Chretien, French President Jacques Chirac plan Labour Day tour of South Baffin

IQALUIT — There’s been no official announcement, but the people of Iqaluit, Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung are already dusting off their best clothes and preparing for VIP guests over the Labour Day weekend.

On Sunday, September 5, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and French President Jacques Chirac are due to land in Iqaluit for a whirl-wind two-day tour of South Baffin.

Chirac arrives in Canada on September 2 to attend the Sommet de la francophonie, a gathering of the leaders of French-speaking countries, in Moncton, New Brunswick.

When Chrétien asked Chirac whether he would like to visit Nunavut following that meeting, the French leader reportedly leapt at the invitation.

“He has a special interest in native people,” said an official from the French in embassy Ottawa. Chirac also collects aboriginal art.

Not surprisingly, two of Nunavut’s major art-producing communities are high on Chirac’s agenda.

On the morning of September 6, the official entourage is scheduled to leave Iqaluit for a short visit to Cape Dorset.

Visits to art centres

This isn’t the first time that this community has hosted such a high-level visit.

In June of 1995, Helmut Kohl, who was then the president of Germany and spent four hours in Cape Dorset with Chretien, although the upcoming visit is not expected to last more than a two hours.

“We’re going to show them the print shop,” said Timoon Toonoo, the hamlet’s senior administrative officer. “The president of France wanted to see it.”

Chirac will also be able to chat with local artists. The community is planning to hold a reception for the visitors, too.

In Pangirtung, Chirac and Chrétien will tour the Uqqurmiut Centre, where advance teams from the French embassy in Ottawa and the prime minister’s office showed a keen interest in the weaving studio.

The studio’s weavers produce tapestries based on the “Aubusson” method of weaving, originally developed in France.

The leaders will also drop by the Angmarlik Centre, the former blubber station and the headquarters of Parks Canada in Pangnirtung. A short helicopter ride down the fiord or a brief fishing trip are other possible activities, depending onthe weather.

In fact, their entire schedule is dependent on the weather.

Wives to stay in Iqaluit

If the weather is bad, the leaders will remain in Iqaluit with their wives. Aline Chrétien and Bernadette Chodron de Courcel Chirac who are accompanying their husbands on the junket, plan to stay in Iqaluit, instead of going along on the whirlwind tour of South Baffin.

A full day of activities has been planned for them in Iqaluit and for numerous members of the press. About 60 French journalists will travel to Iqaluit with Chirac, but only a select few will be able to tag along on the day tour of the two other communities.

Although a state dinner in Iqaluit was originally planned, a more modest reception is now in the works, followed by entertainment, including a performance by singer Susan Aglukark.

Chirac is expected to seek out opportunities to meet local residents.

“He likes contact with people,” said Christine Courcol, a Montreal-based journalist with the news agency, Agence France-Presse. “He’s very warm. He’s very curious and very interested in many things.”

While in Canada, Chirac will also visit Ottawa, Quebec City and the French-held island of St. Pierre de Miquelon, located off the coast of Newfoundland.

First official visit

This visit is not Chirac’s first to Canada, but it is his first official state visit as president.

Chirac has been a dominant figure in French political life for more than 30 years, and was mayor of Paris before being elected in 1995 to a seven-year term as president of the French republic.

During his presidency Chirac, a conservative, has been faced with a majority left-wing parliament. Yet even if Chirac’s politics are not supported by a majority of voters, he remains a popular figure in France.

For the curious, there are web sites devoted to Chirac, the official site at http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr , and another at http://www.elysee.fr, which features the complete life story of Chirac and a photo of the president as a cigarette-smoking youth.