The federal government says it "deeply regrets" the forced relocation of Inuit to the High Arctic in the 1950s.
Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Duncan issued a formal apology on Wednesday for the government's controversial High Arctic relocation program, in which a total of 19 Inuit families from northern Quebec were moved about 1,200 kilometres to the far northern settlements of Grise Fiord and Resolute, in what is now Nunavut.
The transplanted Inuit had to cope with unfamiliar conditions and little government support.
"The government of Canada apologizes for having relocated Inuit families and recognizes that the High Arctic relocation resulted in extreme hardship and suffering for Inuit who were relocated," Duncan stated in a release at midday Wednesday.
"We deeply regret the mistakes and broken promises of this dark chapter of our history."
The federal government had insisted that they were trying to help the affected Inuit, who were having trouble surviving as subsistence hunters in northern Quebec.
However, many have argued that the Inuit were used to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic during the Cold War.
The communities of Resolute and Grise Fiord still exist today. The hamlets have populations of 229 and 141, respectively, according to Statistics Canada.
Duncan made the apology to Inuit in the northern Quebec community of Inukjuaq, where some of the relocated families were from.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the territory's Inuit land-claims organization, has commissioned two monuments to commemorate the sacrifices the relocated Inuit made in Grise Fiord and Resolute.
The stone monuments, one in each community, are slated to be unveiled next month.