IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY - After the federal government apologized to those Inuit who were forced to live in Resolute and Grise Fiord in the 1950s as part of the High Arctic relocation, another group of Inuit is looking for a similar apology for those who were sent to Dundas Harbour.

Inuit across the territory involved in the Dundas Harbour relocation are looking for an apology from the federal government. One of the groups is based in Iqaluit and is called Qavavauq's Quest. Front row, from left, are Leetia Chouinard, Lise Chouinard, Pudloo Chouinard, Carol Akeeagok, Nakita Burke and Lucy Burke. Middle row, from left, are Renay Issigaitok-Qavavauq, Lou Philip, Aimo Muckpaloo and Carmen Levi. Back row, from left, are Aseena Allurut, Sarah Philip and Hannah Kiguktaq. - photo courtesy of Renay Issigaitok-Qavavauq

"Our wounds have not been allowed to begin healing as the suffering of our families has not been formally recognized," said Isaac Shooyook from Arctic Bay in a letter he wrote to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister John Duncan.

"Please while the descendants are alive, we deserve an apology right away. We are tired of waiting."

In 1934, 22 people from Cape Dorset, including Qavavauq, Kigutaq, Shappa and Napachikallak and their family members along with 12 people from Pangnirtung, 18 people from Pond Inlet and 100 sled dogs boarded the Nascopie bound for Dundas Harbour on Devon Island, about 200 kilometres south of Grise Fiord.

The federal government and the Hudson's Bay Company had been looking for volunteers to send up to a new trading post.

Qavavauq and others were expected to hunt, trap and trade for two years and then were promised to be returned home. This did not happen.

"For the first four months following the relocation, our families were forced to live in a tent as the weather conditions did not allow for the making of iglus," Shooyook said.

He is known as "survivorman" for having lived through this relocation.

Now, Aseena Allurut, Renay Issigaitok-Qavavauq and Carol Akeeagok along with other family members under the name of Qavavauq Quest are trying to get an apology and raise money so they can be reunited for the first time.

Allurut's aunt Susan Singoorie, now 85 and living in Ottawa, was eight years old when her family was moved to Dundas Harbour.

"They used some other hide to cover over the tent. They didn't have anything to eat other than foxes when they could get them," Allurut said, adding her aunt tells her it was always windy so they couldn't build iglus.

There is also a family story where Allurut's grandfather went out seal hunting and stood on the ice for hours over the hole. Once the moon shone, he realized he was not on the ice at all, but standing on the land.

In 1936, after being moved several times, the people thought they would be going home. Most of them would eventually go to Arctic Bay or other communities after HBC shut down the trading post.

Dundas Harbour is now another empty outpost camp.

"There's a tent there. The ice is all frozen and has never melted and they lost two family members from that tent," said Akeeagok.

She said getting an apology would not only help those who were there but also their family members.

"Growing up was really hard because my parents took anger from my grandparents. When they got angry, we got angry and that anger was passed on through generation through generation," Akeeagok said.

Allurut said she thinks the reason those from this relocation have not gotten an apology, unlike those in Resolute and Grise Fiord, is because it did not involve as many people.

"At least the people from Northern Quebec had a dump to go to," she said.

Issigaitok-Qavavauq got a response via e-mail from Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq's office on May 30.

"While I cannot comment on when Minister Duncan will respond, I am confident that he will carefully review the information you have provided me in regards to this issue," stated the e-mail.

She has been working on and off voluntarily on the project since 2004 and is now working on it full-time out of the Iqaluit Qikiqtani Inuit Association office.

While they wait for a response, the group has set up a trust fund and hopes to raise from $20,000 to $40,000 so when the apology does come they can ensure the family members can gather together.

Members of these families are now living in Grise Fiord, Pond Inlet, Ottawa, Iqaluit, Taloyoak, Resolute and other places in the south.

Many of these people have never met but they have similar features and speak similar dialects.

"It would be nice to see all my family for the first time in my life," Issigaitok-Qavavauq said.

Similar groups have been established, including the Shappa Association in Arctic Bay, the Inuk Ayout group in Taloyoak named after the son of Napatchikallak, and the Teevi group in Grise Fiord named after one of the wives of the men.

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