Exiles rejoice over new Inukjuak memorial

Inukjuak’s new monument, designed by municipal councillor Siasi Smiler, was installed and unveiled at the port, where the Arctic exiles left 60 years ago. (FILE PHOTO)

Markoosie Patsauq’s plan was always to return home to Inukjuak.

In 1953, Patsauq was only 12 when he boarded the C.D. Howe and sailed from his native community to Resolute Bay, along with 19 families relocated from northern Quebec to the High Arctic by the federal government.

During his two decades in Resolute Bay, Patsauq said he never forgot Inukjuak and what he left behind.

“It was my homeland, my community and all my extended family,” he said. “It was something I could not ignore.”

Patsauq finally returned to Inukjuak in 1975.

Today, the memories of that relocation north are fresh, and some of them still sting.

That’s why, 36 years later, Patsauq welcomes the new addition to Inukjuak’s waterfront: a bronze and granite monument whose centre-piece is a figure of an Inuk looking out to sea as his relatives depart for the High Arctic.

“The monument itself represents both the relocated families and the people left behind, because they also suffered,” he said. “The people left behind missed their families, it was hard for them.”

And “everyone” in the community was there to see the new monument unveiled Sept. 30, as part of a week-long event to commemorate the Inukjuak exiles and the community they left behind.

Patsauq called the event a “turning point” in his life, coupled with an official apology from the federal government for any suffering caused by the relocation, which came last year.

“It makes us feel like the truth has finally come out,” he said.” And hopefully it has started a healing process that most people, especially the younger generation, need.”

Patsauq’s own children were born in Resolute Bay, where most of them still live today.

“The great separation of family continues,” he said.

Sarah Idlout, the daughter of two relocatees, said it had been an “emotional week.”

“Everyone is reuniting and it’s been amazingly exciting,” Idlout said. “This is very important for us.”

Idlout’s story is also painful to recall; although Idlout has always called Inukjuak home, her mother, a native Inukjuamiuq, boarded the C.D Howe in 1953, bound for Resolute Bay.

That’s where she met Idlout’s father, who was relocated from Pond Inlet.

The couple returned to Inukjuak together, where the family remained.

But while Idlout’s father has taken part in this week’s events, her mother died Sept. 9, just weeks shy of seeing a monument installed in memory of the many families torn apart.

Other relocatees came to Inukjuak from across the country, from the High Arctic, Iqaluit and Ottawa to take part in healing ceremonies, boat trips and a community feast.

Representatives from Makivik Corp. the Kativik Regional Government, Avataq Cultural Institute and Pauktutit Inuit Women of Canada also attended the event.

The community’s new monument, designed by municipal councillor Siasi Smiler, was installed and unveiled at the community’s port, where the original relocatees left the village 60 years ago.

From there, the federal government moved 19 families from around Inukjuak (then known as Port Harrison) to help establish the new communities of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord in the High Arctic in 1953 and 1955.

To help the arrivals cope with the High Arctic climate, federal officials also moved three families from Pond Inlet to the same areas.

But those exiled to the High Arctic suffered hardship as a result of the relocations, forced to adapt to a more severe climate that was plunged into total darkness during the winter months.

Access to wildlife was limited and the temperatures were on average 20 degrees colder than the families’ home communities. Despite this, the relocated families spent their first winter in the High Arctic in tents with little food and few supplies.

Although the federal government promised the families that they could return to Inukjuak when they wanted, the promise wasn’t honoured until many years later, when some families decided to move back to Nunavik.

In March, 1996, based on a number of recommendations from commissions and reports on the relocation, Ottawa entered into an agreement with Makivik Corp. to establish a $10 million trust fund on behalf of the relocatees.

However, no formal apology was offered until Aug. 18, 2010, when John Duncan, the minister of aboriginal affairs, offered an apology from Canada.