NAIN, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Labrador’s Inuit region today for a meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says Trudeau’s arrival in Nain is the first time a sitting prime minister has visited the region of Nunatsiavut.

Obed grew up in Nain, and he describes Trudeau’s trip as “momentous,” adding that he’s been inviting the prime minister to visit the region since 2015.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami represents Inuit in Canada, and Obed sat next to Trudeau at the head of the table, with federal cabinet ministers and Inuit leaders in the other seats.

Obed says they plan to discuss issues including housing, health and wellness and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Trudeau says “an awful lot of progress” has been made since the committee’s first meeting in 2017 but there is “so much more to do.”

The Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee meeting is closed to the media and to the public, but Trudeau is scheduled to attend a community feast in Nain later in the day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

The Canadian Press