Arctic Peoples

by Bobbie Jo Greenland

I attended the Coastal Zone Canada 2006 Youth Forum in [GP:Tuktoyaktuk], Northwest Territories, Canada, from August 11-14, 2006. This conference was about the impacts of climate change on coastal communities. Tuktoyaktuk was a good place to hold it. The community has spent millions of dollars in the past few years on putting rocks on the shoreline to try stop erosion. The warming climate is raising the sea level, and warming the permafrost that holds the shoreline together.

I would have liked to attend the entire conference, but I had another important meeting to attend in my home community. I went to Aklavik, a small community in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories, to attend the Gwich’in Tribal Council Annual General Assembly. The Gwich’in are indigenous people who live in small communities near the Arctic coast in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Yukon, and in Alaska. I am a Gwich’in, and I am a youth representative on Gwich’in Council International (GCI), so it is important for me to attend such meetings. It gives me the opportunity to speak with many people throughout the days and also share my thoughts and ideas with the people. I held an information table at the Assembly. I had information available about the Arctic Council and various working groups. I spoke with many people about GCI and established a list of names of those who would like to receive further information and perhaps become involved with GCI in the future. This was just a little effort to increase awareness among the Gwich’in people in the NWT as well as recruit interested people to get more involved with the GCI and Arctic Council .

On the second day of the Assembly, together with Kendra Sittichinli, another Gwich’in youth delegate, I gave people a quick example of one way we can all do our part in promoting a healthier environment. Kendra and I both attended the Youth Forum in Tuktoyaktuk just a few days earlier. We told people at the assembly that when we arrived in Tuktoyaktuk we received a set of reusable dishes; a plate, a bowl, a cup, and knife, fork and spoon. We used these dishes for the three-day forum, and washed them after each use. We did not use any type of disposable products, such as plastic, paper or Styrofoam dishes. At the end of the Youth Forum, the organizers told us that as a result of our efforts to use reusable dishes, we had only thrown out 2 bags of garbage.

The Youth Forum in Tuktoyaktuk had about as many delegates as the Gwich’in Tribal Council Assembly in Aklavik. We noticed how much garbage was being created at the Tribal Council Assembly as a result of the use of disposable paper, plastic and Styrofoam dishes. Our curiosity led us to ask the guys who were in charge of garbage disposal how many bags of garbage they had thrown out. We were shocked to hear that they had thrown out as much as 45 bags of garbage in a period of 2 days! So Kendra and I took the opportunity to provide this example to the Assembly, and we encouraged people to think about ways we can all do our part in reducing wastes and garbage. We suggested people start using their own cups and dishes and try to do away with the use of disposable products that are made with chemicals that harm the atmosphere, and that contribute to global warming effects. After we spoke, delegates passed a resolution saying that they will encourage the use of reusable dishes at the next assembly, and will eventually stop using disposable products altogether.The world is changing and so are we. The indigenous youth would like to see our people excel, but most importantly we want to see our lands and resources managed in a sustainable manner so that they are always there for the future generations. It is wrong for any generation to deprive future generations of their right to live in a healthy environment and enjoy the abundance of wildlife and resources. Our whole identity as indigenous people is based upon that idea, and we have a responsibility to set an example for the rest of the world to follow.