Mr. Speaker, the Labrador Metis Nation Corporation recently held their annual general meeting and a resolution was unanimously passed to change the name from Labrador Metis Nation to Nunatukavut, meaning our ancient land. Mary Adams, the elder of the Inuit Society can be attributed with this instrumental change. President Chris Montague stated that their research confirmed that they are an historic and continuous Inuit community; therefore the decision was made to move forward to more clearly illustrate their identity as a people – Inuit descendants in the land of their ancestors.

Mr. Speaker, since its formation as a society in 1981, the Labrador Metis Nation has grown to become the largest Aboriginal group in Labrador. It is an affiliate of the national body, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. Labrador’s Inuit-Metis population today number more than 6,000 descendents of the residents of Inuit and Europeans who travelled to Labrador in the 1700 and 1800s.

Mr. Speaker, the Inuit Metis are a nation whose people continue to rely upon the resources of the land, the water and the sea. Their ties to the land and its resources form the core of the Inuit Metis existence, and I ask all members in the hon. House today to join with me in congratulating the Nunatukavut people on this significant occasion.