-
(narrator)
Joadamee remembers
-
seeing well over a dozen sled dog teams
-
in Resolute Bay
when he was a little boy,
-
back in 1953.
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-We moved here when I was 12--
or 2 years old,
-
and we lived
in the old village down there,
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and there used to be
maybe about 15 dog teams,
-
all in front of our community,
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and they were about 10
to 15 dogs per dog team.
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And so I remember them quite well.
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They used to make lots of noise.
-
(narrator)
Between 1950 and 1970, RCMP
-
across the Arctic slaughtered
thousands of qimmiq,
-
or Inuit sled dogs,
-
to keep families in one place
-
as part of an effort to assimilate Inuit
-
into Canadian society.
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The killing of the dogs
led to a disruption
-
to the Inuit way of life,
-
contributing to government dependance,
-
subjecting Inuit to residential schools,
-
and other government policies.
-
-It was devastating
to the whole community
-
when RCMP started shooting all the dogs.
-
Yeah, that basically
wiped out the spirit of the community.
-
And we became welfare people, I guess.
-
(narrator)
While he was little at the time,
-
he remembers the impact
it had on people.
-
-They raised a dog team
right from little
-
to adulthood, and they taught them how
-
to be part of a team,
and stuff like that.
-
After you do that, you're part of them.
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You basically treat them like family.
-
According
to the Qikiqtani Truth Commission,
-
many Inuit were not told
why their dogs were killed.
-
-After they wiped out the whole--
-
gee, must have been about 60, 70 dogs
they wiped out.
-
And after that...
-
The community really struggled
to survive.
-
The dog teams were the only way
to go hunting.
-
(narrator)
For RCMP members today,
-
the dog cull is still a sensitive issue.
-
If a dog needs to be put down,
-
they would rather have an owner do it.
-
-The dogs, too, is another one, yeah.
-
Um, very, very mindful
when it comes to animals,
-
what we-- what we can do,
-
and we take all that stuff
into consideration.
-
(narrator)
Today's younger generation
-
is trying to bring the dogs back
from the brink of extinction,
-
to restore the qimmiq.
-
-Yeah, so I started
when I was 16 years old,
-
so that would have been 2017.
-
I started off with one dog
-
and we used to head out,
just me and him.
-
My mum bought me a little kick sled,
-
and I'd tell him to run home,
and he'd pull me home
-
on this kick sled.
-
(narrator)
At 22,
-
he now has a team of 14 dogs
and 5 puppies.
-
He is helping others
start their own teams.
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He says he's happy to be helping
bring back this tradition.
-
-The dog setting culture up here,
you know,
-
is almost completely gone.
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Almost replaced by snowmobiles entirely.
-
Um, but then being able to run the dogs
-
and help other peoples' grow,
-
and it's just been really awesome
-
because I like the dogs myself,
-
and, I have fun running them
and hunting with them, especially.
-
Um, it's just been really,
really awesome
-
to be a part of that.
-
(narrator)
Trevor Wright, APTN National News,
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Resolute Bay, Nunavut.
