Maatalii Aneraq Okalik, president of the National Inuit Youth Council with the honorable Catherine Mary McKenna PC MP, Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change
"Qujannamiik ammalu unnukkut. Maatalii Aneraq Okaliujunga.
Warm thanks and good evening. My name is Maatalii Aneraq Okalik, and I am the president of the National Inuit Youth Council within Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and I am honored to participate at COP, on the Canadian delegation.
Your Excellencies, I commend the work of the parties on the collective effort towards climate action through the Paris Agreement.
Inuit youth in Canada are committed to continuing to exercise our Indigenous right to our culture, language, and way of life as entrenched in the Constitution and international declarations like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
With your continued leadership that will define our future on climate action, I am hopeful that it is done in cooperation with Indigenous peoples, in platforms, and with respect to our rights, which ultimately support Indigenous self-determination.
Let’s do this together: our collective future depends on it.
Qujannamiik ammalu aakuluuvusi. Thank you."
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