Iqaluit, Tuesday, April 18, 2006

It is an honour for me and my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, to be here this evening in the company of those who had a hand in creating this territory and who are now shaping its evolution and our sovereignty.

I vividly recall the creation of Nunavut in the spring of 1999. We were gathered in the newsroom to look over the newly drawn map of Canada. We looked closely and with great awe at the immense area covered by the new territory, dotted with Inuit names: two million square kilometres; twenty percent of Canada’s total land mass.

We reflected on the milestones along the way in this great adventure toward self‑government. Your awareness, in the early 1970s, of the need to manage your territory, your resources and your people yourselves to preserve your identity, culture, languages, and traditional knowledge. The 1992 signing of the agreement to create Nunavut. The recognition of the official status of this territory on April 1, 1999. It took only thirty years for the Inuit people to achieve this larger-than-life dream.

This adventure is not over yet and is still so full of promises. Having said that, and you would know this better than anyone, many challenges still lay ahead. The shift to a more sedentary way of life; the lack of infrastructure to support an ever-increasing population; the difficulty many families are having making ends meet in a market economy; the yearning of elders to maintain tradition; the struggle of young people, torn between those traditions and a future that seems closed off. These are just some of the challenges you are facing, and the rest of the country must not remain indifferent. Because from North to South, this affects all Canadians.

I am particularly concerned about violence against women and suicide among Inuit youth. Promoting the utmost respect for the dignity of women, their right to security; rekindling hope in young people—this is what is important, this is our collective responsibility. It is within our power to build a new world in which we could live better, a world in which we would give ourselves the tools to make more room for dialogue between the men and women, between cultures, between generations. A world we can be proud of.

As governor general, I have made a commitment to break down solitudes. By solitudes, I mean all forms of exclusion born of misunderstanding and prejudice based on age, sex, social status, race, beliefs, or abilities. I want each and every Canadian to have a voice. I want to meet head‑on the concerns of young people, elders, women and families, troubling though they may be. I want to meet with citizens in their villages, their schools, their community and cultural centres. I want to meet them where they live. It is in that spirit that I have come to meet with you, here in Iqaluit, and soon in Cape Dorset, where I will live out a long-held dream of mine: to sleep in an igloo, that dwelling so closely linked with your ancestral way of life.

I am convinced that the present is enriched by the experience of the past. As we move into the future, every word counts, every action matters. Nothing is impossible for those who reach for the stars and dare to dream big. Each and every one of us can be part of the solution to the problems we are now facing.

Thank you, Premier Okalik and the people of Nunavut, for the warm welcome you have extended to me and my husband. We will not soon forget all that we have seen and heard by your side. The important matters we discussed, the touching stories you shared with us, the lessons you taught us. Rest assured that we will always be your allies.

And it is my fervent wish that this first official visit to Nunavut will be merely the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. I sincerely hope to meet with you once again, here, in the near future.