Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I spoke about the important work of Bill Fitzhugh, of the Smithsonian in the Frobisher Bay area, and later I am going to table a letter from Dr. Fitzhugh on that subject.
Today I would like to talk about the recent Inuit land claim to which the Government of the Northwest Territories is a signatory and the important attention that agreement pays to the subject of archaeology.
Article 33 of the claim cites, as general principles, that the archaeological record of the Inuit, associated with their use and occupancy represents a cultural, historical and ethnographic heritage of Inuit society, and that this archaeological record is of spiritual, cultural, religious and educational importance to the Inuit. I am pleased to address this very important subject today in the presence of Ann Meekitjuk Hanson of Iqaluit who, with the full support of this Assembly, was instrumental in persuading the Minister of Indian Affairs of the day and his department to repatriate significant parts of the DIAND Inuit art collection to the Northwest Territories.
Unfortunately, there are at present no facilities in place in Nunavut for the secure, climate controlled storage of this and other precious evidence of what the Inuit land claim describes as, "a record of the Inuit use and occupancy of their lands through time." It has been, therefore, necessary to store the artifacts from the Inuit art collection at the facilities of the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre in Yellowknife -- temporarily, I hope.
Section 33.2(4) of the Inuit land claims final agreement states, and I quote, "There is an urgent need to establish facilities in the Nunavut settlement area for the conservation and management of a representative proportion of the archaeological record. It is desirable that the proportion of the Nunavut settlement area archaeological record finding a permanent home in the Nunavut settlement area increase over time."
Mr. Speaker, I am confident... that I will not be able to finish this statement in time.
---Laughter
Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.