Going home to Hebron: A survivor’s tale

KEN JARARUSE
Special to Nunatsiaq News

KANGIQSUALUJJUAQ — While under one and a half to two metres of snow inside the Kangiqsualujjuaq school gymnasium on Jan. 1, 1999 for at least 30 to 40 minutes, I never thought I would see my birth-place again.

I could not move, but I could think, and my first reaction to that terrible situation was the safety of Simonie and Mary-Mary, and then my sister Dora’s family, who I knew were also buried.

My sister lost her five-year-old girl, Su anna, and eight other people died.During that very long 30 minutes, I thought of my brother Boas, who has lived in Makkovik, Labrador for the last 40 years and many of my friends and relatives who I had not seen for many, many years.

Although I was not hurt physically, I began to get very sleepy from the smell of fuel oil. Like all the victims of that avalanche, I had attempted to pray, and my prayer was “God, please let me live if I have any people to help, and if not, forgive my sins and take my soul.”

Even before I was finished praying, there was a sudden light and people nearby were being pulled out by some heroic individuals. Right up to today, I don’t know who pulled us out from under the snow, but this is a different story.

It was to help others who need help that God chose me to live one more time. I lived to see my home sweet home of my childhood days, and although it was for a very short time, it was a dream come true. I may also have been shown by God that these people are the people I have to help — the people of my birth-place — Hebron, Labrador.

Kicked out of Hebron

The story begins when my father came home from an unusual meeting in a church in Hebron in 1958, and said we have to move. I thought we had to move the house, or go to the camp where we always went for the char fishery and the seal fishery.

But this was not so. We were being kicked out of our own homes to the the southern villages of Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Northwest River and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We we thought we were being sent to better and happier places, but all we got was emptiness.

I was a 13-year-old kid when the coastal boat M/V Trepassey took my family away from Hebron. My family was the first to move, and with us was another family of Jararuses. Like Kangiqsualujjuaq with the Annanacks, Hebron was swarming with members of the Jararuse family, although there were also people from the Nochasak, Onalik, Tuglavina, Semigak, Kajuaitsiak, Kajui, Kohlmeister, Andersen, Piercey, Basto, Obed, Millik, and Mentzel families. The village of Nutak was also being relocated at the same time. There were members of the Green and Ittulak families in Hebron too.

My father Albert, orginally of Killinek, NWT, had been hospitalized in the Northwest River Hospital the previous year and had worked on the airstrip while waiting to go home. In the hope of finding work, he had decided that Northwest River was an ideal place to move, with the families from Nutak already living there. So Northwest River was the first place we moved to.

It was early summer when we moved, and by early fall we took a Peterhead boat to Happy Valley, since we could not be given a house in Northwest River. Thomas Jararuse, his son Elias, and adopted daughter Hanna braved the unknown shoals in another Peterhead boat to get to Goose Bay.

Again in Goose Bay, we could not get a house. We did not have the money to buy a house nor did the government or the Moravian mission supply us with a house. These were the institutions that kicked us out of Hebron.

Food and shelter from the dump

We were a little luckier this time though, because we were able to make a shack with planks and pieces of plywood picked from the local and American dumps.

We were pretty lucky too, because we were able to gather some edible food from picked from the dumps. By then, we were already pretty hungry for country foods such as char, seal, birds and so on, which we never ever lacked while living at home in Hebron.

This was the first time I has seen tears falling off Dad’s face. There were many more after that, until he died in Makkovik in the late 1970s. My father was a good man, a good provider who did not have to suffer, because no one had the right to take us out of our home.

They may have been looking for a better place for us to live, but what they found was Hell on earth for all the people who were relocated from Hebron and Nutak. Life changed for all of us, and most, if not all of us, were lost in the wilderness with no real direction.

Although I was always slow in learning, I loved going to school. In Happy Valley, though, I did not learn much because I missed a lot of school time. I was afraid of light-coloured children who called us names and beat us up too many times.

This was the first time that I experienced discrimination, which we never thought existed. For missing school, I started to get a bad name. The bad name lingered on for many more years.

My mother Mathilda (née Angatuk) had married my father after her first husband died in Killinek. She had met some Inuit from Kuujjuaq, then called Fort Chimo, and was able to get some help with tea, sugar and other little things. She often visited them and they often talked a lot about Fort Chimo and George River, places I never thought I would see.

I have lived in Kangiqsualujjuaq (George River), since 1981, but I also lived there from the late 1960s until 1977, and returned to Makkovik when my father died. She knew it was not long until her time came, so I was obliged to take her back to George River, knowing this was the place she wanted to die in.

Mom took good care of us with what little she had. She never hurt anyone, but suffered much because of the relocation forced upon us. She died in 1983, and this was the last time I saw my brother Boas until after the reunion in Hebron in August, 1999. We only had an hour and a half together, since I had to return to Quebec on the same day that he arrived in Nain from Hebron.

Discrimination against Inuit

We spent the winter in Happy Valley, and after the ice broke up in 1960, we again took a Peterhead boat with Thomas Jararuse back north to Makkovik, with Thomas going to Hopedale. Both men had saved enough money to buy gasoline to head back and we had lost many belongings, but were happy to get out of Goose Bay, which was infested with soldiers from all over the world and local settlers who discriminated against us.

The Indian kids were not that friendly either, always throwing rocks at us every chance they got. By then, I was a pretty angry 14-year-old boy. We could not return to Hebron, because Hebron was empty of people.

Life in Makkovik was much happier and better. That same summer, my brother Boas joined us, and sister Naimie and her family also came. The Nochasak, Tuglavina, Green, Semigak, and Onalik families also joined us, while most Hebron people moved to Hopedale and Nain.

The government finally gave us two-bedroom houses with no running water and no heating except for wood stoves. Some people had to make stoves out of 45-gallon drums. As the years rolled on, many families started to move to Hopedale and Nain, always looking for the better life, which they have not found up to this day. There are only three or four families left in Makkovik out of 20 families who originally moved there in 1959 and 1960.

Life became extremely hard for the Hebron people, especially for younger Inuit who tend to retaliate against situations they were forced into. Many turned to alcohol and some became suicidal. The police had a field day, earning their promotions and raises very easily. There were murders, rapes and thievery committed by some people who would not have done those crimes had they not been forcibly relocated.

Hebron was a peaceful, God-fearing village under the rule of the church and town elders, who were well-respected by the people. There were never any arrests made or anyone sent to prisons until we moved, then almost everyone received some kind of criminal record.

Unjust court system

Yes, there were and still are very serious crimes being committed by the relocatees. Many of us, including myself, became regular guests of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s, or the Salmonier line camp for little things like drunkeness, threats, vagrancy and so on. If the same offences were committed by whites or by non-relocatees, the same judge would pat the guy on the back and throw the charge out the window.

We had no chance, nor did anyone speak for us or defend us. We came before the court, and within minutes were sentenced to jail terms.

We didn’t even understand what was happening. There were no lawyers or legal aid to defend us. Later though, legal aid was established, but they worked with the court and I just don’t believe they ever really defended anyone.

By then, we were already branded criminals. Some of us, like myself, were not criminals, we are not criminals now, and we will never be like criminals. Justice is often very blind.

After many years of uncertainty, I finally settled in George River (Kangiqsualujjuaq) after my mother died. I have many relatives in George River, Kuujjuaq, Tasiujaq, and other communities that I got to know and love. I landed pretty good jobs and became a man I should have become long ago.

Seeking compensation

Although all is not always “hunky-dory” I gladly offer my services to northern Quebec with gladness and pride. As for Labradorians seeking compensation for being kicked out of our homes, we who are now living in northern Quebec will do the same. Myself and Sophie Keelan (née Jararuse) will respond to the call if and when it becomes necessary.

We will win the case even if we have to get the Supreme Court of Canada to help us. If the Supreme Court does nothing, then the United Nations Human Rights Commission will be appoached. The fight has just begun.

I am also proud and happy for Labrador Inuit for obtaining the agreement-in-principle, which I understand includes provisions for Labrador Inuit to identify and select 6100 square miles in northern Labrador which will be owned by the Inuit. The package includes constitutionally protected rights throughout a territory of 45,000 square miles, including 28,000 square miles of land and 17,000 square miles of ocean.

Opposed to national park

My understanding too is that a national park is to be established from Saglek to Killinek. Many, myself especially, oppose this park, with a reason.

From the beginning of time, our people have used the land for survival. Our ancestors used the land traditionally and both sides inherited that land and we intend to keep it that way. The unity of our people and the use of land, our rights, is in order.

If we are to establish a new community for the Hebron people near Hebron, then establishing the park should be put on hold, because both sides have rights to the land and need the land for survival, and jobs. Unity between Labrador and Quebec Inuit will become a reality.