Broken Promises: The High Arctic Relocation

Synopsis

In the summer of 1953, the Canadian government relocated seven Inuit families from Northern Québec to the High Arctic. They were promised an abundance of game and fish - in short, a better life. The government assured the Inuit that if things didn't work out, they could return home after two years. Two years later, another 35 people joined them. It would be thirty years before any of them saw their ancestral lands again. Abandoned in flimsy tents, the Inuit were left to fend for themselves in the desolate settlements of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, where the sea was nearly always frozen and darkness reigned for months on end. Suffering from hunger, extreme cold, sickness, alcoholism and poverty, Québec's Inuit had become the victims of a government policy supposedly designed to return them to their "native state". Evidence points to the government's wish to strengthen Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic as playing a part in the decision to relocate.

Main Cast

Erna Buffie

Narrator (voice)

Age : N/A | Popularity : 3%

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Patricia V. Tassinari Ziad H. Hamzeh
Sound	Music	André Vincelli
Editing	Editor	Teresa De Luca
Production	Producer	George Hargrave Barrie Howells Don Haig
	Associate Producer	Erica Pomerance
Camera	Camera Operator	Steve Reizes
Writing	Writer	Erna Buffie
Department	Role	Name

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