'I get tears in my eyes when I think of my mother'

INUKJUAK – With global warming and the world's insatiable thirst for petroleum reviving competition over claims to the Arctic, the case for a group of Inuit is also coming back to life.

In 1953 and 1955, Canadian authorities shipped Inuit families from northern Quebec and northern Baffin Island to the High Arctic.

Exiled onto the desolate beaches of Resolute and Grise Fiord, the surviving Inuit who remember the experience say they suffered starvation and sexual abuse while serving Canada as human flagpoles.

In 1996, after years of controversy and battles over the truth, the Government of Canada paid $10 million in compensation to the surviving High Arctic Exiles. Canada refused to acknowledge any human rights abuse and would not apologize to the Inuit.

Last week at Makivik's annual meeting in Inukjuak – where most of the original Exiles came from – the issue was re-opened. Two new documentary films were screened for the community and for Makivik's leaders.

"Martha of the North" tells the story of Martha Flaherty, who was shipped from Port Harrison to Grise Fiord at the age of five, in 1955. "Exile" by Isuma Productions also recounts this sorry chapter in Canada's treatment of its first peoples.

The films were greeted with anguish and tears by those in the audience who recalled that era when Inuit lived in fear of Europeans.

Martha Flaherty attended the screening and spoke passionately about the lingering fate of the exiles.

"I get tears in my eyes when I think of my mother, 83 years old, living in a lousy house in Iqaluit," said Flaherty. "She should be comfortable in her last years."

Flaherty said that the compensation fund has not benefited those who suffered most in the 1950s. She is also adamant that a formal apology is overdue.

Makivik president Pita Aatami told those at the meeting in Inukjuak that he will pursue an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Makivik also will now seek formal recognition for the role Nunavik Inuit played in asserting Canadian sovereignty over the High Arctic.