Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, Wednesday, June 12, 2013

I would like to thank you for welcoming me so warmly into your community.

I have been looking forward to this visit. This place you call home is truly one of the most spectacularly beautiful and rugged parts of Canada.

Nunatsiavut plays a vital role in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, but more than that, it is an inspirational region to other Inuit communities across the country.

Not even a decade old, and the government representing the Labrador Inuit is already making great gains. You are building your communities, ensuring preservation of resources, bringing success to the region.

What truly impresses me is the speed with which you have transformed your community. Yours is an experiment in self-reliance and collaboration that is impressive in its success. Yet, it is still an experiment, evolving and changing as it goes.

At its core, Canada itself is an experiment. This country is a product of the vision that emerged when people took up the challenge of responding to certain very specific realities—social, economic and geographical. That we can still call this country an “experiment” nearly 150 years later reflects the fact that, though we have made remarkable strides in our efforts to accommodate and celebrate different cultures and traditions—including Inuit—we are still a work in progress.

I often say that the most practical thing in the world is a good general theory when continually tested and refined against reality. In this case, the theory—be it self-governance for Nunatsiavut or the multicultural nation of Canada—is applied and tested in an ongoing experiment. This experiment is one that has needed, and will continue to need, fine tuning, but it is essential that we succeed.

Despite the challenges, you continue to push for better lives for yourselves, your children, your Elders, everyone.

One of the ways you are doing so is through adaptability. You have long recognized that evolution is necessary for the well-being of your society, but that did not mean abandoning your heritage.

By adapting to the situation in which you found yourselves, you were able to come to solutions and compromises that protected your rights and that contributed to the wider province and country.

I am reminded of the words of Terry Audla, President of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami—the national voice of the Inuit in Canada—who spoke last year at the opening of this beautiful building. He said: “As Inuit we all face many challenges in this modern world, but we are adapting to them in our own way.”

And from my own experience, I would add that I have seen Inuit not only adapt to, but overcome those challenges as well.

This is being accomplished in part through collaboration.

You involve the community and listen to their needs, but more than that, you go outside Labrador to interact and work with provincial and federal representatives. You know that by working together, we can accomplish so much more than we can by ourselves.

Already, there is so much that you have done.

Let me speak about one of the symbols of your accomplishments: that being the building we are standing in right now. This is a culmination of many years of work, of building, of learning, of growing.

The Labrador Inuit waited for the day when there would be a space where their voices would be heard clearly and where their concerns, their challenges, would be addressed head on. This is that place.

But it is the object on top of this building that draws my attention. Of course, I refer to the green inukshuk.

Inukshuks can be found across this country, even forming part of the logo for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa, we are privileged to have an inukshuk, designed and built by Inuit artist Kananginak Pootoogook, near the front entrance.

In his book Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic, author Norman Hallendy writes on its significance:

“To some elders with whom I have spoken, the inuksuk is . . . a metaphor. It reminds them of the time when people were attached to the land by an unbroken thread of reverence, when they created great dancing circles, built fish weirs, placed huge inuksuit on hilltops, made traps to catch the most cunning animals, and communicated by rearranging or shaping fragments of the landscape.”

The symbolism is hard to miss. This building, where decisions are made for the future, looks decidedly to your past—and I think that is highly appropriate. What we do tomorrow is always informed by what happened yesterday, and we ignore the lessons of the past at our own peril.

I think there is another meaning to the inukshuk found in the last part of Mr. Hallendy’s quote. Inukshuks were used to communicate by rearranging and shaping the landscape. That is exactly what you are doing.

On the government side, you are creating stronger communities based on the ideals set forth by your constitution. I was interested to learn of the ratification of this document, which has far-reaching implications for the Labrador Inuit, and impacts the well-being of the province and country. Principles such as democracy and equality, pursuits such as a healthy society or preservation of culture—all of these show the type of future you want to build.

On the business side, the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies is constantly looking for new opportunities to grow its investments. It does this by examining recent trends and gains, and considering what will be needed in the future.

In addition, what I believe will be a boon for your region is your focus not only on preservation of the environment, but also on building a sustainable economy.

The key word—sustainability—is an important one, as it informs so much of what you do. We are all stewards in this country, of the environment, of our economy, of our children. We therefore have a responsibility to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of today without compromising those of future generations.

The focus on the health of the land is a theme the Inuit know better than most.

Hugh Brody, author The Other Side of Eden, interviewed an Innuwoman in the North, Mary Adele Andrew, who raised her children off the land and taught them the traditional ways of survival. She remarked to him that “On the land we are ourselves.”

From what I have seen, that statement is wholly accurate. I have visited Inuit communities in the North, and have experienced first-hand the reverence in which they hold the land, a reverence that I believe is also here in Labrador.

That is why it is important to protect the land. That is why sustainability is so vital to the future of your communities.

I often speak of building a smart and caring nation, one in which everyone has the opportunity to contribute. This is the type of government you have built, this is the type of society the Labrador Inuit have always had.

As you strengthen your community, as you develop your roles, I know that you will inspire others with what you do.  

I am delighted to learn of your story, of your accomplishments, of your people, and I look forward to sharing your story with other Canadians.

Thank you.