(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been hearing from concerned people in my constituency about the aircraft that recently crashed on Ellesmere Island in the High Arctic, 20 kilometres outside of Alert. This aircraft had 18 people on board. Emergency rescuers were not able to get to the crash site until 36 hours after the crash, due to bad weather. The concern that my constituents are expressing is that there are Inuit Arctic Rangers in the High Arctic that are trying to deal with emergency situations such as this crash. The Arctic Rangers were waiting to be asked to help with the emergency rescue operations but were never asked or given the opportunity with land rescue attempts. I am quite confident they would have been very useful.
I am not suggesting that they would have done a better job than the rescue operators that were used, but what I am saying is that we have these trained Arctic Rangers; they are there to be used. It happened in the Inuit land and the Inuit know that specific area. Perhaps if the Inuit had been sent out by land they might have reached the crash site sooner than in 36 hours. If they had been given the chance to go out with the land rescue team, the 13 survivors probably would have been in a more comfortable situation before the medical rescue team arrived. Conditions are a lot harsher in the High Arctic than those of the tree line.
I would like to commend the 13 survivors that had to endure the harsh climate, and some were critically injured. I know first-hand the weather conditions of that region in the winter because I was born there and have lived there all my life. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause