Relocating Eden: The Image and Politics of Inuit Exile in the Canadian Arctic

by Alan Rudolph Marcus

Overview

In the early 1950s, a number of Inuit men, women, and children were loaded on ships and sent to live in the cold and barren lands of the Canadian High Arctic. Spurred by government agents’ promises of plentiful game, virgin land, and a lifestyle untainted by Western Influences, these “voluntary migrants,” who soon numbered nearly ninety, found instead isolation, hunting limited by game preserve regulations, three months of total darkness each winter, and a government suddenly deaf to their pleas to return home. The question, still unresolved forty years later, is whether these “experiments” were a well-intentioned governmental attempt to protect the Inuit way of life or a ploy to lure innocent people to exile, hunger, and deprivation in order to solidify Canada’s Cold War sovereignty in the far North. Alan Rudolph Marcus outlines the motives behind the relocation, case histories of two settlements, and the aftermath of the migration. Relocating Eden provides a timely and provocative inquiry into issues of continuing importance to Canada and all native peoples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611687019
Publisher:	Dartmouth College Press
Publication date:	08/26/2014
Series:	Arctic Visions Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	290
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

ALAN RUDOLPH MARCUS, presently Lecturer of Film Studies at University of Manchester, England, did his Ph.D. work at Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABBREVIATIONS TERMINOLOGY INTRODUCTION PART 1: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Film Imagery of the Happy-Go-Lucky Eskimo Nanook Reborn as Joseph Idlout Stark Images of Another North Henry Larsen's Views on Inuit Welfare Publicly Identifying the "Eskimo Problem" The Fur Trade and Inuit Dependency Competition to Exert Social Control over the Inuit Bringing Order to a "Disordered" People Port Harrison and the Problems of Arctic Quebec "White Man's Handouts" and the Reform Movement Inuit Settlement Patterns and the Argument for Rehabilitation Self-Reliance, Resources, and Relocation Geopolitical Perceptions of the Northern Frontier Re-establishing "Effective Occupation" of the High Arctic Ultima Thule: Reoccupation of the High Arctic Islands The Eskimo Loan Fund and Resettlement Initiatives PART 2: SOUTH OF EDEN RELOCATION OF THE INUKJUAMIUT Officials Take Remedial Action The "Migration" Selection Process: Recruits for Reform Classification of Inuit for Relocation The Relocation and Dividing of the Families Controversy and External Perspectives Thule Ruins and Site Selection Social Reform and Survival A Lack of Services The "Garden of Eden" Guards and Guides Looking for Eve Relocating the Carvers Right of Return PART 3: THE FLIGHT FROM EDEN RELOCATION OF THE AHIARMIUT The Ahiarmiut of Ennadai Lake Relocation to Nueltin Lake Back at Ennadai Lake Plans for a Second Ahiarmiut Relocation Before and After Life Relocation from Ennadai Lake to Henik Lake Difficulties Develop at Henik Lake Relocation Aftermath, Henik Lake, 1958 A Postmortem on the Ahiarmiut Relocation The Slayings and Kikkik's Statement The Preliminary Hearing Crisis Management of the Ahiarmiut Deaths The Department's Investigation of the Truth The Deaths Reconstructed The Trial of Kikkik Farley Mowat, Crusader for Truth Controlling Discourse for the Common Good Multiple Realities PART 4: REASSESSMENT The End of the Experiment Positive Views Dissenting Voices A Sense of Place The Final Drawing Back Utopia on Trial EPILOGUE APPENDIX A: List of Inuit Relocated to Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, 1953-55 APPENDIX B: Inuit Relocated to Henik Lake, 1957 APPENDIX C: Presentation Given by the Author to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples at a Public Hearing in Ottawa on 30 June 1993 APPENDIX D: List of Individuals Interviewed for This Study APPENDIX E: Biographical Details of Officials and Other Whites REFERENCES INDEX

Editorial Reviews

"The principal merits of this well-researched and well-referenced book are its evenhanded treatment of an emotional topic and its refusal to set aside scholarly inquiry for apolitically inspired explanation of how and why Eden did not occur." —Choice

From the Publisher