{"id":104193,"date":"2026-04-28T10:14:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=104193"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:14:47","slug":"i-want-to-go-home-forced-relocation-impacts-sanikiluaq-more-than-50-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/i-want-to-go-home-forced-relocation-impacts-sanikiluaq-more-than-50-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I want to go home\u2019: Forced relocation impacts Sanikiluaq more than 50 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Sometime in the spring of 1970, eight-year-old Jonasie Emikotailuk along with a dozen other kids was taken on a trip from one end of the Belcher Islands to the other. The group, accompanied by several adults, didn\u2019t have enough food or drinking water for the 70-kilometre journey. \u201cOne of my buddies, he was so dehydrated his tongue turned black,\u201d Emikotailuk said. The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in the southeast of Hudson Bay. There used to be two main Inuit hubs on the islands \u2014 South Camp (Emikotailuk\u2019s home) and North Camp (modern-day Sanikiluaq). In the late 1960s, the federal government decided to shut down the South Camp and relocate its roughly 50 residents, including Emikotailuk, to the north. Sanikiluaq was&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F28%2Fi-want-to-go-home-forced-relocation-impacts-sanikiluaq-more-than-50-years-later%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Sometime in the spring of 1970, eight-year-old Jonasie Emikotailuk along with a dozen other kids was taken on a trip from one end of the Belcher Islands to the other. The group, accompanied by several adults, didn\u2019t have enough food or drinking water for the 70-kilometre journey. \u201cOne of my buddies, he was so dehydrated his tongue turned black,\u201d Emikotailuk said. The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in the southeast of Hudson Bay. There used to be two main Inuit hubs on the islands \u2014 South Camp (Emikotailuk\u2019s home) and North Camp (modern-day Sanikiluaq). In the late 1960s, the federal government decided to shut down the South Camp and relocate its roughly 50 residents, including Emikotailuk, to the north. Sanikiluaq was... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F28%2Fi-want-to-go-home-forced-relocation-impacts-sanikiluaq-more-than-50-years-later%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018I want to go home\u2019: Forced relocation impacts Sanikiluaq more than 50 years later - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/i-want-to-go-home-forced-relocation-impacts-sanikiluaq-more-than-50-years-later\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018I want to go home\u2019: Forced relocation impacts Sanikiluaq more than 50 years later - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Sometime in the spring of 1970, eight-year-old Jonasie Emikotailuk along with a dozen other kids was taken on a trip from one end of the Belcher Islands to the other. The group, accompanied by several adults, didn\u2019t have enough food or drinking water for the 70-kilometre journey. \u201cOne of my buddies, he was so dehydrated his tongue turned black,\u201d Emikotailuk said. The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in the southeast of Hudson Bay. There used to be two main Inuit hubs on the islands \u2014 South Camp (Emikotailuk\u2019s home) and North Camp (modern-day Sanikiluaq). In the late 1960s, the federal government decided to shut down the South Camp and relocate its roughly 50 residents, including Emikotailuk, to the north. 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