Canada's reindeer

Canada, 1979

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In 1935 a herd of 2,700 reindeer completed a five-year journey from Alaska to north of the Arctic circle. They were imported and re-settled by the Canadian Government in an effort to improve the economic conditions of the Inuit. This film is the story of the trek, the raising of reindeer for saleable meat, its effects upon the people and the transformation of herding from a primitive art to one using modern technology. The film shows how an ecologically sound, make-work project that started as a gamble ended up a success, generating jobs and money for the local people.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

Inuk Films

National Film Board of Canada

Duration

00:25:00:00

Production places

Canada

Production dates

1979

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

016265

Language

English

Subject categories

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Canada - Commerce

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Industries - Canada

Animals & Wildlife → Reindeer

Animals & Wildlife → Reindeer herding

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Alaska

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Arctic Coast (Canada)

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Arctic regions

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Canada - Description and travel

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Canada - Discovery and exploration

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Canada, Northern

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Eskimos - Social life and customs

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Inuit - Canada

Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Natural resources - Canada

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Canada

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Canada - Economic conditions

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Canada - Social conditions

Educational & Instructional

Educational & Instructional → Instructional

History → Canada - Discovery and exploration

History → Canada - History

History → History

Places → Alaska

Places → Arctic Coast (Canada)

Places → Arctic regions

Places → Canada, Northern

Short films

Short films → Short films - Canada

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/77874--canadas-reindeer/ |title=Canada's reindeer |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=24 April 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}