During the middle of the 20th century, amid rapidly escalating Cold-War tensions with the Soviet Union, Canada’s vast and relatively unpopulated far-northern territories found themselves of critical and unanticipated strategic importance. With the threat of an armed conflict high on the conscience of Canadians, and at the solicitation of the United States, an effort was undertaken to rapidly populate this critical buffer region between Western and Soviet territory and thus guarantee national sovereignty in the “High Arctic”. To accomplish this, the government elected to mislead several Inuit families, from the northern Québec towns of Pond Inlet and Inukjuak, into permanently relocating to the new settlements of Resolute and Grise Fiord in the Canadian archipelago. Thus, eight families became effectively stranded against their will in the name of national sovereignty. The treatment of these individuals by the government during the High Arctic Relocation was only one symptom of a broader trend of mistreatment that was felt by Inuit communities during the mid 20th century. In fact, the mid 20th century Canadian government treated all Inuit peoples as second-class citizens. The following historical artifacts will serve to shine light not just on the stories of the High Arctic Relocation, but on the experiences of all Inuit people during this time to better understand the context under which such a forcible relocation could occur. To this aim, the exhibit will begin with a foray into the history of “Eskimo Disc Numbers”, a highly scrutinized government identification system. Analysis of this system will reveal not just the pattern of dehumanizing treatment of the Inuit prior to the relocation, but also the widespread ethnocentric mindset that allowed officials to justify the relocation. Next, the exhibit’s focus will shift towards the relocation itself: the militaristic motivations behind the government’s actions and the inhumane methods advanced by authorities to accomplish this resettlement. Finally, the exhibit will investigate the reality of life in the High Arctic; it will become clear that the quality of life for the Inuit families was severely and negatively affected upon relocation, much to the disinterest of government officials. Considering the recent movement toward truth and reconciliation for past injustices against Indigenous people, this topic has never been more relevant to bring to public light. A range of artifacts from historical letters, parliamentary debates, eyewitness testimony, and photographs have been collected to convey this dark, yet crucial chapter in Canadian history.
Bibliography:
Madwar, Samia. “Inuit High Arctic Relocations in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Historica Canada. July 25, 2018. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/inuit-high-arctic-relocations
Privy Council Office. The High Arctic Relocation: a report on the 1953-55 relocation. By D. Réne, E. Georges. Catalogue no. Z1-1991/1-41-3E. Ottawa, ON: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1994. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1991-1-41-3-eng.pdf
Credits
By Joshua Shaigec