NFB doc on Inuit dog slaughter debuts in Nunavut

The National Film Board is in Iqaluit to connect with more northern filmmakers, as a new NFB documentary about a controversial issue in Nunavut made its debut there this week.

Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths, probes the historic slaughter of thousands of sled dogs an essential part of Inuit life and culture in the Canadian Arctic from 1950 to 1970.

For the documentary, directors Joelie Sanguya and Ole Gjerstad spoke to Inuit in Nunavut who say the RCMP deliberately killed the dogs, as part of a federal government policy to force Inuit to shed their semi-nomadic way of life and move into western settlements.

The directors also spoke with RCMP members who deny an organized dog cull took place. The RCMP has argued that officers only killed sled dogs that posed a public safety risk.

A co-production between the NFB and Piksuk Media of Clyde River, Nunavut, Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths was screened in Clyde River on Wednesday.

"It went over wonderfully," David Christensen, executive producer of the NFB's northwest centre in Edmonton, told CBC News from Clyde River.

"We had a great crowd, a nice mix of southerners and Inuit, and a great discussion afterward with the filmmaker."

A truth commission set up by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association is compiling Inuit people's accounts of the dog slaughter issue. The commission's report was expected to be released in October.

Exploring future projects

Christensen and other film board officials are in Nunavut to meet with film organizations and individual filmmakers about possibly teaming up on future co-productions like Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths.

The film board is also working on initiatives to train emerging filmmakers in the territory, he added.

"For so many years, northern stories have been told by southern filmmakers," Christensen said.

"It's really important to be hearing directly from northern filmmakers about their own stories, and to reflect northern communities and northern people back to themselves accurately."

The NFB's chairman, its director of English programming and its board of trustees have travelled to Iqaluit for a meeting slated for Saturday.

Christensen said it will mark the first time the film board's top brass are having a meeting in Iqaluit.

"There's so much going on in the North and things are changing so quickly, on so many levels," he said.

"It was important for not only the people who directly work for the board, but also the board of directors that sort of oversees the NFB, to get a sense of some of the things that are going on up here."