The Makivik Corporation and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association are launching their own commission to investigate the slaughter of Inuit sled dogs by the RCMP in the 1950s and the 1960s.

The reasons are simple, we gave the primary one here when the RCMP made their findings public.

In their press release they state

It is very unfortunate that the government ordered an RCMP investigation instead of an independent investigation into the slaughter, as was originally recommended by the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in March 2005. “The RCMP report worsens the cultural divide and bitterness caused by the killing of the Inuit sled dogs”, said Mr. Aatami.

– and they are right, all that was accomplished by allowing the RCMP to investigate themselves is a worsening of the cultural divide and bitterness caused by the killing of the dogs.

The next likely thing to happen is that the commission finds that Inuit sled dogs were slaughtered as a way of reducing Inuit independence, and thereby forcing dependence on the community system being pushed by the government.

The likely thing to happen after that is that the RCMP will call into question the validity of the Makivik/QIA report.

– and then where will we be?

The previous Liberal government was more stupid to proceed in the way that they did, ass covering of this nature almost always results in little more than bitten asses.

As I said in the comments section of another post, the government must not only be fair, it must be seen to be fair - they should have known better.