We certainly recognize that the present Prime Minister has gone north more than any other prime minister in the past. We were disappointed with the first two or three times he was up there. He never met with Inuit leaders. He never mentioned the Inuit in his speeches. We were curious as to why that was happening.
Then he came out with this line of “use it or lose it”. That to us was very painful. It was a hurtful thing. It was insulting. We do use and occupy the Arctic every day, and we have been doing that for thousands of years. We feel that the Government of Canada has to stop using that line. It doesn't work.
We're happy that the Government of Canada has made the Arctic a priority, and we look forward to working with them. It seems that climate change has put the attention of the whole world on the Arctic. I think that's part of the reason Canadians are much more aware that they have the Arctic. It's going to become very important in the future.
We welcome the priority that the Government of Canada has put on the Arctic, but we want the Government of Canada to recognize that the Inuit are the lynchpin of anything that happens up there.