IQALUIT - Inuit are ready to forgive past wrongdoings if the federal government apologizes, said the head of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission.

James Igloliorte, the head of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, said if the federal government apologizes to Inuit for wrongdoings between 1950 and 1975, Inuit will forgive. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo Report highlights Housing Housing was a frequent source of disappointment, the report reads. It states that an insufficient number of homes were built and the ones that were constructed were of poor quality and unsuitable for the Arctic environment. One resident of Pond Inlet testified she lived in a tent by the river as no housing was available. She described the situation as "difficult." She also stated they didn't have enough to eat. She and her family eventually moved to a "matchbox" house, after close to two years of tent life, the report stated, and 20 people lived in that 12x24 foot house, sleeping on the floor. Sled dog killings The number of sled dogs decreased dramatically in the Qikiqtani region between 1957 and 1975, the report states. Death from disease, abandonment and greater snowmobile use, for instance, can explain the decline, according to the report. But it also adds hundreds, perhaps thousands more were shot by the RCMP and other authorities since dogs were considered a danger to people or could spread canine diseases. As a result of losing sled dogs, families and hunters suffered terribly, the report states.

The commission, which investigated Inuit and non-Inuit relations during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, released its 54-page final report on Oct. 20 during the Qikiqtani Inuit Association's annual general meeting in Iqaluit.

As a reconciliation commission, QTC head James Igloliorte said he recommended the federal government review the report. He said if the feds acknowledge their responsibility towards the Inuit, they should start a process of reconciliation with the Inuit, which would include an apology.

“Inuit are ready to forgive, therefore the federal government should give the apology (and) Inuit will forgive,” he said.

“The similarity of histories and the similarity of experiences and most importantly the similarities of negative impacts in Inuit by actions of the federal government showed us that Inuit were deeply aggrieved. As a consequence, there should be some form of redress for this.”

Igloliorte, a retired judge from Labrador, traveled to 13 communities, from the Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay to Resolute and Grise Fiord in the High Arctic, collecting personal testimonies. The report includes individual histories of the 200 people who spoke to the commission and the additional 150 recorded interviews QIA had in their repository. He said this resulted, for the first time, in a very clear history of the Qikiqtani region from an Inuit perspective.

The report outlines the challenges Inuit faced when they stopped living on the land and lived in year-round settlements. More than 100 communities collapsed into 13 in a span of around 25 years and the recorded experiences directly related to the actions of the federal government. All had “huge” impacts on Inuit lives, said Igloliorte. He added that many of those impacts arose from broken promises on housing, to the lack of respect for the Inuit culture and language and the way health care was approached, for example.

“(This) shows that the time period between 1950 and 1975 was a time of huge change for Inuit and it had long-lasting impacts (that) still can be seen today,” he said. “I think in general, it is the relationship between what we were told and what we learned from our research, which is most important to remember.”

The report outlines a number of recommendations to help heal past wrongdoings, strengthen Inuit governance and Inuit culture as well as the help create healthy communities.

One of the biggest lessons learned concerns how people who provide governance services should deal with Inuit, said Igloliorte.

“There should be immediate respect for the language and culture. There should be deference towards the practices of the community and there should be an ability to try and strive for open communications and dialogue before decisions are made,” he said.

The commission plans to write the histories of both the 13 communities and 12 topics of importance, including alcohol, housing and sled dogs. It also plans to develop a database to catalogue all the information collected.

Igloliorte said the commission wants to release all the video and audio reports so people appreciate the emotions expressed by the witnesses, the public who sat in on the hearings, the interpreters and himself.

“The amount of information, personal information, historical information that was given was indeed very touching, very moving, very emotional,” he said.

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