The Experimental Eskimos
The Experimental Eskimos

The Experimental Eskimos

2009-05-09| 70 min

In the early 1960s the Canadian government conducted an experiment in social engineering. Three young Inuit boys were separated from their families in the Arctic and were sent to Ottawa, the nation's capital, to live with white families and to be educated in white schools. The consequences the experiment would have on the boys, their identity and culture was brushed aside. The bureaucrats did not anticipate the outcome. The three grow up to be political activists and leaders - often at odds with the government that brought them south. They establish aboriginal rights in Canada and are instrumental in the creation of Nunavut, the world's largest self-governed aboriginal territory. But it all comes at a tremendous personal cost. Peter Ittinuar, Zebedee Nungak, and Eric Tagoona recount their stories, achievements and challenges in this film about an attempt at assimilation, empowerment, and the triumph of the human spirit.

Genres

Documentary

Cast

Share on social media

More Like This

Nanook of the North
Natsik Hunting
Highway to the Arctic
Nanook Revisited
As Long as the Rivers Run
Between Two Worlds
Martha of the North
If the Weather Permits
Potlatch...a strict law bids us dance
Through the Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film
How to Build an Igloo
The Land is the Culture: A Case for BC Indian Land Claims
No Loitering
Twice Colonized
Xondaros - Guarani Resistance
Invasion
Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos
Those Who Come, Will Hear
The Last Igloo
Red Fever