Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in this House to voice the thoughts and views of my Inuit elders on the bowhead whale. Muktuk from the bowhead whale is a delicacy to the Inuit people, especially our elders who have sampled its flavour in times long past, and, Mr. Speaker, as has been well reported, in more recent times.

I struggle to express the concept of the delicacy of this fine food to people of other ethnic origins. Mr. Speaker, perhaps haggis, truffles or roast pheasant may bring to mind a comparative exotic flavour of a food my people hold in such high regard.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, between 1820 and 1830, approximately 750 whaling ships journeyed to our Arctic waters and harvested over 8,000 bowhead whales. The Baffin Island bowhead whales were hunted by Dutch whalers in the 18th century. Based on available records for 1719 and 1911, the records say that a minimum of 28,000 bowhead whales were taken from the Baffin Bay stock. This overharvesting not only lead to the shortage of this vital food supply, but also prevented generations of Inuit people from knowing the delicious flavour of bowhead muktuk.

Mr. Speaker, on many occasions, Inuit elders have tried to convey to the younger generation the excitement, the joy and the satisfaction of a successful traditional bowhead hunt and the sharing of muktuk with the entire community. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, this experience can now only be shared legally through the storytelling of our elders and the imagination of the listener.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent from my colleagues to continue.