Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I would like to welcome our Inuit friends. Having been close to this matter for several years, I feel that I have been a kind of witness to the First Nations' and Inuit's uprising. I have to say that governments, especially the Canadian government, are quick to sign agreements and then equally quick to go back on them.
Personally, I was having this kind of conversation with my colleagues at a time when First Nations were forced to go to court to get justice. Now, Federal Court or Supreme Court of Canada decisions run about 50% in favour of aboriginal peoples and Inuit. Yet, despite that, it is still difficult to have decisions implemented because the government does not implement them. So the situation is quite disgusting.
Mr. Amagoalik, I have read part of your book Changing the Face of Canada. You were only five years old when you were deported. I have to use that term. When you live in Nunavik, in Inukjuak to be precise, and you are moved 1,500, maybe 2,000 kilometres to the north, to Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, I have no other word but “deportation”. A whole chapter of the Erasmus-Dussault Commission report dealt with that injustice. I agree with you that apologies are needed from both Conservative and Liberal governments, yet you are still waiting. The event took place in 1953, so there has been plenty of time to examine the issue and move forward.
But why do you think the deportation took place, Mr. Amagoalik? I want to assure you that Bloc Québécois MPs feel that the matter of Arctic sovereignty needs Inuit. Nothing can be solved in the Arctic with frigates, destroyers, satellites and the army. We feel that the solution lies in friendly and appropriate agreements with Inuit.
You were five at the time. Could you explain to us what your perception of that event is today? Why did Canada do it? Is it just us a question of sovereignty? I agree with you: you really need an apology from the Prime Minister.