055 Exiled North: Canada's High Arctic Relocations Artwork

Canadian Creepies

Welcome to Canadian Creepies—the podcast that digs into the dark corners of Canada’s past and present. Your hosts Valerie, Ali, Amanda Joy ( host of Down the Crooked Path), and sometimes Kyle explore the true crime cases that haunt us, the paranormal encounters that make us question what’s real, and the unsettling folklore that lingers just out of sight.

From cults to cold cases, ghosts to government cover-ups, we don’t just tell the stories—we ask why they still matter.

It’s creepy. It’s Canadian. And it’s probably going to keep you up at night.

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Canadian Creepies

055 Exiled North: Canada's High Arctic Relocations

February 12, 2026 • Canadian Creepies • Season 2 • Episode 55

0:00 | 1:08:02

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

This week, Valerie and Kyle examine one of the most disturbing and least discussed policies in modern Canadian history: the High Arctic relocation.

In the 1950s, Inuit families were moved more than 2,000 kilometres north from their homes in Northern Quebec to remote Arctic settlements. Promised better hunting, housing, and support, they instead arrived to isolation, scarcity, and a future they did not choose.

Drawing on survivor testimony, including the story of Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt, as well as historical documentation, the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and Canada’s 2010 formal apology, this episode explores how Cold War sovereignty fears shaped federal policy and how those decisions reshaped lives for generations.

This is not a story about harsh weather.

It is a story about power, displacement, and what happens when human beings are treated as political tools.

The cold was not the cruelest part. Being treated as expendable was.

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing niagarareproductivejustice@gmail.com.

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Edited by Kyle McDonnell