Arctic Peoples

by Clive Tesar

In early December, Indigenous Leaders from all across the Arctic came together to talk about issues affecting them all. This was the Arctic Leaders’ Summit, a special meeting that only happens every four years. The Leaders meet at other times, usually at the Arctic Council , but those meetings centre on the Arctic Council ’s agenda. At the Leaders’ Summit, the Indigenous Peoples are free to set their own agenda, to discuss the concerns that they have, and work out how to tackle those concerns.This year’s Summit took place at two different places and times. This was because a big gathering of people was taking place in Montreal, Canada, to talk about climate change. The Arctic Leaders were keen to make sure that the thousands of Delegates to this meeting understood the impacts of climate change in the Arctic. To help this happen, they wrote an Arctic Leaders Declaration on climate change.

At the end of the Montreal meeting, the Leaders Summit began again, thousands of kilometres to the north, in the Dene community of [GP:Katlodeeche] (near to the town of Hay River) in the Northwest Territories of Canada. This was hosted by the Arctic Athabaskan Council .

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