Wow, I never heard of this but it's pretty appalling, if true.
Inuit truth commission to investigate whether RCMP slaughtered sled dogs
An Inuit group is investigating for itself a long-standing accusation that RCMP officers slaughtered sled dogs in the 1950s and '60s to force their owners to give up their traditional lifestyle.
"Once the truth commission has completed their work (we'll) have a clearer picture of what actually happened," Terry Audla of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association said Wednesday.
Many Inuit are convinced that up to 20,000 sled dogs were systematically killed by police officers and other white authority figures as people were moving off the land and into communities. It's long been believed that the RCMP's actions were part of a plan to keep Inuit in settlements - where they were easier to administer - by destroying their main form of transportation.
Much of the social dysfunction in Inuit communities today stems back to that time of transition, giving the sled dog issue tremendous emotional force in Nunavut and Arctic Quebec.
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