Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Apr 14/00) - The North holds a special significance for Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.

Born in Hong Kong in 1939, Clarkson came to Canada as a refugee with her family during the Second World War in 1942.

She travelled throughout the country during her career as a CBC broadcaster, and recently visited Rankin Inlet for the first time as Governor General.

Clarkson says she learned a long time ago how important the land is to Canada's Inuit.

"How Inuit managed to live on the land is amazing to other people," says Clarkson.

"They adapted to the cold, snow and ice in extraordinary ways. It's a wonderful story of survival. Anyone coming here has to look at that in the context of Inuit's traditional way of life.

"It's very important these things are not undervalued in a modern society."

Clarkson says people must understand how efficient Inuit are with using what they kill. She says as the rest of the country talks about sustainable development, Inuit have been practising that concept for centuries in order to survive.

"Inuit know exactly how many animals they need and that's what they take. They don't do indiscriminate slaughter. That's not what it's about. Everything they take, they use."

Clarkson says it's important for young Inuit to understand why a traditional way of life is important. She says it helps their respect for the people who came before them.

"Their ancestors lived on the land and took care of their families and that should be a great source of pride. The skills involved, the way they were able to look for their food and use everything they found, is a great lesson to the rest of us.

"If you learn that lesson, you understand you're not going to waste things. We always talk in the south about how much garbage we make, how much stuff we use, how useless so much of it is and how we can't dispose of it.

"We can take a lesson from Inuit who really never had any waste. It's important for Inuit children to be able to see this for the value of the life's lesson is has for them, even as they learn modern skills."

Clarkson says she was impressed by what she saw during her two Kivalliq stops at Repulse Bay and Rankin Inlet.

She says she was struck by the astonishing number of people who have public lives or careers in Repulse Bay and how the community cares for Nunavut.

"It showed just in the way they talked during the public meetings, that they're very concerned with the future of Nunavut and they take a big part in it.

"Rankin is exploding. It's quite astonishing to see the changes and the kind of activity that's going on in Rankin."

Clarkson says every Nunavut community is individual and distinct in its own right, and travelling the country to see the lives of Canadians is the Governor General's top priority.

"By my intense interest in the North, I'm hoping to bring it more to the attention of people in the south.

In these days when people are saying nations don't matter and globalization is everything, it's critical for people to understand each country has a particularity and the North is the particularity of Canada.

"Without the North we wouldn't be Canadians. It has an informing influence on us and that's why it's important to come here and meet people in their communities. This kind of travel is something we don't do enough of in Canada because spaces are so vast and the cost is so high.

"But once people get a taste of the North they don't forget it."