Another day, another apology – this time to Inuit for high arctic relocation

Finally, after half a decade, those who were affected directly and indirectly by the federal government’s high arctic relocation have been given an official apology. These Inuit had their entire lives turned upside down by broken promises and a hidden agenda, now almost 60 years later they’ve built a life for themselves regardless of all the hardship. I completely agree that an apology is necessary, that this needs to be acknowledged and known by all Canadians, but what will it bring to the people other than the opportunity for forgiveness? Will the legacy of this apology resonate as much as the legacy of the actual relocation? The generations to follow will still be reeling from that trauma, but they, unlike their grandparents have an apology to live with. My only question really is, is that enough?

To me you can wrap it up in a nice bow and label it with “apology” all you want but the current government’s treatment of Inuit including the inaction on TB for example being 185 times higher in Inuit communities continuously make it difficult for me to believe they even know what they are talking about in the first place. To paraphrase Albert Memmi in the Colonizer and the Colonized, “There are a lot of declarations against racism and not enough plans of action”. Yeah no shit, government of Canada, no shit.

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