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October 28, 2005: RCMP report absolves force of sled dog slaughter; Inuit cry whitewash

Canada

RCMP report absolves force of sled dog slaughter; Inuit cry whitewash

By Bob Weber

FIRST PERSPECTIVE

October 28, 2005

(CP) - It’s almost an article of faith for some Inuit that their people were driven off the land and into communities during the 1950s by a systematic government and RCMP plan to kill the sled dogs they depended on. But according to an interim RCMP inquiry report into the charges, released late Tuesday, it just isn’t so.

"The preliminary findings of the review team is that there is no evidence of an organized mass slaughter of Inuit sled dogs by RCMP members in Nunavik and Nunavut between 1950 and 1970," says the report.

Inuit officials have their own opinions.

"Whitewash," said Terry Audla of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which is conducting its own study into what happened.

"I’m not surprised," he said of the conclusions. "They’re conducting research into their own conduct."

Dogs were shot, says the RCMP report, but only for reasons of public health and safety.

The report quotes a retired staff sergeant, Glen Warner, who held many arctic postings between 1954 and 1979.

"It wasn’t `them’ and `us,"’ he says. "We curled together and square-danced together and drove dogs together.

"To think that we murdered their dogs and did anything - anything - that would make it tougher for them to live off the land or follow their lifestyle is just totally unrealistic."

The report is based on 20,000 pages of historical documents and interviews with 40 retired members and Inuit special constables.

It casts logistical doubt on claims that as many as 20,000 dogs were shot.

"There are no records to account for shipments of RCMP ammunition in the necessary quantities to the eastern Arctic to support a cull of that magnitude," it says.

The report also notes the Inuit were living through wrenching change at the time, their world veering from igloos and camp headmen to wooden houses and government officials. Customs that worked on the land were dangerous in communities.

Joseph Ross and his wife worked as nurses in Ungava Bay in arctic Quebec from 1956 to 1964. He told investigators the sled dogs could be dangerous.

"I made medical visits with a walking-stick club," he said. "My wife did not make medical visits to homes without another adult with her on account of the dog situation."

Outbreaks of rabies and distemper were common and devastating. As recently as 1987-88, canine disease killed more than 1,320 dogs, with losses up to 80 per cent in some areas.

The report points out RCMP members supplied vaccine to sick Inuit dogs - with some members doing the inoculating themselves - and sometimes supplied puppies to communities where disease had depleted sled teams.

In one case, an RCMP member was actually disciplined for the way he shot a pair of sled dogs.

Academics and historians who have studied the issue agree there is no hard evidence to suggest a plot to immobilize the Inuit by killing their dogs.

Some believe resurgent anger over the dog slaughter is at least partly long-repressed mourning for a way of life that seemed to disappear overnight.

But Audla said archival documents used in the RCMP report were written by RCMP officers, who wouldn’t be inclined to write anything that made the force look bad.

"From Day 1, it’s been filtered." Audla’s group is collecting interviews that paint a different picture.

"A lot of it points to the fact that (Inuit were) going into the village or trading post to pick up supplies and coming back out with their whole team gone," he said.

He doesn’t argue that officers sometimes helped dog owners with their teams, but suggests there were abuses too.

"We need a third independent body to look at both sides and come up with an opinion as to what’s true and what’s not."

He notes the RCMP have yet to examine interviews and information collected by his group and Makivik Corp., which represents Quebec Inuit.

The interim report was commissioned after a Commons committee called for a public inquiry on the issue.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan is considering the request. Her decision is expected after the final report is delivered. That’s expected next May.

The alleged slaughter happened 50 years ago, but still festers in Inuit communities, said Audla.

"What happens in the past echoes through today," he said. "The government should just carry out the judicial inquiry. Everyone will be better informed."

http://www.firstperspective.ca/story_2005_...