No slaughter of 20,000 Inuit sled dogs: RCMP report
Last Updated: Thursday, November 30, 2006 | 9:37 AM CT
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
Allegations the RCMP slaughtered thousands of Inuit sled dogs in the 1950s and '60s to force people into settlements are unfounded, an RCMP report concludes.
The report, tabled in the House of Commons on Wednesday, refutes charges that police killed as many as 20,000 sled dogs in Nunavut and Nunavik at the request of the federal government.
'We did not find one single reference or piece of evidence that supported the allegation.'-RCMP Chief Supt. Mike Woods
RCMP Chief Supt. Mike Woods says that after sifting through more than 40,000 pages of documentation and conducting 180 interviews, they didn't find any proof such a slaughter took place.
"We were not able to find one single reference or piece of evidence that supported the allegation — not one single act or piece of evidence under any circumstances," Woods told CBC News on Wednesday.
"Everything we read, everything that was told to us through interviews, was consistent. And the consistent story was that in fact the RCMP was very committed to the Inuit people in the North."
Woods says police did, however, kill northern sled dogs if they were sick, starving or posed a danger to the public.
"What we're offering is the reason for the dogs that were being killed, which supports the memory of the Inuit," he says.
"But if they, over time, have evolved into thinking something else was behind the dogs being killed, then perhaps there may be a feeling of conflict in the community."
The findings of the RCMP's final report are similar to the results of the force's interim report in 2005 that weren't accepted by the Inuit.
Reaction from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which recently called for a truth commission into the alleged slaughter, was expected Thursday.
Share Tools
Latest North News Headlines
- Imperial Oil says Mackenzie pipeline deadline will be tight
- An Imperial Oil spokesperson says the company intends to meet the NEB's 2013 deadline, but that it will be tight because it has to secure 'literally thousands' of permits. more »
- More Labrador vigils calling for better search and rescue
- People gathered in Labrador communities for a second night Friday to call for improved search and rescue services following the death of a lost Makkovik boy almost two weeks ago. more »
- Contractor says oil furnace industry needs policing
- Greg Siska of Fred's Plumbing and Heating in Whitehorse says being called in to fix shoddy home heating work puts contractors in a difficult situation. more »
- Army drivers to train on Yellowknife roads
- Army vehicles will be moving through downtown Yellowknife on Sunday for winter driving training as part of exercise Arctic Ram. more »
Top News Headlines
- Greece passes new austerity deal amid rioting
- Greek lawmakers have approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after riots in Athens and other cities left stores looted and burned and more than 120 people hurt. more »
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
- A small Quebec town is in mourning Sunday after a Quebec man was charged with killing his nieces and his mother, who were found dead in their family home. more »
- Houston autopsy results withheld by police
- Whitney Houston was found in a hotel bathtub but it'll take weeks to determine precisely how she died, a Los Angeles coroner's official says. more »
- Musicians who died before their time
- The growing list of musicians who have died young. more »
- Contractor says oil furnace industry needs policing
- Army drivers to train on Yellowknife roads
- Shelter's resources strained by sled dog rescue
- Arctic bishop John Sperry dies
- Imperial Oil says Mackenzie pipeline deadline will be tight
- Snowy owls flock south
- N.W.T. Health Minister’s daughter charged in major drug bust
- Mosque may be shipped to Iqaluit from Winnipeg
- Nunavut unveils new high school curriculum

