Racism a reality in the Arctic, Inuit say

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — At a conference on racism last weekend in Iqaluit, Inuit said they have suffered some of the cruelest acts of prejudice: their children were forced into federal schools and their dog teams were slaughtered.

“We are living with the pain our parents, our brothers, and our relatives experienced,” said Meeka Kilabuk, who was one of the delegates representing Inuit.

The meeting — a regional consultation for the upcoming UN World Conference Against Racism — brought together aboriginal people from Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. It focused on their experiences of racism in the North.

Delegates at the conference talked about the pain of going to government-run schools, where many say they were stripped of their Inuit culture.

A Gwich’in woman said that international mining companies are tearing up their land and ignoring the aboriginal belief that the environment is sacred.

Kilabuk, who is also the president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, said that for Inuit, one of the most overt acts of racism was the RCMP’s slaughter of their dog teams throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Dogs were essential for transportation and hunting in the winter, and the killings devastated many Inuit families.

“Just because it happened many years ago doesn’t mean it was forgotten,” Kilabuk said.

Kilabuk told the participants — who included Hedy Fry, Ottawa’s secretary of state for multiculturalism — that for decades Inuit were stuck with the stigma of being called Eskimos.

The name, which likely derived from an Indian word meaning “the people who eat raw meat,” cast Inuit in a bad light for the rest of Canada.

Today, Kilabuk said, Inuit endure a different form of discrimination. She said they have to fight for money from the Canadian government for social programs, housing and health care. She suggested that Inuit are not getting a fair share of the federal pot of money.

“When you look at the federal government programs, Inuit get the short end of the stick,” she said.

Kilabuk called on Ottawa to send an Inuit delegation to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, which takes place this summer in Durban, South Africa.

Throughout the two-day conference Hedy Fry told participants that she’s listening to their concerns and plans to bring them to the forefront at the world conference.

“You will begin to make a difference to what happens in this country,” Fry said.

Fry, who has been holding racism conferences throughout Canada, said she’s heard from people that racism is a reality in this country.

“I keep hearing there are still barriers to people becoming their full worth,” she said.

Fry was particularly touched by the stories she heard from aboriginals living in the North.

“I am always moved by the pain and the suffering,” Fry said, her voice cracking as she tried to hold back tears.

But a dark cloud hung over Fry’s participation in the conference. One day before arriving in Nunavut, the junior minister created an uproar in Parliament by claiming that racist cross-burnings were occurring in Prince George, B.C., “as we speak.”

When challenged on the claim, Fry was unable to provide any evidence that such an event had ever taken place. Deeming her a liar, Ottawa’s opposition parties have since been clamoring for her resignation.