Yose Cormier
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 01/03) - It's been 35 years now since Jean Chretien first visited the North.

His first visit was in 1968, and he's had a long-lasting love affair with the North since.

"I was not aware of the North at all. I had never been here," he said in an interview with News/North in Iqaluit on Aug. 23.

Canada's prime minster was in the Nunavut capital for the signing ceremony of Ukkusiksalik National Park near Repulse Bay.

Chretien was on his last official visit to the North, and he thought it was fitting that what brought him here was another park.

"This is an area that I am very proud of. I thought another park in the north was a great opportunity for another trip to the North," said Chretien.

As minister of Indian and Northern Affairs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he created the national park near Panniqtuuq, and that community has always been dear to him, visiting it on numerous occasions.

Chretien said ever since he first put his foot in the North, he's identified with it.

"What is satisfying is the impression after so many years that they are still very comfortable with me ... they're still happy to see me," he said.

Chretien feels the North represents Canada and that's one of the reasons he's so fond of it.

"This morning I was speaking in my French language and some were speaking in English and some were speaking in Inuit language. It's part of the culture, of the diversity and unity of Canada that you see at its best here," he said.

And that's what Chretien keeps in mind and what he loves about Canada and the North.

"It was at it's best today. That is the Canada I love, not the narrow minded type of thing. An open society," he said after the ceremony.

Chretien has not been immune to criticism during his political life, but it doesn't bother him.

"I'm not thinking of legacy. I worked 40 years, 35 years I started to come here. I'm not preoccupied with that, I've done my job," he said.

While he says he doesn't think about leaving a legacy behind, he's proud of a number of accomplishments he feels he brought to the North.

"There was lots of reform done here. There was the creation of Nunavut, the responsible government. It was all done under me," he said.

He talks about introducing a democratic system, of bringing native languages into schools.

"When I look at what it is today and what it was 30 years ago it's not the same thing at all."

"When I started there was no education in native language anywhere in Canada. I started that. I started the teaching of the native language in the schools," he said.

That's not to say he doesn't still see problems in the North.

"There will always be problems. In public life there's not a day when there will be no problems.

"You solve one you create two problems. You have to get used to that," he said.

He wants Inuit to feel proud of their heritage.

"It's possible to be proud of your culture as an Inuit, as I am of my french culture," he said.