ABSTRACT
Figures about how long first peoples have lived in the Canadian North vary, from 7,000 to 40,000 years.5 Canadian northern policy has its foundations in a gentle colonialism, which Robert Paine has called ‘welfare colonialism’. The behaviour of visitors towards Inuit has been ‘solicitous rather than exploitative...liberal rather than repressive’. Nevertheless, it is based on ‘two illegitimate positions: the colonisers are illegitimately privileged [and] the colonized [are] illegitimately devalued’6 The history of politics and journalism in Canada is fraught with such contradictions. Canada is often portrayed as a non-violent society and cast in the role of mediator, peacemaker or peacekeeper. Despite this reputation, there have been numerous violent episodes, many between government and indigenous peoples.
