Canada’s Prime Minister to tour Far North this week

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pictured in Nunavik, the Inuit self-governeing region of northern Quebec, on August 23, 2013. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pictured in Nunavik, the Inuit self-governeing region of northern Quebec, on August 23, 2013. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the itinerary of his annual northern tour on Tuesday.

Harper will visit Canada’s northwestern Yukon territory, the Northwest Territories and the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut from August 21 -26.

“Our Government is working to support Northerners as they take control of their destinies, by providing tools, training, technology and infrastructure,” Harper said in a news release on Tuesday. “Northerners today are better equipped to seize tremendous local opportunities, and to develop northern solutions for northern challenges.”

Harper will visit five communities during the tour: Whitehorse, Yukon; Fort Smith, Northwest Territories; Cambridge Bay, Pond Inlet and Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Other politicians joining him on the trip include: James Moore, Minister of Industry; Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development; Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council; Rob Nicholson, Minister of National Defence, Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), Dennis Patterson, Senator for Nunavut, Daniel Lang, Senator for Yukon, and Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon.

Related stories from around the North:

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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