Chrétien sells federalist language vision to Chirac

IQALUIT — Prime Minister Jean Chrétien may have succeeded in convincing French President Jacques Chirac this week that Canada is a land of multilingual and multicultural harmony.

Chrétien said Chirac and his official delegation left Nunavut with a much broader and view of Canada.

“I think he [Chirac] was very impressed by his visit to Nunavut,” Chrétien told Nunatsiaq News prior to his departure from Iqaluit Tuesday morning.

While some visitors from France were astounded to find francophones and a francophone association in Nunavut, they were also surprised that Premier Paul Okalik delivered part of his address at Nunavut’s legislature in French.

“Many told me that they didn’t realize that there were francophones outside of Quebec. They were enchanted by their visit and it gave them, [Chirac and the members of his delegation], an entirely different vision of Canada,” Chrétien said.

Chirac remarked several years ago that France should be the first country to recognize an independent Quebec.

But last week he was clearly trying to foster new and improved relations between France and Canada’s federal government. During their trip to Nunavut, the two leaders were each quick to promote closer ties between Canada and France.

In a speech at Nunavut’s new legislature building on Monday morning, Chirac lavished praise on Canada’s tolerance for linguistic diversity.

“I would like to underline the exemplary character of Canada,” Chirac said. “You have an immense country, the home of First Nations peoples and Inuit, a land, at the same time French and English, that is perfecting, in peace and tolerance, the art of living together.”

Chirac also called up the links between France and Nunavut. He mentioned the long-standing exchange program that Nunavut Arctic College has maintained with a research institute in Paris, l’Institut des langues orientales.

At the francophone centre, Chirac accepted a card made by Iqaluit’s francophone students. Touched by this gesture, Chirac said he hoped that the French media present would “tell their fellow citizens that there are francophones here who are trying to keep their language and culture.”

Even Chrétien was impressed that the role that the French language and francophones play in Iqaluit.

“This morning I was very pleased to realize, for example in the legislature, that people can have a French translation for the debates, which proves the vitality, the warmth and the presence of francophones in Nunavut,” Chrétien said during the leaders’ visit at the Francophone Assoication’s cultural centre.

“They have kept their culture and language with pride and determination.”

Chirac also tried to emphasize other similarities between France and Nunavut.

“The challenge you must meet is how to reconcile tradition and modernity,” Chirac in his speech. “The leaders of Nunavut are working with the federal government to achieve this. This desire of Inuit of be recognized, to control their fate and to keep their culture, we, the French, can understand and support this.”

Chirac singled out John Amagoalik for special recognition. Amagoalik was dubbed a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, a prestigious honorary society similar to the Order of Canada.

“You have the desire to forge a strong relationship between the Inuit community and France,” Chirac said. “I am naturally delighted with this, and will give all my support to our closeness that will give a new dimension to the already strong relations between France and Canada relations.”

Amagoalik said that he was “very proud and very humble” to be honored.

The new chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur also added that it made sense that a leader from France, a former colonial nation, should make the first official state visit to Nunavut and acknowledge Inuit rights over the territory.

“When politics in Canada are discussed, I hope that the people of France will remember the original citizens of this country,” Amagoalik told some French journalists.