Canadian finance minister damages 'welcome' igloo

No blockhead - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty laughed off the incident

A Canadian minister was lucky not to get a frosty reception after he wrecked part of an igloo built by Inuit to welcome officials to a G7 summit.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was felled when the block of packed snow, weighing up to 20lb (9kg), crashed down as he crawled out of the shelter.

The archway slab on the igloo, in the northern town of Iqaluit, collapsed as it got snagged on the hood of his coat.

The sealskin-clad builders of the snow house said they would quickly fix it.

'Deconstructing'

"I'm deconstructing here," an unscathed Mr Flaherty said, keeping his cool as he emerged from the igloo, which had been erected just hours earlier.

The structure was set up on the sidelines of the weekend meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations to welcome delegates.

"I don't have anything against these G7 people or anything. We want to welcome them," one of the igloo's builders, Pitseolak Alainga, told Reuters news agency.