DescriptionThe Experimental Eskimos documents an extraordinary attempt at social engineering. The film follows Peter Ittinuar, Zebedee Nungak and Eric Tagoona, who, as 12-year-old boys, were shipped South in the early 1960s from their homes in the Canadian Arctic to attend public schools in Ottawa. All three went on to become activists and leaders, paving the way for aboriginal rights in Canada and around the world. Peter Ittinuar became Canada's first Inuk Member of Parliament, Zebedee Nungak became president of the major economic and political organization, Makivik, and Eric Tagoona became president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada - the first Inuit political lobbying organization. But the experiment also deprived them of their parents, their language, and their culture. This film is the untold story of how an experiment in social engineering not only changed the boys, but changed a nation.
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