Out in the cold : the legacy of Canada's Inuit relocation experiment in the high Arctic, 1953-1990

• Main Author: Marcus, Alan Rudolph
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Cambridge
• Subjects: Eskimos; Canada Northern; Relocation; Government relations; Land settlement; Arctic Archipelago; Arctic; Craig Harbour; eskimo*; inuit; Inukjuak; Resolute Bay; Ungava peninsula
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/280442; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/280442/4/991008022949707631.pdf.jpg

In 1953-55 the Canadian government of Prime Minister St. Laurent carried out an experimental relocation of eleven Inuit (Eskimo) families from the region of Port Harrison (Inukjuak), on Quebec's Ungava Peninsula, to Ellesmere and Cornwallis Islands in the High Arctic Archipelago. The reason the government gave for this operation was to alleviate overcrowded conditions in the southern Arctic, and take advantage of unused natural resources in the unpopulated regions farther north. Yet the relocated Inuit families, which included disabled and elderly people, were not prepared for the severe climatic conditions in the new colonies, and the government failed to provide sufficient supplies and services. As a result, the Inuit families faced great hardship. In this isolated location some Inuit became seriously ill, others died, and the rest managed to survive off the land. Although the two settlements were envisaged as prototypes for large scale colonization of the High Arctic Archipelago, future plans were aborted. The government decided, however, to make sure the colonies at Craig Harbour and Resolute Bay remained a successful venture. In this thesis it is argued that the government had several hidden motives for undertaking the relocation, one of which pertained to Canadian sovereignty and exercising "effective occupation" of the islands.