Chesterfield Inlet (Nov 17/04) - Students at Victor Sammurtok school in Chesterfield Inlet got to rub shoulders with one of the country's proudest Canadians earlier this month.

Senator Laurier LaPierre is considered a Canadian icon in many circles.

An author, journalist, commentator and educator, former prime minister Jean Chretien appointed LaPierre to the Senate in June 2001.

Awarded the office of the Order of Canada in 1994, LaPierre had been planning to visit Nunavut for years.

School principal Peter Laracy met LaPierre in 2002 in St. John's, Nfld., when that city was hosting the National Heritage Fair.

LaPierre is also the honourary chairperson of the Historica Foundation's Heritage Fair program.

"Jill McCaw is the Historica program's national co-ordinator and knew I was up here in Nunavut," explained Laracy.

"The senator turns 75 later this month and wanted to come to Nunavut before he retires.

"McCaw tracked me down and the senator ended up visiting Chesterfield Inlet and Arviat for a few days."

Laracy said he was excited to have LaPierre come to Chester because of his love for Canadian history and the fact he grew up in a tiny Quebec community before going on to have great success in his life.

"The senator is quite passionate about Canada and we were quite fortunate to have him visit our fair community."

Laracy said a number of teachers at Victor Sammurtok school spent time earlier this year with their students, exploring what it means to be Inuit and living in Chesterfield Inlet in 2004.

He said students need to take the time to think about what that means every once in a while, so they may better understand where they fit into the bigger Canadian picture.

And taking pride in who you are, your culture and your heritage are areas LaPierre specializes in.

"The kids truly seemed to enjoy spending time with Mr. LaPierre.

"The senator is so passionate about Canada's diversity and preserving our cultures and languages, you just don't know what the effect will be to expose the kids to someone like him.

"You sometimes have to wait a while to see the results, but often when you expose kids to something or someone positive, good things come about as a result."