Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to address this House today as the chairman of the Nunavut caucus. First, I would like to thank the Members of the Nunavut caucus for their faith and confidence in me to continue to be the chairman of the Nunavut caucus for the time being.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform the Members of this Assembly that we are proposing to hold a summit of Inuit leaders in Iqaluit during the last week of January 1992. The participants at this proposed summit are Inuit leaders working for our people at the local, regional and national level through the different organizations such as Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, Pauktuutit, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, and regional council representatives. Also, Members of our own Nunavut caucus will be taking part at this summit.
We are working toward the same goal, which is the control of our own destiny in order to ensure a good life for our people. Because of the conditions in the society that surrounds us and the incredible changes we have to adjust to in such rapid succession, we find ourselves today, as leaders, in a critical time. It is a time when our leaders are called to make decisions that will greatly affect our present circumstances as well as our future. We need to come together, as is our tradition in such times, to talk, to evaluate where we are, where we wish to go and how we can best support each other to work in a united way, as we have always done.
These are difficult times, not just for Inuit, but for all people in our country. Canada itself is facing an uncertain future. The effects of the current economic recession are being felt here in our northern communities as well, and at all levels of government. Our hunters and trappers find themselves in a life and death struggle for the protection of their way of life.