Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very happy to announce today that Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme has been chosen as one of the top 100 events in North America for 1992, by the prestigious American Bus Association...
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...which has 700 bus companies and 2000 travel organization members. This ranks Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme alongside such important Canadian events as the Quebec Winter Carnival, Klondike Days in Edmonton, Discovery Days in the Yukon, the Stratford Festival in Ontario, and Canada's 125th anniversary in Ottawa.
Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme was picked by travel industry professionals from among hundreds of submissions from all across North America. The events or festivals considered must celebrate ethnic diversity and/or historic moments and are ranked on amount of community support, uniqueness and national reputation. The top 100 events were announced on December 3 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the ABA's Marketplace, a premier travel industry tourism show. The winning events have been listed in a full colour brochure distributed by the ABA to its 2700 members.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the community of Iqaluit and their very hard-working Toonik Tyme organizing committee, who helped make last year's Toonik Tyme a great success. The special feature last year, and a highlight, was the northern entertainment night, which featured entertainers from across the Northwest Territories and northern Quebec.
The first Toonik Tyme was held in 1965. Bryan Pearson, then mayor of Iqaluit, and Abe Okpik, a holder of the Order of Canada, were the prime organizers. From the beginning, Toonik Tyme was a springtime festival designed to promote tourism and celebrate the traditional games and skills of the Inuit, with a modern flavour. Consistent features over the years have been dog-team races, a long distance skidoo race to Lake Harbour and back, igloo building, seal skinning contests, and such modern northern sports as the honey-bag fling. Over the years many prominent Canadians have been conferred the title and accompanying scroll of "Honorary Tooniks," the first being Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
I would like to invite you all to Toonik Tyme '92, April 19 to 25, to attend this wonderful event in the spring sun of Baffin Island. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get the buses up there! Thank you.