Rynee Flaherty

  1. QTIQ27EN
  • Rynee Flaherty
  • Iqaluit

Rynee Flaherty was born in Inukjuaq in 1927 and she remained there for twenty years. In July 1955 she, along with her husband and three children, moved to Grise Fiord aboard the C.D Howe. Her family moved in order to join her husband’s relatives who were already living in Grise Fiord. Her testimony recalls the difficulties of the first year in Grise Fiord as this northern community was much darker than Inukjuaq, and had no lake from which to retrieve drinking water. Rynee’s testimony includes information on the RCMP shooting of her dog team in Grise Fiord in the late 1950s. She had twelve dogs that were shot although they were chained up. Rynee did not witness the shootings because her dogs were moved to another location in order to be shot. She believes that the RCMP had an order to shoot the dogs. Following this incident Rynee recalls that all hunting had to be done on foot. She and her family never owned another dog team. In her later years Rynee moved to Iqaluit.