Carleton to honour Inuit by renaming Robertson Hall without mentioning controversial history of High Arctic relocation
MONTREAL — Carleton University is moving forward with a plan to change the names of three campus buildings. The “New Names for New Times” initiative is an attempt to reflect diversity and inclusion on campus.
Gordon Robertson was one of the architects of the High Arctic Relocation program in which about 90 Inuit were sent two communities, Grise Fjord and Resolute Bay, in Canada’s High Arctic between 1953 and 1955. This happened at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and while conflict was just ending on the Korean Peninsula. The idea was to better establish sovereignty over the islands of the Canadian Arctic.
“With Inuit relocation, you talk to anybody in Canada, they’re going to say that it never happened. Especially 10 years ago,” Aliqa Illauq says.