As someone who is fascinated by how people understand religion to operate in their own lives, the story of the Belcher Islands murders never ceases to pique my curiosity. The Belcher Islands are a rather barren land formation located in the middle of Hudson Bay. The islands are incredibly remote, and even today traveling to the islands is both expensive and difficult.
In 1941, with Canada deeply involved in a world war, reports began emerging from the Belcher Islands of a series of murders that were both gruesome and religiously motivated. The June 1941 edition of Life magazine describes the situation:
Three Eskimos have been murdered during the past winter on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. Six others froze to death after being driven naked onto a blizzard-swept ice field by a fanatical woman who told them that “Jesus” was coming to meet them.
Although not entirely conclusive, evidence exists which suggests the murders occurred over a dispute as to what the Bible – left by a missionary in the 1920s – had to say regarding Christ’s second coming. The Calgary Albertan reported in April, 1941, “The Toronto Star had received details of the murders over short-waved radio. The murders, according to the Star, occurred during a religious dispute, concerning God’s return to earth, between two unnamed Eskimo families. In view of the religious nature of the dispute, the Star contacted Archibald Fleming, Anglican Bishop of the Arctic, for comments. Fleming explained that ‘it had been many years since there was a missionary on the Belchers who could help the Eskimos solve their theological difficulties.’ He admitted that he tried to visit the Belchers in 1938, but there had been too much fog to make the crossing.”
When the police finally arrived they noted the following: “Moses, aged 13; Alec Oomaraluk aged eight years; Johnasie, aged six years; Johnny Kokpuk, aged seven years; Nukarak, aged 55 years; and Kumudluk Sarah, aged 32 years, all froze to death after (a woman named) Mina forced them to walk onto the frozen Hudson’s Bay on the morning of March 29, 1941.”
It is difficult to imagine the circumstances which eventually led to this misappropriation of Christian theology, but given the fact that all the islanders were first generation Christians with no access to the faith except through a Bible left behind by a missionary, the story is not surprising. Most Christians today have the benefit of attending a church that is rooted in tradition and have a pastor for theological guidance; these Aboriginals were not afforded such a privilege. Whenever I contemplate this story I’m reminded of the text by Soren Kierkegaard titled, Fear and Trembling, where the protagonist Johannes de Silentio approaches his pastor wanting to mimic the faith of Abraham when he nearly kills Isaac at God’s request. The pastor quickly condemns Johannes, declaring him to be murderous and evil. We live in – as Kierkegaard often describes – a comfortable kind of Christianity, where the average believer is shielded from what actually goes on in the Bible. One can imagine how dangerous the Bible is without any context accompanying it. The terror the islanders must have experienced when they realized that a single human sacrifice served as the catalyst for their own salvation. The confusion the inhabitants of Belcher must have gone through when one of their own declared to be Christ incarnate, the One this mysterious text spoke of. To this day I ask myself, “What was going on in the heads of those six Aboriginals as they marched out across the frozen Hudson. Did they die thinking their salvation was assured? Or were they uncertain and terrified of the unknown?”
The woman who sent those six doomed individuals out into the cold, dark sea, was arrested and flown to the town of Moose Factory on the mainland. She never returned to the islands.