ITK back-tracks on Simon’s criticism of Tories

The article published in the July 14, 2006 edition of Nunatsiaq News on my presentation to the 10th ICC General Assembly in Barrow, Alaska suffered from overheated adjectives.

Your interpretation of my presentation as “blasting Stephen Harper’s Conservative government” is an exaggeration, given that it was a balanced report on Canadian activities in Canada, with equal time given to positive accomplishments over the past four years, notably the completion of comprehensive land claims agreements. The report was reviewed by the ITK board, and Canadian delegation thoroughly before it was presented publicly.

I do hope that in the future you or others at Nunatsiaq News will be able to interview me in person, or by telephone, so that we have a mutual understanding of the message I am communicating.

For the benefit of Nunatsiaq News readers, the complete text of my presentation is on the ITK web site at www.itk.ca.

Mary Simon
President
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Editor’s note: Actually, “blast” is a verb, and sometimes a noun, but not an adjective. And it is to be hoped that ITK’s brains trust would have sent a copy of the above letter to CBC North, who on July 11 reported Simon as saying: “When it comes to dealing with aboriginal people, Canada’s new Conservative government is taking the country backwards…,” and “Simon… slammed Ottawa for its lack of action…”