INUVIK, NWT. – Canada’s notoriously reserved Prime Minister found himself at a community centre in Inuvik, Canada’s northernmost incorporated town, Wednesday evening, witnessing a celebration of songs, drums and dance during a stopover on his northern tour.
Inuvialuit performers ranging in age from under ten to over 80 performed traditional songs and dances before a crowd of two hundred or so. At the end, the host invited everyone to join them in a final celebratory dance.
The journalists accompanying Mr. Harper watched intently. Last November, on the set of a popular dance show in Mumbai, India, he had stood uncomfortably as performers swirled around him.
But this time Mr. Harper got out of his chair, donned calfskin and beaver-fur mittens and stomped his feet and waved his arms with the best of them--at least, the best of those who hadn’t a clue what they were doing.
The organizer of the evening “said: ‘come on out and we’ll have some entertainment for you,” the Prime Minister joked afterward. “She didn’t say I would be the entertainment.”
Next time, maybe they should provide a piano.
