INUVIK - Inuvik played host to 17 ambassadors from all over the world last week on a brief stopover during the 40th anniversary of the Northern tours for diplomats.

United States ambassador to Canada David Jacobson on the tundra during the 2011 Northern Tours for Heads of Diplomatic Missions in June. Jacobson visited Inuvik, as well as many other communities throughout the North. - photo courtesy of American Embassy

The ambassadors from North America, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, visited 12 communities in Nunavut, the NWT and Yukon. They landed unannounced in Inuvik on June 21 with little fanfare for the 2011 Northern Tours for Heads of Diplomatic Missions. With a quick call to Mayor Denny Rodgers, the ambassadors received an Inuvik welcome.

For United States ambassador David Jacobson, Inuvik was a special treat. The trip to Inuvik coincided with the arrival of three golfers who drove from Chicago with their last member of their foursome, cremated in an urn. Turns out they all came from the same area of Chicago.

"Mayor Denny Rodgers met us at the airport and told us about the three guys and they told us the story and showed us the article in the newspaper and I had to meet them," Jacobson said. "When you read about it, it sounded a bit morbid, but it was anything but. This is a trip their friend would have wanted."

Also on the trip to Inuvik, the ambassadors visited the Iglu Church and the Midnight Sun Mosque. For these world travellers, even Inuvik's small mosque held a unique place in the trip.

"Three weeks ago I was in Morocco and saw the third-largest mosque in the world," Jacobson said. "The Midnight Sun Mosque didn't take a backseat to being a special place."

The ambassadors also met with Nellie Cournoyea of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and Duane Smith of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, who explained the issues related to land claims in the region. They also travelled to the Nunavut communities of Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, Resolute Bay, Eureka and, Kugluktuk, as well as Dawson City, Whitehorse NWT communities, Fort Simpson and, Yellowknife, the diamond mines, and Churchill, Man.

The Department of Foreign Affairs offers the tour to advance foreign policy positions and interests in the North with foreign ambassadors and high commissioners.

The week-long trip gave them a brief glimpse of the North and the issues here, as well as how the communities differ. As an ambassador, Jacobson said he feels it's important for him to travel as widely as possible within the country.

"One of the things I've learned, beside that it's big and beautiful and majestic, is how diverse it is," Jacobson said. "In Resolute it's very barren, but in Inuvik, that was the first time we'd seen grass, and then Whitehorse looks like Iowa."

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