Shippagan, Thursday, May 17, 2007

I was born by the sea, so I have dreamed of this trip for a long time.

My husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, and I are so proud to have arrived in Shippagan by sea, as so many fishers here do on a daily basis.

We know that Shippagan is the commercial fishing capital of New Brunswick, and it is an honour for us to begin this visit with a meeting with crab fishers.

Although it conjures images of freedom on the open sea with the salt wind blowing through your hair, being a fisher is not an easy job, and we want to thank you for coming today to share your concerns and your hopes.

We want to take full advantage of this day and meet as many people in the community as we can.

From this sea, which is the heart of your community and from which you make your living with such wisdom and courage, we would like to explore as much as we can with you. We are looking forward to visiting the laboratories and the aquarium you are so proud of.

And from this sea, we travelled to another kind of sea, an inland one that is just as endless: the sea of knowledge, with the Shippagan campus of the Université de Moncton as its beacon.

I am very excited to speak with you so I can share the pride, warmth, and ingenuity of the people of Shippagan with the rest of Canada and the world.

We sincerely hope this is not our last trip here, and that the ebb and flow of the tide brings us back to your shores some day soon.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome you have given us.