Yesterday's (March 9, 1996) Globe and Mail ran a very short article which
said that "Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said in an interview yesterday
that nothing is final and the matter has not gone to cabinet."
The following is the text of an article which ran in yesterday's (March 9,
1996) Ottawa Citizen.
Jack Hicks
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[accompanying the article is:
1) a photograph of Gordon Robertson (former Clerk of the Privy Council --
senior bureacratic in the federal government), with the quote: "I don't
think for a minute that they suffered any real hardship. I am completely
baffled by the compensation. The reasons for the move was to improve the
lot of these people and I think they were better off."
2) a map showing the route taken by the ship which carried the High Arctic
Exiles from Inukjuak to Craig Harbour and Resolute Bay, and
3) a basic chronology of events:
1953 -- Fifty Inuit are relocated 2,000 kilometres via icebreakers from
Port Harrison (Inukjuak) and Pond Inlet to Craig Harbour and
Resolute bay in the High Arctic.
1955 -- Thirty-six more Inuit are moved from Inukjuak.
1969 -- Over the next 16 years, six families move back to Inukjuak.
1977 -- Report for Department of Indian Affairs states the move was partly
made to occupy the Far North. It oberves "no doubt sovereignty was
of concern to some.
1989 -- Makivic (sic) Corporation, the Inuit development corporation in
Quebec, requests $10 milklion in compensation for original 19
relocated families.
1990 -- House of Commons committee's unanimous report recommends apology to
Inuit and consideration of compensation. Government rejects it.
1994 -- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommends government
apologize and compensate Inuit for relocation.
1995 -- Inuit familes request $28-million compensation package and apology
from government.]
BITTERNESS OVER LACK OF APOLOGY HAUNTS INUIT DEAL
by Jack Aubry, Citizen aboriginal affairs writer
Iqaluit, N.W.T.
What's done is done, what's gone is gone
We must put the past behind
And set a course for better times
When freedom's lost nobody ever wins
I can't wait until my ship comes in
-'Kajusita' ('My Ship Comes in')
by the Inuit singing duo 'Tudjaat'
The healing lyrics written by a descendant of the High Arctic exiles show
that reconciliation between the Inuit and federal government may be
possible.
But a $10-million tentative settlement reached here this week with the
Inuit has left bitterness on both sides. Some of the exiles, a name they
gave given themselves, are vowing to continue their fight for an apology
from the government despite the agreement.
And Gordon Robertson, a former Clerk of the Privy Council who was deputy
minister of the department that masterminded the moves, says he is baffled
by the compensation package being given to the Inuit.
Eighty-six Inuit were relocated in 1953 and 1955 from Inukjuak in northern
Quebec over a distance of 2,000 kilometres to Resolute Bay and Craig
Harbour in the High Arctic.
The negotiated settlement features a $10-million compensation package -- an
$8 million trust fund for the exiles' families and $2-million in direct
cash -- and a reconciliation statement. The statement does not include an
apology, but rather recognition of the Inuit's contribution to Canada's Far
North and the "pain, suffering and hardship" they faced in the first years
of the move due to poor planning by the government.
The 17 Inuit families, who were split up on the icebreaker into the two
communities, say they were dumped on the shore of the communities without
housing and were forced to scrounge for food at the military base while
adjusting to dark winters. They also say the government broke its promise
to return them to Quebec on request while they adjusted to the dark winters
of the Arctic.
The 75 Inuit assembled for the week-long meeting signed the settlement, but
said they were accepting the deal without an apology only for the elders
before they die.
In a telephone interview from his home in Rockcliffe, Robertson said he is
gratified that the settlement has no apology and it specifies the former
government officials involved in the move were acting with honorable
intentions.
"I'm pleased to see that. That means they have vindicated the RCMP and the
government officials."
But he said Canadians should be asking themselves why the Inuit are
receiving the compensation, especially when the country is in such
financial difficulty.
"I don't think for a minute that they suffered any real hardship. I am
completely baffled by the compensation. The reasons for the move was to
improve the lot of these people and I think they were better off," said
Robertson.
He said Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord where the Inuit were settled are
considered the two most prosperous settlements in the Far North.
The absence of an apology contradicts the recommendation of three different
bodies that issued reports this decade recommending one. A House of Commons
committee, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples also recommended compensation.
Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin declined to comment on the tentative
settlement, which he is expected to sign in Inukjuak by the end of the
month. But a spokesman in his office said Irwin is still committed to
seeking reconciliation.
Inuit leader John Amagoalik, one of the exiles, credited Irwin for pushing
the matter and getting it through cabinet, despite the objections of the
former bureaucrats.
Markoosie Patsauq, 54, said the compensation means little to him without
the apology. He said he will use his $23,000 share of the direct
compensation on a new snowmobile, hunting equipment and fishing nets.
A welfare agent in Resolute Bay, he says he has "lots of customers" in the
community. Now the father of eight children Patsauq was relocated in 1953
with his family even though he had tuberculosis a few months earlier. He
said he spent three years in a hospital in the south apart from his family
when he was finally diagnosed.
Emily Dederick, a descendant of an exile family, now lives in Ottawa and
says she plans to protest on Parliament Hill until the government
apologizes.
Madeline Allakariallak, along with cousin Pheobe Atagotaaluk, has formed
'Tudjaat' -- 'land of gravel' in Inuktitut -- a throat-singing duo named
after Resolute Bay. With the help of Inuit singer Susan Aglukark, the duo
recently landed a record contract with Sony and have released a CD with
songs about the north and the relocation.
Allakariallak, who is the grand-daughter of an exile, said it is "wierd and
confusing" that the government is providing compensation without an
apology.
"It is like they are trying to buy our silence from us," she said.
But Allakariallak also feels that the tentative settlement, even if not
perfect, will allow the exiles to turn the page and move on.
"Maybe it is time that it rests and we put the pain to sleep."