More than 1,000 dogs belonging to indigenous people in the Nunavik region were killed by police in the 1950s and 1960s when they were essential to the community, particularly for hunting, trapping and fishing.
The Canadian government officially apologized Saturday to the indigenous people of the north of the country for the slaughter “massif» of nearly a thousand sled dogs in the 1950s and 1960s by police officers.
«It should not have taken decades for Canada to apologize to the Inuit of Nunavik for the federal government's role in the dispossession and devastating loss of sled dogs, who were companions and loved ones“, declared Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, during a ceremony in the north of the province of Quebec.
In addition to the official apology, the Canadian government will pay compensation of 45 million Canadian dollars (30 million euros) to the community, he said.
Dogs “essential for hunting, trapping and fishing”
The police killed more than 1,000 dogs belonging to indigenous people in the Nunavik region.without taking into account the serious and difficult consequences for the owners and their families”, all “without investigation and without asking whether the dogs concerned constituted a real danger for the population», Details a report published in 2010 by a retired judge.
The sled dogs were, however, “essential for hunting, trapping and fishing, and the entire community depended on dogs for livelihood and mode of transportation», underlines the report.
«The actions and inaction that led to the mass slaughter of sled dogs inflicted suffering and hardship on Inuit families that none of them should have had to endure», added the minister.
In 2019, the Canadian government also apologized to the Inuit of Nunavut for the role of police in the slaughter of sled dogs in this region.
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