PM Trudeau paddles N.S. lake for North American Indigenous Games

The Prime Minister paddled along with Mi'kmaw chiefs and athletes across Lake Banook in Dartmouth, N.S., Monday morning — as the North American Indigenous Games got underway.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paddled along with Mi'kmaw chiefs and athletes across Lake Banook Monday morning — as the North American Indigenous Games got underway.

After disembarking on the other side of the Dartmouth lake, Trudeau delivered brief remarks to event organizers, coaches, and athletes. The prime minister compared the skills needed to paddle to skills needed for life.

“It requires, first of all, for you to be in balance,” he said, “if you’re not centred in who you are, in where you are… your first step in a canoe may be your first step into a swim.”

He also reflected on the importance of the canoe to Indigenous people.

“Before there were roads and highways, the rivers and waterways of this continent were the roads and highways that Indigenous people used for millennia, to connect to each other…to trade, to prosper, to grow,” he added.

Trudeau also spoke about the importance of the event itself.

“It’s also a privilege to be able to see all these extraordinary young people, who are out there in canoe and kayaks, competing with each other, but also growing themselves, developing their capacity to have an impact on the world around them as they travel through it," he said.