Uloqsaq
Encyclopedia
Uloqsaq was a Copper Inuit
hunter and shaman. In 1917, he was sentenced to death
for the killing of two oblate
priests in the Coppermine River
region.
angakkuq
. According to anthropologist Diamond Jenness
, who had spoken with Uloqsaq in November 1915, Uloqsaq had purchased his shaman powers from another shaman in Bathurst Inlet
. These powers reportedly gave him the power to transform himself into a wolf, a bear or even a European person. He told Jenness that he had once lived underwater for many days and performed necromancy
. He also claimed to have turned men and women into animals and seen European men with mouths on their chests.
, were on a mission
to convert the Copper Inuit
in the Coppermine River
region to Roman Catholicism while heading towards Coronation Gulf
. They were doing this, they claimed, because they had heard rumours that Anglican
missionaries were attempting to perform the same in that region, and wanted to convert the Inuit in the area to their denomination first. The priests enlisted the assistance of Uloqsaq as well as Sinnisiak, another hunter, and paid them in traps. However, Le Roux, who had a short temper, quickly got angry with the two Inuit men, who soon decided that Le Roux's anger meant that the priests wanted to kill them. Sinnisiak urged Uloqsaq to help him kill the two men, and the priests were shot, stabbed and axed to death. For ritual
istic reasons, the two Inuit ate a portion of the two priests'
liver
s.
Some Inuit later told the investigating policemen a different story. One man, an Inuit elder named Koeha, told the story quite differently. He claimed that at an Inuit camp, a man had stolen a rifle
from one of the priests and gotten into a fight with Le Roux. Although the Inuit who had stolen the weapon wanted to kill Le Roux, the priests managed to escape. Sinnisiak and Uloqsaq began to follow the priests, and caught up with them at Bloody Falls
, where Sinnisiak stabbed and shot the two men. Although Uloqsaq assisted on Sinnisiak's urging, he said that he did not want to kill the priest and only did so because he had been told to by Sinnisiak.
for the murder of Rouvière, largely because it was thought that Sinnisiak had been the 'ringleader'. He was found not guilty because the jury thought that the Inuit man had cause to kill the priest.
Following the not guilty verdict, the two Inuit men were taken to Calgary
in late August, where they were found guilty of the murder of Le Roux. This was the first time Inuit had been found guilty of murder in a Canadian court. The law at that time had a mandatory sentence
of death
for the crime of murder
, yet the jury and the judge did not wish for the pair to die for their crimes owing to the provocative nature of the priests' actions before their deaths. To avoid the death penalty, the judge sentenced the pair to death by hanging
, with the execution date set as October 15. The sentence was immediately commuted
to life imprisonment
at a Fort Resolution police station. In 1919, the pair assisted police in establishing a new police contingent at Tree River
, and in 1922 were released.
, and was found unable to hunt due to spinal tuberculosis
by the Anglican archdeacon Archibald Lang Fleming
in 1928. The tuberculosis, which was most likely contracted during his time in prison, was part of an epidemic
of the same sweeping Inuit populations in Canada at the time. Uloqsaq was taken to a hospital, but as the hospital was unable to provide for his long-term needs, he was taken home to the Coppermine River
region, where he died in September 1929.
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
hunter and shaman. In 1917, he was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for the killing of two oblate
Oblate
An oblate spheroid is a rotationally symmetric ellipsoid having a polar axis shorter than the diameter of the equatorial circle whose plane bisects it. Oblate spheroids stand in contrast to prolate spheroids....
priests in the Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
region.
Early life
Although it is not known exactly where and when Uloqsaq was born, it is thought he was born around 1887, as he was about 30 during his murder trial in 1917. Prior to his murder trial, Uloqsaq was a very prominent Copper InuitCopper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
angakkuq
Angakkuq
The Angakkuq , Angatkuq , Angakok or Ilisitsok is the intellectual and spiritual figure among the Inuit and corresponds to a shaman. Not only the Inuit, but also other Eskimo cultures know similar mediator persons...
. According to anthropologist Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness, CC was one of Canada's greatest early scientists and a pioneer of Canadian anthropology.-Biography:...
, who had spoken with Uloqsaq in November 1915, Uloqsaq had purchased his shaman powers from another shaman in Bathurst Inlet
Bathurst Inlet
Bathurst Inlet is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, into which the Burnside and Western Rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent Kingoak , is also used to identify the community of Bathurst Inlet located on the shore.-Plans for a deep-water port:A...
. These powers reportedly gave him the power to transform himself into a wolf, a bear or even a European person. He told Jenness that he had once lived underwater for many days and performed necromancy
Necromancy
Necromancy is a claimed form of magic that involves communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit in the form of an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, imparting the ability to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...
. He also claimed to have turned men and women into animals and seen European men with mouths on their chests.
The murders
In late 1913, Jean-Baptiste Rouvière and Guillaume Le Roux, two Missionary OblatesMissionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope...
, were on a mission
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to convert the Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region and the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.Their western boundary was Wise Point,...
in the Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
region to Roman Catholicism while heading towards Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with Dease Strait and thence Queen Maud Gulf. To the southeast lies Bathurst...
. They were doing this, they claimed, because they had heard rumours that Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
missionaries were attempting to perform the same in that region, and wanted to convert the Inuit in the area to their denomination first. The priests enlisted the assistance of Uloqsaq as well as Sinnisiak, another hunter, and paid them in traps. However, Le Roux, who had a short temper, quickly got angry with the two Inuit men, who soon decided that Le Roux's anger meant that the priests wanted to kill them. Sinnisiak urged Uloqsaq to help him kill the two men, and the priests were shot, stabbed and axed to death. For ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
istic reasons, the two Inuit ate a portion of the two priests'
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
s.
Some Inuit later told the investigating policemen a different story. One man, an Inuit elder named Koeha, told the story quite differently. He claimed that at an Inuit camp, a man had stolen a rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
from one of the priests and gotten into a fight with Le Roux. Although the Inuit who had stolen the weapon wanted to kill Le Roux, the priests managed to escape. Sinnisiak and Uloqsaq began to follow the priests, and caught up with them at Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls is a waterfall in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park and is the site of the Bloody Falls Massacre and the murder of two priests by Copper Inuit Uloqsaq and Sinnisiak in 1913...
, where Sinnisiak stabbed and shot the two men. Although Uloqsaq assisted on Sinnisiak's urging, he said that he did not want to kill the priest and only did so because he had been told to by Sinnisiak.
Investigation and trial
A Royal North-West Mounted Police investigation began after word reached Fort Norman that Inuit had been seen wearing the priests' clothing, and the two men surrendered themselves without incident in May 1916. Part of Uloqsaq's police statement read, "I wanted to speak; Ilogoak [Le Roux] put his hand over my mouth... Ilogoak pointed the gun at us. I was afraid and I was crying... Sinnisiak said to me 'We ought to kill these white men before they kill us.'" Partly due to a previous incident with similar circumstances following which no action was taken, the authorities wished to make an example out of the two Inuit men, and Sinnisiak was tried in EdmontonEdmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
for the murder of Rouvière, largely because it was thought that Sinnisiak had been the 'ringleader'. He was found not guilty because the jury thought that the Inuit man had cause to kill the priest.
Following the not guilty verdict, the two Inuit men were taken to Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
in late August, where they were found guilty of the murder of Le Roux. This was the first time Inuit had been found guilty of murder in a Canadian court. The law at that time had a mandatory sentence
Mandatory sentencing
A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where judicial discretion is limited by law. Typically, people convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison...
of death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for the crime of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, yet the jury and the judge did not wish for the pair to die for their crimes owing to the provocative nature of the priests' actions before their deaths. To avoid the death penalty, the judge sentenced the pair to death by hanging
Death by hanging
Death by hanging may refer to:* Hanging* Death by Hanging, a 1968 film by Nagisa Oshima...
, with the execution date set as October 15. The sentence was immediately commuted
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
at a Fort Resolution police station. In 1919, the pair assisted police in establishing a new police contingent at Tree River
Tree River
The Tree River is a river in Nunavut, Canada. It flows into Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean. It has an ice contact delta...
, and in 1922 were released.
Later life
By the late 1920s, Uloqsaq has established himself in Bernard HarbourBernard Harbour
Bernard Harbour is a bay on the mainland of Nunavut, Canada. It is situated on Dolphin and Union Strait, southwest of Sutton Island.At one time, it was the site of a Hudson's Bay Company trading post...
, and was found unable to hunt due to spinal tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
by the Anglican archdeacon Archibald Lang Fleming
Archibald Lang Fleming
The Rt Rev. Archibald Lang Fleming, DD, FRGS was the inaugural Bishop of The Arctic from 1933 to 1949.Born on 8 September 1883 and educated at Greenock Academy and Glasgow University he was in the drawing office at John Brown & Co, a shipyard in Clydebank, until 1906 when he went to Canada to...
in 1928. The tuberculosis, which was most likely contracted during his time in prison, was part of an epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
of the same sweeping Inuit populations in Canada at the time. Uloqsaq was taken to a hospital, but as the hospital was unable to provide for his long-term needs, he was taken home to the Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
region, where he died in September 1929.