Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could hardly believe my ears last night as I listened to interviews in the national media chastising our Governor General as she visited the community of Rankin Inlet on her Arctic tour.
Governor General Michaelle Jean showed respect to her host by participating and partaking with them in an age honoured tradition of sharing the rewards of the hunt and of the harvest, in this case the consumption of seal meat. I doubt if those being interviewed representing the views of lobby, special interest organizations, who protest the harvesting of animals for human sustenance and financial support, have any idea of what life is really like in the North.
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I doubt if they understand the cost of living, the cost of food, the cost of maintaining a family in an Arctic community, as they observe from the comfort of their homes in southern Canada. There is nothing disrespectful about using the bounty and riches of the land to clothe and feed ourselves as Northerners when it is done in keeping with the acknowledgement and practice of sustainability and stewardship.
Mr. Speaker, our statistics would indicate that many, many people in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories derive income and support and supplement their other activities by the harvesting and their traditional activities. Hats off to the traditional knowledge and traditional practices of northern hunters, trappers and harvesters who supplement their diet and their household income in the pursuit of these traditional activities. Shame on those who would criticize our Governor General for taking an interest in the people of the North, visiting and attempting to understand their culture and their traditions. It would do some of these organizations well to invest some of their efforts into awareness and promoting and supporting of the preservation of our indigenous people and their culture, who have for time immemorial relied on the land to sustain them. Again, I’d like to thank the Governor General for her interest in the North, in its issues and its people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
