Same-sex marriage 'alien to us,' Inuit (Eskimos) tell (Canadian House of) Commons committee

The National Post ^ | May 1, 2003 | Janice Tibbetts

[Loyalist]

The Inuit are warning the federal government that allowing gays and lesbians to marry would conflict with a traditional way of life that is based on survival and procreation.

In the Baffin Island community of Iqaluit, population 6,000, Inuit leaders gathered in a local hotel yesterday to make presentations to the House of Commons justice committee as it wrapped up cross-country hearings with a rare trip to the north.

Speaking through an interpreter in her native language of Inuktitut, Kanayuk Salomonie said homosexuality is very much in the closet around the Nunavut capital, and that's where it should stay.

"We do not agree with same-sex marriage," Ms. Salomonie, the spokeswoman for the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, said later in an interview. "This is not part of our custom, it is alien to us. As children, we knew that only men and woman can make children together." Ms. Salomonie, a mother of two teens, says she has never seen a gay person, at least to her knowledge.

She predicted the Inuit will eventually have same-sex marriage forced upon them, just as they have had to accept other aspects of white culture.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, faced with an Ontario court ruling ordering the federal government to legalize same-sex marriage by July, 2004, has asked the all-party justice committee to gauge the mood of Canadians.

James Arreak, a pentecostal church minister in Iqaluit, said he was testifying on behalf of Inuit elders who oppose a "gay tidal wave."

The Inuit, explained Mr. Arreak, strongly oppose same-sex marriage because it violates survival through procreation.

"Inuit values prioritize survival and family life," Mr. Arreak said in an interview.

"Inuit values would say that gay people cannot create life, that they cannot produce a child."

The Justice Department has advanced the same argument, which the gay-rights community has dismissed as discriminatory, particularly since many gay couples have children.

Mr. Arreak said he appeared before the committee because "many Inuit feel morally obligated to oppose the radical agenda of the gay-rights movement."

Mr. Cauchon, whose department is appealing the Ontario court decision, is considering several options:

- Abide by the ruling;

- Get out of the marriage business and leave it to the church;

- Set up civil registries that would legally recognize gay and lesbian unions and the rights and responsibilities that go with them. These registries already exist for gays and lesbians in some provinces, but they are still barred from marriage, which is federal domain.

Another Iqaluit minister told the committee yesterday he would refuse to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies. "I wouldn't want the government to force me to marry someone if I didn't feel comfortable with it," said James Wayne Moore, a pentecostal minister.

© Copyright 2003 National Post

[Loyalist]

I can just see the politically correct crowd wringing their hands in despair.

On the one hand, they're so quick to praise the Eskimos and Indians as being somehow being more spiritual, peaceful, and ecologically sensitive than Western man.

On the other hand, they can be so bloody backward and stupid on gender and sexuality issues. </ sarcasm>

[anniegetyourgun]

Perversion trumps family everytime among libs - even the family of 'the poor dark-skinned people' they profess to care about. Their need to patronize the Inuit will fly out the window faster than their need to promote sin.

[AgThorn]

- Get out of the marriage business and leave it to the church;

Amen! And let's get the US Congress and State Gov't to do likewise!!

[CWOJackson]

Interesting. The Innuit are probably the closest thing on earth to "libertarians" yet even they believe certain limits should not be exceeded.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

These registries already exist for gays and lesbians in some provinces, but they are still barred from marriage, which is federal domain.

Hmmm. More double talk by the media. Gays and lesbians can marry today. They just have to find someone of the opposite sex who's eligible and willing.

Interesting. The Inuit are probably the closest thing on earth to "libertarians" yet even they believe certain limits should not be exceeded.

I didn't know there were any conservative or libertarian aborigines. I'm glad, though. I sometimes think of these minority groups as the DemonRAT's pets.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Simple, straightforward logic from simple, straightforward people.

[LizardQueen]

The Inuit, explained Mr. Arreak, strongly oppose same-sex marriage because it violates survival through procreation

I understand their point, but how do they feel about 2 older people or infertile people getting married? This point of inconsistency has always niggled at me when the "marriage = procreation" argument is used.

Personally, I think the .gov should get the heck out of the marriage business, like AgThorn does, but that won't happen any time soon.

LQ

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[CounterCounterCulture]

On the one hand, they're so quick to praise the Eskimos and Indians as being somehow being more spiritual, peaceful, and ecologically sensitive than Western man.

On the other hand, they can be so bloody backward and stupid on gender and sexuality issues. </ sarcasm>

Exactly. Whitey liberal will exploit their plight when it suits their purpose, but easily criticize their attitudes on homosexuality, hunting, whaling, etc. The Inuits aren't too keen on Greenpeace and their ilk.

I've spent some time up in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories. The Canadien guv'mint provides their housing for a small fee, and because of that, unemployment is sky high. They just have to meet that $32 a month and they're set.

[nickcarraway]

ping