Federal government apologizes for Nunavik dog slaughter

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OTTAWA – The federal government will apologize to Inuit in Quebec’s Nunavik region for killing sled dogs between the mid-1950s and late 1960s.

In his opening remarks at the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee meeting in Ottawa on Friday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the government is preparing to issue an apology in Nunavik.

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The actual date of the apology is still being determined, but could happen as early as the end of the month.

Anandasangaree told the audience that the apology will not erase the past, but will hopefully provide some comfort to the remaining survivors “as we rebuild this very important relationship.”

For years, the Makivik Corporation – which represents Inuit in Nunavik – has pushed for recognition from the federal and provincial governments about the damage caused by the dog slaughter, in addition to reparations.

The organization has said the killing of the dogs caused Inuit dog owners to lose their means of transportation, prevented them from making a living through hunting and trapping, and eroded their way of life.

The province of Quebec has already apologized for its role in the killings.

A 2010 report by Jean-Jacques Croteau, a retired Quebec Superior Court judge, found that Quebec provincial police officers killed more than a thousand dogs “without any regard for their importance to Inuit families.”

The federal government’s role in this, Croteau found, was its failure to intervene or condemn the actions.

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“The federal agents and officials failed to intervene on behalf of the Government of Canada in its capacity as a fiduciary when agents and officials of the Government of Quebec pushed their operations to the limit,” Croteau wrote in his report, noting that in some cases In some cases, dogs were killed due to a perceived threat to the public after non-Inuit were bitten.

“Without investigation and without asking the owners about the importance of the dogs they wanted to kill, without asking whether the dogs they wanted to kill posed a real, serious and present danger to the people.”

In 2011, then Quebec Premier Jean Charest formally apologized to Inuit in Nunavik for the province’s role, and settled with Makivik for $3 million to promote and protect the Inuit language and culture.

In 2019, the federal government apologized to Inuit in Nunavut for the RCMP’s role in killing sled dogs there.

A final report from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission on the issue shows that hundreds of dogs have been shot by the RCMP for fear of stray dogs or the spread of disease.

‘It’s about time. What happened in Nunavik is so similar to what happened in my riding,” said Nunavut Member of Parliament Lori Idlout.

“Although it opened some wounds, I think it created a safe space for those affected to share their stories. When they had that space, those who never had any direct experience with it understood their pain a little better.

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