killing dogs to force change on indigenous communities

Dog Blog has a post about a Canadian Inuit commission examining claims by Nunavut Inuit that RCMP officers killed thousands of sled dogs from the 1950s to the 1980s. It says:

Inuit have long alleged that police killed a total of about 20,000 sled dogs from 1950 to 1980 in Nunavut, the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut region of Labrador.

As a result of losing their dogs, Inuit say their livelihoods were dramatically affected. Many have accused governments of forcing families to move from their traditional settlements into western-style communities.

Interesting!

I recently posted about claims that there may have been a deliberate campaign in Australia to kill domesticated dingoes so as to deprive indigenous people of their valuable help in hunting, and thus force the people to abandon their nomadic life and agree to live in government camps.

The history of dogs and humans is complex and interesting. I believe our relationship with them is deeper and more significant than that of any other animal. (Though the horse changed human history in massive ways, of course.)