Inuit communities finally get compensation for dog slaughter

[Locutus]

Residents of Nunavik in northern Quebec are finally receiving compensation for the systematic slaughter of sled dogs by federal and provincial police in the 1950s and ’60s that left Inuit communities devastated.

“They have begun to disperse (compensation) to the previous dog owners,” Kitty Gordon, a spokesperson for Nunavik’s Makivik Corp., told the Star Friday. The organization is mandated to protect the rights and interests of the 11,000 residents of Nunavik.

While the Inuit insist the slaughter was part of a campaign to force them off the land and into federal programs and villages, federal and provincial authorities have said the cull was for public safety purposes and to control disease.

The Quebec government signed an agreement with Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. a year ago to pay $3 million to support the Inuit in the protection and promotion of their culture. The agreement also provides plaques to commemorate the slaughter in each of Nunavik’s 14 villages.

The federal government has not compensated the Inuit community for its role in the slaughter

more

Inuit communities finally get compensation for dog slaughter - thestar.com

 

[skookumchuck]

The average modern Canadian has no knowledge about how many children were killed and maimed by uncontrolled dogs in the north, and still are. If i could take most peeps back to some northern villages in the 60's so they could see the circumstances for themselves they would puke up the bile being sold to them as steak.
One must also realize that the Inuit and Natives had a phlegmatic attitude towards those incidents as they always were a part of their lives. Yes they grieved, and yes they knew it was wrong but they dealt with it and carried on. Their mindset was not and is not that of those in urban environments.
There are other parts of far and even near northern "norms" that cannot even be mentioned here without a huge pissing match resulting. To cherry pick their culture in order to either glamorize or discriminate is so very wrong and self serving.

 

[Liberalman]

Residents of Nunavik in northern Quebec are finally receiving compensation for the systematic slaughter of sled dogs by federal and provincial police in the 1950s and ’60s that left Inuit communities devastated.

“They have begun to disperse (compensation) to the previous dog owners,” Kitty Gordon, a spokesperson for Nunavik’s Makivik Corp., told the Star Friday. The organization is mandated to protect the rights and interests of the 11,000 residents of Nunavik.

While the Inuit insist the slaughter was part of a campaign to force them off the land and into federal programs and villages, federal and provincial authorities have said the cull was for public safety purposes and to control disease.

The Quebec government signed an agreement with Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. a year ago to pay $3 million to support the Inuit in the protection and promotion of their culture. The agreement also provides plaques to commemorate the slaughter in each of Nunavik’s 14 villages.

The federal government has not compensated the Inuit community for its role in the slaughter

more

Inuit communities finally get compensation for dog slaughter - thestar.com

In Nunavik, 145 residents who owned a dog sled team or whose spouse owned a team, have received $6,700 each

These people lived off the land of ice and snow and this is before the invention of machines that replaced the sled dogs

 

[jariax]

While I don't agree with the slaughter of the dogs, the fact is that First Nations communities are notoriously terrible wihen it comes to looking after their animals. They rarely get them spayed or neuters, seldom get them proper veterinary care, and frequently abandon the dogs to the streets when they become inconvenient.

Regardless. the Inuit should have been compensated somewhat for having their way of life compromised by no longer being able to hunt with their dogs. The bulk of the money, however, should have been used to fund spaying and neutering of dogs in FN communities.