The Canadian government officially has apologized on Saturday to an Indigenous community for the killing of sled dogs, reports AFP.
Police has killed those several hundreds of sled dogs more than half a century ago.
Minister of crown-indigenous relations Gary Anandasangaree delivered the apology in Nunavik, in northern Quebec province.
Anandasangaree said: “It should not have taken decades for Canada to apologize to Nunavik Inuit for the role the Federal Government played in the dispossession and devastating loss of the sled dogs, who acted as companions and kin”.
According to a 2010 report, more than 1,000 dogs belonging to Nunavik peoples were killed "without taking into consideration the serious and difficult consequences for dog-owners and their families."
A report published by a retired judge said: “Sled dogs ‘were essential for their owners’ hunting, fishing and trapping, as well as for the whole community, which depended on the dogs for subsistence and transportation”.
In addition to the official apology, the Canadian government will pay US$32 million in compensation.
Anandasangaree added: “The actions and inactions that led to the mass killing of the sled dogs inflicted deep pain and hardship on Inuit families that none should have had to endure”.
In 2019, the Canadian government also apologized to the Nunavut Inuit for the police killings of sled dogs in an area further north in the province.
Bd-Pratidin English/ Afsar Munna
