Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 05/99) - Visiting foreign diplomats say they were left with some very big impressions of Canada after spending a week North of 60.

Accompanied by Federal Cabinet Minister Stephane Dion, 17 Ottawa-based ambassadors from around the globe took a whirlwind tour of Nunavut, the NWT and the Yukon.

Dion said that in a seven-day period, the group dropped in on Iqaluit, Resolute Bay, Cambridge Bay, Baker Lake, Inuvik, Old Crow, White Horse, Dawson Creek and finally Yellowknife -- where they landed last week.

"For me the trip was important because I'm the minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and it's important for me to have a relationship with the territorial ministers," said Dion. "But it was also a chance for me to see the country through the eyes of foreigners."

On their way to cocktails at the Explorer Hotel, several ambassadors paused to offer some Northern insights.

"In my country, if you told anyone that you lived in a city where the temperature reaches -10, they would think you were crazy -- and they would certainly never live there," said Chilean Ambassador Jose Letelier.

But Letelier said he welcomed the opportunity to come North and to see more of the country other than just the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor.

"We have our own Aboriginal people, too," he said, "and in some aspects they are similar. We're seeing a revival of their culture as well as their push for autonomy and land claims, so we can learn a lot from the Canadian experience."

Making his way North from an even hotter part of the planet was the Ivory Coast's Jean Obeo-Coulibaly.

Ambassador for the tiny West African country, Obeo-Coulibaly was suitably impressed with treeless Nunavut and the midnight sun. But he said, aside from enjoying rocky Cambridge Bay and sampling caribou and muskox, it was Northern people who stood out in his travels.

"There are people of all descents here, but they're also very united and working together," he said.

U.S. Ambassador Gordon Giffin described the trip as "spectacular.

"There's no doubt a larger understanding of this portion of Canada will help me do my job better," he said.

Giffin said his most memorable moment occurred in Baker Lake.

"Two things stood out for me in that very small community," he said. "The first was watching people walk around the streets at 2 a.m. when it was still light out, and the second thing was watching little kids playing in the lake with chunks of ice just 25 yards away."

Asked for his favourite memories, Belorussian Ambassador Mikhail Khvostov said simply "nature and people.

"It's all so huge and different and interesting," he added. "You can't imagine unless you live in Europe how much more space there is here -- and it's also amazing how people manage to survive in such harsh conditions."