivocal apology for the physical and sexual
abuse of children which occured at the boarding school in Chesterfield
Inlet -- and the faces of the people at the ceremony showed just how much
it meant for them to hear someone say, "You were telling the truth all
these years that we were in denial, and we're truly sorry for what happened
to you." The church made a full apology but offered no compensation; the
government compensates but refuses to apologize. Doing so might set a
precedent, you see...
Further articles are expected -- including one tomorrow in which Canada's
former top bureaucrat says he is baffled by the government's agreement to
compensate the High Arctic Exiles, but is pleased that the agreement
appears to exonerate him and others of any wrongdoing -- I'll post those
worth circulating.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
INUIT WIN SETTLEMENT FOR 1950s RELOCATION: Families get $10M, but no apology
by Jack Aubry, Citizen aboriginal affairs writer
Iqaluit, N.W.T.
Inuit familes who were relocated 2,000 kilometres to the High Arctic in the
1950s have accepted a tentative settlement with the federal government that
includes a $10-million compensation package.
However, the negotiated deal does not include one of the key demands of the
Inuit -- an apology from the government for their painful ordeal in the Far
North.
Instead, the government and Inuit have agreed on a "statement of
reconciliation" that would recognize the "hardship, suffering and loss" in
the initial years of the relocation because of poor planning and
implementation by the government.
The statement adds that the government officials involved "were acting with
honorable intentions in what was perceived be in the best interests of the
Inuit at that time."
The Inuit say they were taken from Northern Quebec in 1953 and dumped on
the desolate shores of Resolute Bay and Craig Harbour without housing. They
say they had to scavenge for food in the dump of a military base and were
forced to adjust to the unfamiliarity of non-stop darkness in the winter.
But some of the former government officials involved in the relocation
denied that the Inuit faced any hardship or that the move was made to
affirm Canada's sovereignty in the High Arctic, which had a large U.S.
military presence in the 1950s. They say the move was made for the Inuit's
(sic) own good because living conditions in Northern Quebec had
deteriorated.
The Inuit, many of whom are bitter about the agreed statement, say they are
accepting the compromise deal because they want to settle the matter before
their aging elders die. Thirty-one of the 86 original exiles have already
died.
"If the government can apologize for the Japanese, they they can bloody
well do it for the Aboriginal Peoples," said an emotional Emily Dederick,
the daughter of an exile who died in 1984.
The Mulroney government apologized in 1988 to Japanese Canadians who were
interned in camps during the Second World War, and gave them $300 million
for their losses. The Chr=E9tien government declared last year that it does
not intend to apologize to other groups seeking redress.
Inuit leader John Amagoalik, who has led the fight for redress, is
especially bitter: "The absence of an apology is like a slap in the face to
us. The government is behaving like a criminal who has confessed his crimes
but has exoressed no remorse."
The compensation package, which has the approval of cabinet, includes an
$8-million trust fund for the families and $2-million in cash for the 55
living exiles and the descendants of those who died.
One of the government's concerns was setting a precedent for the other
Aboriginal Peoples who were relocated by the government. The final report
of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples is expected to reveal more
than 100 relocations.
The High Arctic Inuit settlement was signed by 75 Inuit -- exiles and
descendants -- attending the week-long meeting in the old gymnasium of a
college. In the next two weeks, a lawyer will fly to various Arctic
communities to collect the signatures of a handful of Inuit exiles who were
unable to attend the meeting.
The reconciliation statement also half-acknowledges that the Inuit played a
role in establishing Canadian sovereignty in the North by simply saying
"the relocatees contributed to a Canadian presence in the High Arctic."
The Inuit sau the deal will not be final until Indian Affairs Minister Ron
Irwin and Makivik President Zebedee Nungak hold a signing ceremony later
this month in Inukjuak. Makivik is the Quebec Inuit economic development
corporation.
Government officials attending the meeting also declined to comment, saying
it is premature to say anything about the matter.
But sources say the settlement, which the government termed its last offer,
must be unanimously accepted by march 31. The exiles, and descendents of
those who have died, were flown into Iqaluit from Inukjuak and various
Arctic locations on Monday.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which completed the most
thorough investigation of the move, including hearings, concluded in a 1994
report that the ill-conceived relocation was illegal and inhumane. It
recommended the government apologize and negotiate a compensation package.
It was the third body in five years, along with a House of Commons
committee and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, to conclude the move of
85 Inuit from northern Quebec to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord had not been
a voluntary one.
Part of the settlement is that the Inuit agree to waive any further legal
proceedings. However, several Inuit vowed Thursday to continue the fight
for an apology from the government.
"I still recall the government dividing us up on the 'C.D. Howe' icebreaker
-- sending my relatives away to another place without warning. We are still
crying. No one is celebrating this," said Allie Salluviniq, one of the
exiles.
Most of those who were moved to the High Arctic have returned to Inukjuak
in the past 30 years.
--Jack Hicks Box 1554 home: (819) 979-2178, work: -4199, fax: -2260 Iqaluit, Nunavut e-mail: jhicks@nunavut.ca CANADA X0A 0H0 website: http://www.nunanet.com/~nic
"The history books are wrong. The real history of the world is being enacted by millions of ordinary people. History is not made by Kings or Presidents, but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things." - believe it or not, from an ad for the CNN news network