Thousands of sled dogs were shot by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other authorities in Inuit settlements from the mid-1950s onwards, said Pita Aatami, President of Makivvik, the organization representing Quebec's Inuit.

Ottawa will offer financial compensation to Inuit in Nunavik for the devastation caused by the mass slaughter of their sled dogs, the Crown-Indigenous relations minister tells CBC News.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree has formally apologized to Inuit in Nunavik for the federal government's role in the mass killing of sled dogs in the region in the 1950s and 1960s.

The federal government has apologized for its role in the killing of sled dogs in Nunavik between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s.