An Inuit hunter looks out over the horizon at sunrise on Frobisher Bay near Tonglait, Nunavut, in February of 2003.KEVIN FRAYER
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty smirked a bit when he announced that he would be taking his G7 counterparts to a meeting in Iqaluit in February.
It's a meeting they will remember, said Mr. Flaherty. Sure it's cold, he said, but it's also beautiful.
Well, apparently it's the temperatures and not the vistas that are on the minds of the distinguished foreign invitees.
In its Sunday edition, the Times of London said British Finance Minister Alistair Darling will deliver a cautious message to global leaders at the G7 :
"...in one of the most hostile environments on earth, Baffin Island, a remote Canadian territory inside the Arctic circle where the average annual temperature is -8.5C. The sun sets on November 22 and does not rise again until January 19. For much of the year, the sparse population - just 11,000 - exists in an icy twilight zone, with only seals and whales to talk to. Goody bags for the international dignitaries are expected to include high-tech clothing to prevent frostbite.
"I think we are all getting given some sort of special coat," says Mr. Darling, flatly. "Not sure we will be able to go out at night because of the polar bears."
And here is what The Wall Street Journal said on its front page under the headline "Seal Heart, Anyone? Canada Preps Arctic Outpost to Host G-7 Event" on Wednesday:
With a dearth of limousines in Iqaluit, ministers will use the 15 rental cars available from the town's single car-rental agency. After those are full, school buses will ferry around attendees further down the diplomatic food chain.
Because there are no roads leading to Iqaluit-it was little more than an airstrip for decades-all attendees, equipment and vehicles will have to fly or be flown in. Boats can approach only when seas thaw in the summer and early fall.
Security handlers have been prepping locals for the onslaught of international dignitaries. If a resident is armed and driving a snowmobile, he shouldn't approach entourages "in an aggressive manner," advises Sgt. Jimmy Akavak, spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, noting that many locals regularly head out of town to hunt seals and caribou.
"It's not all the time you see people on a Ski-Doo with a rifle on their back," Sgt. Akavak says. "Here, that's a normal thing."
(File photo: Kevin Frayer/The Canadian Press)