Experimental Inuit hope to see claim move forward after 12-year wait
“I think there’s a realization that these seven people have fallen through the cracks”
From left: Eric Tagoona, Zebedee Nungak and Peter Ittinuar are seen in a scene from The Experimental Eskimos, the 2009 documentary made about the Inuit men. At age 12, all three boys were separated from their home communities and sent to Ottawa to live with foster families as part of a federal experiment. (Image courtesy of White Pine Pictures)
This 2009 film documented the federal initiative that removed three Inuit boys from their homes in Nunavut and Nunavik in the early 1960s and placed them with foster families in Ottawa.
(Updated July 15 at 10 a.m.)
Peter Ittinuar says people accuse him of dying his hair black.
At 70, the former Nunavut MP, teacher, broadcaster and government bureaucrat said he enjoys naturally black hair and a youthful disposition. But after a long and full career, Ittinuar still hopes to see some things resolved before it’s too late.
Ittinuar is one of a trio of Inuit men, including Eric Tagoona and Zebedee Nungak, who were separated from their families in the 1960s and sent to live with foster families in Ottawa, as part of a federal experiment to see how the boys would fare in a new environment.
Dubbed “The Experimental Eskimos,” after the 2009 documentary featuring their story, Ittinuar, Tagoona and Nungak are plaintiffs in a 2008 lawsuit filed against the federal government, each seeking $350,000 in damages for their forced removal and assimilation.
Twelve years later, the plaintiffs have watched a number of other similar cases settled for residential school and Sixties Scoop survivors. Their case has sat for years, waiting for the federal government to determine whether it would rely on limitations—a time limit in which plaintiffs can bring a claim—and, more recently, COVID-19 delays.
“As a layman, as a client, as an observer of the process, [I’ve seen] two different governments—Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau’s—come and go and the Department of Justice has fought so hard,” Ittinuar said. “They have now spent far more in terms of money and man hours fighting it rather than settling it.”
The case is unique, Ittinuar noted. He, Tagoona and Nungak only spent a few years in their southern foster homes and they all reported good experiences with the families they lived with.
But it’s the only case Ittinuar is aware of in Canada with archived documentation that lists the three as a literal experiment, coordinated to determine whether Inuit displayed the same level of intelligence as their non-Inuit counterparts.
“We don’t want an apology,” Ittinuar said. “We just want to settle, have closure and be done with it.”
In fact, the experience of Ittinuar, Tagoona and Nungak in the early 1960s wasn’t the only of its kind.
A few years later, with their experiment deemed a success, four Inuit girls from Nunavut were separated from their families for a period.
In 1965, Sarah Silou of Baker Lake was sent to live with a foster family in Edmonton, while Leesee Komoartok, Rosie Joamie and Jeannie Mike—all from Pangnirtung—were sent to live with families in Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia.
This lesser-known experiment is also at the centre of a separate but similar lawsuit, filed just a week after the first claim, also seeking $350,000 in damages for each plaintiff.
But Ittinuar disputes the latter case being treated as such; he believes it happened under different circumstances and fears that case interferes with settling his own.
“I do not think they were considered an ‘experiment’ by the federal government as we were,” he said. “Ours was a concerted effort, early after Inuit in Canada obtained the right to participate in the Canadian electoral process…They had to develop policy about educating these newly minted Canadians, and hence our experiment.”
Lawyer Steven Cooper, who is representing all seven claimants in the case, says there is a distinction to be made: the three men were the first recruits and it was the perceived success of that situation that lead to a second round.
“Neither one detracts from the other; they are independent,” Cooper said. “There is one unique element, which is the boys were the true first experiment. Although the same title was applied to the subsequent group, it was an ongoing experiment.”
“It’s frustrating for these clients to see other matters resolved, while their case has stagnated”
Because the experiment happened in the early 1960s and the claims weren’t pursued until more than 40 years later, the federal government raised limitations, a defence that can prevent cases from being heard after a period of time.
But that policy has gradually evolved in cases where colonial governments have exerted power over Indigenous groups in Canada, Cooper explained.
“The Truth and Reconciliation Commission suggested resolving all of these matters, as this is clearly in the realm of cases they were hoping to resolve,” he said.
“We’ve waited for years for the government to instruct their front-line counsel not to rely on limitations. At this point, it appears that we will be proceeding on the merits of the case without the spectre of limitations clouding all of our decisions.”
Cooper met with a Crown lawyer in early March 2020 and sensed a willingness to resolve the issue, but that was stalled again by COVID-19 restrictions and delays.
Now the parties are expected to sit down at the table again by the end of the summer.
“It’s frustrating for these clients to see other matters resolved, while their case has stagnated,” Cooper said.
“But I have more optimism now than I’ve had for years. I think there’s a realization that these seven people have fallen through the cracks,” he said.
“I think it will be a question of what resolution will look like. It’s never just about money—there’s always reconciliation.”
I have known peter for many decades with the amount of money the government has at its disposal they should issue a formal apology and pay them for what they went through
Back in 2008 Stephen Harper apologized for residential schools, in 2019 Trudeau apologized for “colonial purposeful mistreatment of Inuit”. But Ittinuar doesn’t want an apology.
People were compensated for residential schools back in 2005. I wonder if these guys were exempt from that because they were put up in foster care?
Whatever the case; most people leading Nunavut today went through some kind of schooling in the south. Monies should go to quality schooling in the north.
The article really doesn’t seem to consider at all the Gov’s position in this. Just because you file a claim doesn’t mean you’re entitled to damages. What was the harm done? Why $350,000? Do people really think all you have to do is sue the gov and go to the media to get a payout? I think there is a lot of perception that because other claims have settled, which are obviously different from this case, that the federal gov will just pay anyone for anything. As a taxpayer, I think only legitimate claims should be paid. If there is a valid defence that these people waited way too long to make a claim, then why is that unfair? Does the law not apply to everyone equally? Let a judge decide. I hope Nunatsiaq will consider alternative views on this, rather than just allow comments that aren’t critical of the claimants. If you put yourself out there in a public claim, you should be subject to public scrutiny.
I’m just wondering if you have you seen the film ‘Experimental Eskimoes’?
It’s not a legitimate claim. Back in the day, the government took a few Inuit children out to Ottawa, to try and give them an education, not to take away their culture. There was very little opportunity to go beyond higher grades in the north. It was a wonderful opportunity to allow this experience of experiment if you like to take place. The Inuit ended up getting an education. But like all things in life, you have to give up a little of this to get that. They lost culture, or did they really. Maybe being in Ottawa, didn’t allow them to hunt and fish, and to do other things of the north, but it was school. In school you learn other things like math science literature, etc. Nope I don’t think this is right for them to expect the government to again give them money for getting an education. What they lost, they sure are doing well for it, living in their Inuit communities today, or living where they choose, and above most for their schooling. Their whining is childish.
Some points of clarification to this story:
The documentary evidence trail for Peter Ittinuar, Eric Tagoona, and myself, Zebedee Nungak, is clear, and different from, the claims of the four women attached to the claim identified as “Exeprimental Eskimos”. On these points:
Peter Ittinuar, Eric Tagoona, and myself (Zebedee Nungak), appear in government archival documents, with the word, experiment, being used by government officials to describe our time and situation. I’m not aware of the four women being described in similar archival records.
Peter and Eric’s time in the Experiment started in 1962, and I joined them in 1963. The women’s experience started in 1966, four and three years respectively AFTER our experience. At the start of our time in the Experiment, our ages (Peter, Eric, and myself) were 12 and 13. So our memory of events was comparatively mature.
I have heard that the four women were in the age range of 4-6 years old at the time of their experience. It is not a stretch to say that their memory and recollection of events must be very different from ours.
When the government asked, “Who did this too you?”, Peter, Eric, and myself were able to list 14 names of government officials who supervised us, or had direct responsibility for our time in the Experiment. I’m not aware if the four women’s experience was handled or administered by the same cadre of officials, their time being four years later than ours.
Our experience was in the City of Ottawa, close to the headquarters and offices of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. We were trotted down occasionally to see, and be fawned over, by these officials in the Kent-Albert Building offices. The four women, I’ve heard, were located in Halifax, NS. So their evidence trail must be very different than ours.
Peter, Eric, and myself filed our claim without being aware of other people’s claims to also be “Experimental Eskimos”. Our claim is backed by documentary evidence discovered by Indian Residential School researcher David King. This evidence names us; Peter Ittinuar, Eric Tagoona, and Zebedee Nungak, by name.
Peter, Eric, and myself can enumerate exactly what we’ve lost in terms of our identity as Inuit. We can, and will, explain what this Experiment has cost us in terms of our connections to our families, our communities, and our people.
The Experimental Eskimos claim is anchored solidly to the specific claim, backed by specific evidence, launched by Peter Ittinuar, Eric Tagoona, and Zebedee Nungak.
I hope this clarifies the substance and nature of our case against the Attorney-General of Canada.
Zebedee Nungak,
Kangirsuk, Nunavik, QC
Zebedee, you have hit it historically accurately. I do wish NN would require responder/posters to write their names, instead of hiding behind pseudonyms so they can spread vitriol and hatred. However, NN allows it, because I suppose it invites readership.
Oxymoron. What’s your real name? People that focus only on people, without the ideas of people cause only conflict. The north is full of those that focus only on people in a negative way. Never mind the name, stay with the concepts and ideas. Never mind who said what to who. Pay attention instead to what’s being said.
The key word I think is experiment. And further experiment Eskimos. These words are considered some what insulting and degrading in our usual perception. But experiment are experiments, there’s no other way to say it. It was an experiment to see if the Inuit culture could survive in the southern culture. Frankly I think it failed. These boys didn’t do well in their perceptions. They are traumatized over their life time. But, if we think a little harder, it’s a success to them receiving an education, to an otherwise emptied life, as seem in today’s Inuit society. They have no rights to tax payers money. They already had the money. There are areas of Canada that would have loved this opportunity to be put in a situation where an education was free. No pay out.
What we have to consider is their perception, verses other general reality. Do people have the right to compensation due to their perception? We all see the world with differences. But do we get compensation because we see things differently? Their argument loses credibility when their arguments are equipped with the same said education that was intended for them in the first place. Case closed a far as I’m concerned.
“What we have to consider is their perception, verses other general reality.”
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What a bizarre comment this is. I invite you to outline the methods you use to ascertain what “general reality” is, and how it can be qualified? Do you think that you have greater access to, or an ability to discern ‘reality’ than the gentlemen in question? Or maybe you think the ‘realties’ experienced by these three men are not really ‘reality’ at all? This comment begs some clarification.
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As I see it, the assumption that their perceptions are somehow flawed strikes me as one based on a similar mindset that lead to the experiment in the first place: that is, the way you think needs to be changed (because it’s not how we think).
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You also say their arguments lose credibility because they are equipped with the “same education that was intended for them.” So, how is it that using their education to point out the injustices done to them renders the arguments for those injustices illegitimate? Obviously, they are equipped with a southern education. Some people might say that is great, a southern education is a valuable thing, but receiving one does not mitigate the harm that was simultaneously done to these men in any way. I say your point is completely irrelevant. Yet to be charitable I invite you to demonstrate the connection.
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The point, which you seem to be missing, is they did not have a choice as to their education or their circumstances. Are you able to imagine the psychological impacts of be removed from your home and culture at the age of 12? Your casual dismissal of this is ignorant and infuriating.
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Here’s a ‘reality’ I offer to you. These boys were taken from their homes at 12 years old, thrust into a new world and culture for the purpose of furthering the goals of colonization. Was it to ‘create leaders’ and provide a ‘good education’, absolutely, but to what end? What kind of leaders was the Canadian government looking to create? Westernized leaders, who appreciated and could forward the goals of western culture within the Inuit population itself. It was exactly what the Romans had done centuries earlier, and what other Empires and colonial powers have done since; to ‘convert’ the barbarians into good citizens of the empire. To show them the benefits of being a good Roman, so they in turn could continue the work amongst their own people.
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Whatever claims these men have to compensation or reconciliation are well founded and we as Canadians today should support them wholeheartedly in receiving them.
Ok, now what, should we confirm that going south to an educationally opportunity doesn’t work, and that based on these experiment Eskimo claims, we should abandon this opportunity? So, if the compensation is justified, then we must not allow theses injustices to occur again. After all isn’t that what coming forward with a claim is really about? Like preventive measures learnt. So there you have it, based on their claims, no more Inuit going south because it doesn’t work well, and it’s wrong! Lost of culture will haunt you for life.
This is cheap, very cheap. People are not embracing the positive of life. Always yearning for money. To be compensated for negative. Life is always a moderation. Nothing is giving freely without some kind of sacrifice. In the case with three Inuit boys going south, taken away as some see it, going to an opportunity for schooling, turned into putting the sacrifice out front, disregarding the facts that they got an education, at least some. They lost some connection to family and culture, but think about the other option of just staying in the North with no opportunity to be further educated. Many kids across Canada from outports of Newfoundland and Labrador to isolation in Quebec , Ontario , right to BC had kids at 12 go away to further school. What about those kids. Inuit should be made more aware of this. My father his sister, and my mothers brother went to a big city at 12 , 11 , 13. What about their cases?