Mr. Speaker, in Ottawa this Wednesday and Thursday a national Urban Inuit Conference will discuss the plight of urban Inuit. For a variety of reasons, more and more Inuit are living in major centres in the south and often are not able to access programs and services which they are entitled to, whether as Canadians or land claim beneficiaries.
Raising awareness of this growing problem and examining mechanisms to rectify the many issues faced by urban Inuit, this conference is a positive first step and another example of responding to the current realities of Inuit adaptation to today's world.
I would like to thank the Inuit Relations Secretariat of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs for sponsoring the event and Tungasuvvingat Inuit, the Ottawa-based Inuit centre, for arranging the event. I know that the facilitator, Mary Simon, and the organizer, Shani Watts, will do a great job and I thank everyone who has worked hard to make this a reality.
I look forward to meeting, listening and sharing with urban Inuit from St. John's to Yellowknife.