First Detachment of North-West Mounted Police at Ft. Macpherson, 1903.
The care and education of the Inuit was left mainly to missionaries who, although sincere, contributed to the breakdown of Inuit society and to the natives' inability to cope with the advance of white civilization. It was not until 1939 that the Supreme Court of Canada declared that Inuit were Indians (!) and hence the direct responsibility of the federal government. For the moment however the Inuit question was set aside by a government whose priority was sovereignty.
