Declassified reports show the Security Service monitored Inuit leadership changes, internal paranoia about surveillance, and conflicts between moderates and perceived hard liners. Between 1972 and 1980, Mounties compiled a three-volume intelligence dossier on ITC under the so-called “Native extremism” surveillance program, though this file remains classified.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed said it’s completely unacceptable and unfortunate Canada’s kneejerk reaction to Inuit political organizing was to spy.

“There needs to be a reckoning from this,” he said in an interview, adding he looks forward to speaking with Library and Archives Canada about accessing the dossier.

“The government of Canada had no right to infringe upon the individual rights and freedoms of Inuit in that time period, or to try to impact and interrupt our political movement,” Obed said.

“Although it is maddening and frustrating, there were so many awful things being done by the government of Canada during this time that this is another chapter in a very dark legacy of this country’s history.”