In April 2015 our free webcomic DOGS gained national attention in Canada for its depiction of the little-known but horrific RCMP sled dog slaughter of the 1950s-60s in Eastern Arctic Canada. On Friday, June 5th, Ad Astra Comix launched a small crowdfunder to print the comic as a poster in bulk.
Destination? How about every classroom in Canada?
OK, maybe every Canadian classroom is a little beyond our reach at this point. But the goal of turning “DOGS” into a 27″x 39″ educational poster means, at least, hundreds of free copies for schools, libraries, and other educational institutions in the North! (Update: And we did it! As of this week (Sept 26, 2015, 400 free posters arrived in Nunavut for free distribution to communities in the region.) That means free posters to communities that still remember the traumatic effects of the slaughter.
The work was originally produced to amplify the findings of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission – a report that found the RCMP responsible for the murder of hundreds – perhaps thousands – of sled dogs owned by the Inuit in the Eastern Arctic.
We successfully reached our goal to print 2000 posters in July. Funders of our Tilt campaign received copies of the poster as thanks for their support, and a portion of the funds raised made it possible to freely distribute the piece in communities affected by the slaughter.
We are also working with schools in both Manitoba and New Mexico to get the posters distributed through their systems. More on that later…
And even thought the Tilt crowdfunding campaign is over, you can still buy a poster, and proceeds still continue to support our work. Inquiries and special rates for bulk ordering are welcome. Please e-mail us for details.
Every little bit counts. Let’s get the truth out and into as many classrooms as possible!