Statement on International Day of Human Fraternity
Philippe Duhamel
February 4, 2023
Statement on International Day of Human Fraternity
Iqaluit, Nunavut — This February 4th, proclaimed International Day of Human Fraternity by the United Nations, my husband Jean-Daniel Lafond and I are expected in Iqaluit, in the Arctic, at the invitation of the Nunavut Black History Society.
Did you know that, for the past 10 years, Black History Month has been celebrated within the beating heart of the Inuit world?
With an exciting program over several days, to which we are eager to contribute, we are invited to give special meaning to our shared human condition, with the desire to meet and enter dialogue, and above all to act in solidarity and move forward together.
Each time we return to Nunavut—one of the four regions of the vast and splendid Inuit Nunangat territory, as it is named by its inhabitants and which we have had the immense good fortune to travel—is a moment of great emotion.
Inuit communities are most welcoming, always eager to convey the meaning of their age-old presence on these grounds, their realities, the daunting challenges they aim to overcome, their aspirations and their demands also that their ancestral rights be recognized and truly respected, with full reciprocity, and to share their own perspectives on development.
The term Inuit Nunangat includes the land, water and ice of this vast expanse of which, better than anyone, the Inuit perceive the lights and horizons, its delicate equilibrium, its riches and perils. This territory has always been an integral part of Inuit culture and way of life.
Among those who came from elsewhere to live here, we find a Black community that appreciates it and contributes to it, working very hard and every day to further the Inuit dream. This bond of trust is essential.
It is just such a deep encounter that we will celebrate, in a spirit of genuine human fraternity. Because Black communities, like Inuit communities call for recognition, justice, fairness, equality. Black communities, like Inuit communities have always been clamouring for recognition, justice, fairness, equality.
Just as we say that the development of this country must fully account for our involvement, our existence, our past contributions, and all of our current achievements.
We Blacks and Inuit are engaged in the same struggle against systemic exclusion, discrimination, and poverty.
Such is also the vision that the Fondation Michaëlle Jean Foundation promotes through all its actions and initiatives: to break down solitudes, to create connections, to build bridges and create synergies on a human scale, to help prevent also the devastating impacts of exclusion that afflict millions of young people from the most systematically and historically marginalized communities in Canada.
On International Day of Human Fraternity, let us mobilize broadly with our youth, our elders, everyone. Let’s get together. Because together, we are stronger.
— Michaëlle Jean