I knew that there were some perks to being a part of this great adventure (umm, hello? Going to the Arctic?) but there was no way to predict this one. One of the fantastic Students On Ice staff members is a gentleman by the name of Peter Adams. Peter has lots of credentials and experience behind him with regards to the Arctic, but today there was one credential that got us something that few others get to do. Y’see, Peter is a former Member of Parliament for the federal Peterborough riding in Ontario.
So what did that get us? Well, only on to the floor of the House of Commons. Thousands of people get to SEE the House chamber from behind barred windows as part of the regular tour, but we got to go IN to the chamber. Not only that, but a few of us sat down. In the MP’s chairs. Including the Prime Minister’s. That’s right, the big cheese himself – Stephen Harper. And I encouraged the students to do the same. Took some pictures of them too, including one that should be next to this entry. Meet (clockwise from bottom left) Lauren Sutherland, Travis Payne, Jack Krantz and sitting in the PMs chair himself, Taylor Verrall. Learn their names, they may very well be sitting in those chairs in a few years as actual Members of Parliament. (Well, except Jack – he’s American!) Taylor is especially politically active. At 15, he is already involved with the Green Party of Canada. And is one heck of a good debater and conversationalist.
Friday is the big day. We fly to Kuujjuaq (pronounced Koo-joo-ack) where we tour the community and board the boat on our Arctic adventure! Confucius once said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Tomorrow, we take that step…
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