Relocations played a fundamental role in the settlement policies of the Canadian government and the formation of several Arctic communities. Since the 1950's, they have a significant impact on the social organization of Inuit communities. They still play a role in the construction of identities, and they may be the source of new moves of peoples and strategies of land occupation at community and regional scales. This paper focuses on what the federal records identify as the "relocation" of the main South camp of the Belcher Islands (Hudson Bay, Nunavut) to the North of the archipelago in 1971. From testimonies of displaced Qikirtamiut and researchers involved in the process, the author explores few aspects of the genesis and progress of the relocation to stress some of the social dynamics related to the transfer of families.
