Shelagh Grant responds

In response to Appitaq Enuaraq’s letter that suggests Inuit recommended the Pond Inlet site to the Hudson’s Bay Company (Jan. 3) — I agree. Arctic Justice describes how the HBC Superintendent and Staff-Sgt. Joy landed together at Albert Harbour to look for an Inuk to guide them into Eclipse Sound.

Until that time, only the entrance to Eclipse Sound bore the name of “Pond’s Inlet.” It was the HBC that officially named their trading post Pond Inlet. However, as to the question of who arrived first — the RCMP or the HBC — the answer is neither.

When plans to build an RCMP detachment on Bylot Island were cancelled in early June 1921, a secondary plan was put in place whereby a police officer would accompany the HBC to Eclipse Sound to investigate the alleged murder of Robert Janes. His passage on the HBC supply ship and his accommodation at the trading post was paid for by the RCMP and he was to be provided with any assistance required, such as transportation and an interpreter.

Thus, according to official police records, the Pond Inlet RCMP detachment was established in September 1921, even though a separate building was not erected until the following year. In other words, the HBC trading post was established at the same time as the police detachment. While there is no written documentation as to whether HBC would have proceeded without a police presence, it is questionable in light of the reported murder — hence my statement quoted in the article.

As well, the court did not take place in an HBC warehouse, as suggested by Enuaraq, but two years later in the main room of the police detachment. (Nor for that matter did the inquest in January/February 1922 or the preliminary hearings that July.)

The coroner’s jury and witnesses retired briefly to an HBC warehouse to view Janes’ body, but the inquest was held in the main building. The preliminary hearings, on the other hand, took place at the AGES trading post at Button Point. This is a complicated story, often times distorted in the retelling by third parties, and further confounded by inaccuracies in previous publications. Enuaraq’s confusion is entirely understandable.

In researching and writing Arctic Justice, the Inuit testimonies taken prior to the trial and the stories told later by Inuit elders were invaluable in identifying the sources of these misunderstandings — especially those elders who were present at Janes’ execution or the trial, or were related to those directly involved. Police and other records were important to establish the names of participants, times, dates, locations, procedures, and reasons for the government’s actions.

Shelagh Grant
Peterborough, Ont.