Commission to hear from relocated Inuit Elders

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The Royal Commission on Aboriginal People will hold special hearings for the High Arctic Exiles this spring to examine the forced relocation of Inuit families during the 1950s.

"Testimony presented to the commission by relocatees, during hearings in Inukjuak in the spring of 1992, triggered our concerns, commission co-chair Rene Dussault said.

"We are struck by the fact that reports prepared for the government have relied on department files and have rarely taken the relocatees' oral testimony seriously."

Seven Inuit families - 87 people - living in Inukjuak, Nunavik in Northern Quebec and Pond Inlet, Baffin Island were relocated by the federal government, between 1953 and 1955, to Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island and Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island.

The Inuit say they have experienced considerable hardship as a result of the relocation and they were not returned home when the government's plan failed.

The new inquiry is part of the royal commission's mandate, spokesman Hugh McCallum said.

The commission is to look at all aspects of Native injustice."

About 20 Inuit witnesses will be flown to the four-day hearings in Ottawa. The first set, scheduled for April 5-9, will offer the Inuit, many of them elderly, a chance to tell their stories.

"Some of the Inuit are getting old," McCallum said. "They want their stories told. Some of the relocatees and their families have spoken about it."

A review by former Justice Minister Roger Tasse and former Inuit Circumpolar Conference president Mary Simonof relocation documents concluded the "High Arctic Exiles' allegations have not, overall, been addressed in an entirely fair and just manner

by the government.

"The researchers looked into it. They felt the government's file did not jibe with oral testimonies," McCallum said.

Testimony from an exile at the hearings in Inukjuak in northern Quebec depict a bleak life for those who were moved.

"On our arrival at the new home, we were shocked at the barrenness of the land, the coldness of the air, and the presence of icebergs," said Inuit relocatee Markoosie Patsauq.

"We did not know where to hunt...there was no daylight from November to February. We survived mostly on the garbage of the white man. Travelling to the dump for a bit of bread became our daily labor."

The review was ordered after the federal government refused to admit in November, 1992, it was at fault for relocating the Inuit.

The researchers concluded that "no complete picture of what really happened in the High Arctic in the early 1950s will emerge unless the persons first concerned by these events are given a meaningful opportunity to tell their full story."

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon has repeatedly refused to apologize on behalf of the government, saying the move was carried out in the Inuits'

best interests.

The House of Commons Aboriginal Affairs committee has issued two reports recommending the federal government issue an apology and compensation for the move.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission also blasted the government with a report released last year saying the Inuits' relocation was a violation of their rights.

A second set of hearings will be held June 28-30.