The historic waters claim is based on the fact ultimately that Inuit have occupied, lived on, done a thousand things, in the waters of the Canadian Arctic archipelago, and there is an archaeological record to this that maybe one day we would want to amplify and make more of. There's an oral history record to all of this, and it is an historic internal waters claim we have that is derived principally from the fact of Inuit occupancy and use. The Inuit gave their title, as it were, to Canada in steps and stages, but in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement there was a transfer of title and they gave it to Canada in return for all kinds of things that they still have yet to receive from the Government of Canada. There is a dimension that can be called the “honour of the crown” at stake here. That is, we have not lived up to our side of the treaty with the people of Nunavut in particular, it seems to me. But there is something serious to be done here, and I believe it's within our capacity and we should move on with it.
On October 6th, 2009. See this statement in context.