Queen Elizabeth II received a warm reception in chilly Canada this weekend as she launched a visit that so far has taken her from the ice of the Arctic to the ice of a Vancouver hockey rink. The Queen, who will spend ten days in the North American country as the final stop on her Golden Jubilee tour, wasn’t just in the sports venue to take in a game.
The city literally rolled out the red carpet – across the ice, that is – and the Queen strolled to centre circle, dropping the puck to launch Sunday’s match between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks. Wild cheers from the stands and a rendition of God Save The Queen followed, as the monarch left the rink to take her seat in the royal box alongside British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.
The cold air of the hockey venue, however, was probably nothing compared to the sub-zero temperatures the Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh weathered in the Arctic on Saturday. Dressed in a beige mink-trimmed coat and matching hat, the Canadian head of state toured Iqaluit, the capital of new territory Nunavut. The region is ten times the size of the UK and has a population of 30,000, 30 per cent of whom are native people, the Inuit.
In a visit that gave the final endorsement to the new territory, the Queen spoke to tribal members and congratulated inhabitants on achieving regional self-government. Speaking from a sealskin throne, she delivered her speech in English and French, and closed with the phrase “Nakurmiit ammalu quviasugitsi”, which means: “Thank you and be happy.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Vancouver literally rolled out the red carpet for the Queen, covering the icy surface of a hockey rink so she could ceremoniously drop the game's first puck
Photo: © AFP
Photo: © Alphapress.com
The Queen gives a speech while seated on a sealskin-covered throne in the Iqaluit legislative assembly building
Photo: © PA
