Yellowknife (Mar 28/05) - Lucien Ukaliannuk saw his dog team slaughtered in 1962 near Iglulik. It was never explained to him or his family why the dogs were shot.

Through an interpreter in Iqaluit last week, Ukaliannuk explained why the memory of dog slaughters still hurts Inuit to this day:

"Dogs were our basis as Inuit. For us to live as Inuit our dogs were essential."

On the importance of dog teams in the past he explained:

"So many of our descendants wouldn't be alive today if there were no dog teams. Whole camps were saved by dog teams," he said.

"If there was starvation in one camp, the dogs there would die. Inuit often ate their dogs if they were starving and had no other meat left. Another camp would send a dog team to get them and bring them to where there was more food. Your dog team made it possible for other people to survive.

"Dogs don't go through the ice like snowmobiles do. Dogs know where there is thin ice. Dogs also know where to go, even if it is stormy. People didn't get lost the way they do today. The Ski-Doo won't tell a person if it's dangerous or not."