"I don't regret the experience, but I have never recovered from it." -- Zebedee Nungak
In 1962 and 1963, three 12-year-old Inuit boys left their families in the Canadian Arctic and travelled south to live with foster families and attend public school in Ottawa. Federal government officials called the boys “an experiment”. They were relocated, it was said, with the tacit approval of their parents and with the best of intentions. The idea was to see how the brightest young Inuit would fare in the competitive white man’s world and to prepare them for leadership positions in their communities. The boys and their families were not aware that they were participants in an attempt to see how easily Inuit children could be assimilated.
