High Arctic Relocation

High Arctic Relocation:

• 1953-1955
• Northern Quebec
• Natural food sources scarce due to over-hunting and over-fishing
• Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. resulted in the creation of the Distant Early Warning (D.E.W.) Line in Canada.
• The cold war was a period of great tension between the two superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The results of this tension were the arms race (each country amassing huge amounts of nuclear weapons) and proxy wars (e.g., Vietnam). It was largely an ideological conflict between capitalism (U.S.) and communism (U.S.S.R.).
• The Canadian government wanted to populate Canada's high arctic for security purposes and to guarantee their claim to the Northwest Passage.
• The D.E.W. Line was created because the U.S. Recognized that the U.S.S.R.'s most direct flight path, in the event of a “hot” war was over Canada's arctic region. Thus, they created radar stations at strategic points along the D.E.W. Line(s) for security and early warning of attack.
• The Cold War ended in the late 1980's with an end to the arms race and the dissolution of the U.S.S.R.
• Individuals and families relocated to the high arctic were promised that if they were unhappy after two years, they could return home. This promise was not kept.
• Relocatees were not allowed to bring anything with them when relocated, and were in fact forced to wear government issued clothing that was inadequate for the conditions they would face.
• Individuals relocated were forbidden to ask R.C.M.P. or armed forces members for survival assistance. Some members of these organizations were unscrupulous and actually raped the Inuit women in “exchange” for food products.
• The families of Grise Fiord and Resolute affected by this received an apology and compensation from the Federal Government.