The government of Canada on Saturday apologized to the Inuit of northern Quebec for the mass killing of sled dogs in the 1950s and 1960s, which devastated communities by depriving them of the ability to hunt and travel.

The federal government has apologized for its role in the killing of sled dogs in Nunavik between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s. In Kangiqsujuaq, a Nunavik village in Northern Quebec, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree also announced $45 million in compensation for Inuit in the region.