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I had no idea that the Canadian government used a numbering system to label Inuit/Eskimo people. The system has been stopped, but only in the last 50 years or so. Each person was required to wear a tag with their number engraved on it, and they had to have that number memorized. They were expected to use it for healthcare, at school, and making purchases of many kinds. All because their naming tradition was different than the colonizers, who ⬇️
Soubhiville Found Inuit names too difficult to pronounce and spell, and because they don‘t use a family surname. Many feel this numbering system was degrading and meant to reduce people to numbers, similar to in prisons. 11mo
Anna40 😧 That‘s awful 11mo
Soubhiville I came across this on Libro.FM and it piqued my interest due to my ancestry, which includes some Inuit. Some of the book gets dryly academic, but I appreciated the perspective and stories from the elders who still know their disc numbers. (edited) 11mo
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Bookwomble Fuuuuuck! 😱 11mo
Tamra Ugh, dehumanizing for certain. The US govt. still uses numbers to identify prisoners & detainees. 11mo
Aimeesue Yowza. 😳 11mo
Hooked_on_books Wow. I don‘t have words for this. So good to treat other people like animals. 😑 11mo
Soubhiville @Hooked_on_books right?! The author pointed out that Canada is generally seen as a “good” country, but this is a dark side for sure. I suppose if you dig in every country has some dirty secrets. 11mo