ITK likes Inuksuk monument

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is happy about an Inuksuk that Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan built to honour four comrades who died on April 18 after a U.S. F-16 fighter pilot mistakenly dropped a bomb on them.

“We note in news reports that the soldiers view it as a truly Canadian symbol. To us that’s a very moving thing to hear. When the Inuit of Canada recently submitted illustrations for a new logo for our national Inuit organization, many of the designs included the maple leaf as a national symbol. So if a national symbol for the soldiers is an Inuksuk, and a national symbol for Inuit is a maple leaf, I think we’re on the same wavelength,” ITK President Jose Kusugak said in a news release issued last week.

Kusugak, who called it an “honourable gesture,” said it’s a sign that Inuit share basic values with other Canadians.

“It’s heartwarming to think that a stone Inuksuk will be a monument to soldiers in Afghanistan, and symbolically perhaps, mark a different path representing values we all hold dear, such as freedom, peace, democracy, and justice,” Kusugak said.