Arctic Peoples

Canada has announced that it will host a high-level meeting to discuss the future of economic development and environmental protection in nations bordering the Arctic Ocean in Chelsea, Quebec on March 29, 2010.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Laurence Cannon described the upcoming gathering as a means to “provide an opportunity for Arctic Ocean coastal states to prepare for and encourage development that has positive benefits, including economical and environmental. It will reinforce ongoing collaboration in the region, including in the Arctic Council .

Minister Cannon has invited his counterparts from the five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean to the summit, but has received harsh criticism for excluding representatives from Arctic Indigenous organizations, particularly the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC).

AAC International Chair Bill Erasmus responded to Minister Cannon’s exclusion saying: “We don’t see how the minister can discuss ‘responsible development’ in the Arctic with his counterparts from the United States, Russia, Denmark/Greenland and Norway without representatives of northern Canada.”

Pointing out that AAC and five other Arctic Indigenous Peoples organizations are permanent participants to the eight nation Arctic Council Mr. Erasmus said “It makes no sense for us to be included in the Arctic Council but excluded in meetings of the five Arctic Ocean states”.

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When Inuit Circumpolar Council , in 2009, released its  “Inuit Circumpolar Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty”, it was not making a statement of secession of an Inuit Nation or something like that. On the contrary, it was critically examining the concept of national sovereignty from the perspective of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, pointing out how, within evolving governance models and federations, sovereignties overlap and get divided “in creative ways to recognize the rights of peoples.”

When using the word sovereignty in their declaration, the ICC was effectively referring to another declaration, the ”Ilulissat Declaration” adopted at the Arctic Ocean Conference, in May 2008 by the five coastal States bordering on the Arctic Ocean, USA, Canada, Russia, Norway, and Denmark/Greenland. Read the rest of this entry »

Discovering the Arctic is the name of a web learning facility developed and recently launched by the Royal Geographical Society. It is aimed at the secondary school level (14-16 year olds) in the United Kingdom. According to the Royal Geographical Society, it is intended to be a resource to be dipped into depending on specific curriculum needs and priorities.

The Discovering the Arctic website seems biased toward what, according to a widespread view, constitutes the quintessential Arctic, viz. the high North of Greenland and Canada, and thus gives preference to the Inuit whereas peoples and places of Arctic Russian Federation get comparatively less coverage.

While tending to over-expose the Inuit, at the same time the information rendered about Inuit is rather superficial and sometimes incorrect. For instance, the website makes no attempt to correct the common misunderstanding that Inuit is a noun in the singular that becomes Inuits in the plural, whereas Inuit is in fact plural of the singular Inuk. Read the rest of this entry »

James Stotts has been selected Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council . In a press release of 18 June ICC announced the immediately effective appointment of Mr. Stotts as its Chair. Mr. Stotts is an Alaskan Iñupiaq from Barrow with extensive experience in circumpolar and international matters. He replaces Ms. Patricia Cochran, who resigned as Chair after having lead ICC since 2006.

In a recently circulated message the Danish Chairmanship of the Arctic Council announced the appointment of Ms. Sheila Riordon as Canada’s new Senior Arctic Official effective 4 August. Ms. Riordon is Director General, Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. She replaces Ms. Adèle Dion, Canada’s SAO for the previous three years.

At a meeting on July 27, the Council of the European Union approved a ban on selling of sealskin products within its member states. The ban will come into force in 2010. Canada and Norway find that the ban violates the World Trade Organization’s guidelines, and intends to challenge it at the WTO. Greenland’s Premier Kuupik Kleist and other Inuit leaders like ICC vice-president Violet Ford have criticised the ban for being incompatible with international agreements and human rights, whereas Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, spoke of a cynical and unjustified decision:

The seal ban is an abomination because it directly attacks cultures, communities, and livelihoods that represent a basic means of living for many here in Canada, using groundless accusations influenced by animal rights propaganda campaigns. And today we are witnessing the EU’s willingness to ignore its own trade rules and relations to please certain myopic self-interests while trying to claim some moral high ground—it doesn’t add up.

The disagreement between sealskin producing countries, subsistence hunting peoples and an EU influenced by animal rights opinions has been building up for a while. Earlier this year, at the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in late April, the EU was denied status as Permanent Observer as the Arctic Council decided to continue discussing the role of its observers. EU reacted to this by sending only officials and no commissioners to the meeting in Tromsø, Norway. The Arctic Council decision also affected other applicants for permanent observer status - China, Italy and South Korea - and prevented them from becoming permanent observers.

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by Clive Tesar

Canadian Inuit are opposing vigorous lobbying efforts to get the polar bear listed as “threatened” under the American Endangered Species Act. The US government has been considering the action since 2006. Now three conservation groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace are threatening to sue the US government to get it to proceed with the listing. Canadian Inuit say the environmentalists are taking aim at the wrong target.

Two organizations that represent Inuit in Canada are disagreeing with the tactic of using the polar bear to try to force the American government to take action on climate change. Duane Smith, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) says,

“I don’t see how listing it as threatened will complement the sustainability of the population. It is climate change that is the problem, not the sustainable hunting of polar bears.”

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by Clive Tesar
In a speech outlining the priorities of the Canadian government, the Arctic topped the agenda. Promising “new attention” to the north, the government says it will bring forward an integrated northern strategy that includes giving northerners more control over their government.

As part of this strategy, the government plans to build a new Arctic research station. In a statement, Inuit Circumpolar Council -Canada president, Duane Smith, supported the research facility, and expressed the hope that it will address all of the Canadian Arctic, and that climate change adaptation studies will be a central focus of the facility.

The issue of Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic was also addressed in the speech. According to the speech, mapping of the Arctic sea bed will be completed, and the size and capabilities of the mainly indigenous Arctic Rangers military unit will be expanded.

“I am happy with the throne speech focus on sovereignty and improving the well being of Inuit,” says Smith, “but I remind the government that sovereignty cannot be divorced from battling climate change in the Arctic.”

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by Clive Tesar

The United Nations has overwhelmingly passed a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration, more than 20 years in the making, passed by a vote of 143 in favour, four against, and eleven abstaining.

Of the eight Arctic states, the United States and Canada voted against the declaration, while Russia abstained. Denmark and Finland were among a large group of countries that sponsored the Declaration.

The passing of the Declaration was called a “Day of Joy” for Indigenous Peoples by Aqqaluk Lynge, representing Inuit Circumpolar Council – Greenland. Lynge added, “Now it’s time to look at the future and see how we can protect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples and using this Declaration, for the further development of Indigenous Peoples and away from marginalization into being part of the development of the whole world.”

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by Clive Tesar

A young polar bear is now back on the Canadian Arctic coast after wandering 300 kilometres inland. The bears typically do not stray far from the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Duane Smith, President of Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada), suspects the bear wandered inland to search for food because the ice in the Arctic has receded so far offshore. The bears typically eat a diet high in marine life, especially seals. After being spotted near a community, the bear was lured into a cage by a muktuk (whale blubber) bait, and transported back to the coast.

by Clive Tesar

The disappearing caribou in the Northwest Territories (NWT) in Canada have people anxious – very anxious. Some herds have declined by thousands, some by hundreds of thousands over the past twenty years. Everywhere in the central Arctic, the trend seems to be the same – fewer caribou. This is not just a matter of concern for Indigenous Peoples in the region, It is a matter of real hardship, economic, cultural, social and spiritual. The lives of the Indigenous Peoples of the region have been bound up with caribou for thousands of years. Some believe that in every human heart is a little of the caribou heart, and in every caribou, a little of the human heart.

This is not the first time the caribou numbers have dropped. Indigenous knowledge and scientific evidence both suggest that caribou herds here hit a low about every thirty years. This is thought to be linked to the effect of climate and caribou populations on lichens, the plants that are the main winter food of the caribou. But things have changed in the Northwest Territories over the past thirty years. There are more people, and more roads. There is new technology being used to help hunters, including tracking of radio-collared caribou that has been posted on the Internet. There are new mines on the barrens, with more planned. Perhaps most importantly, the climate is changing, that changes snow conditions, forest fires, and plant growth.

In January 2007, the Government of the Northwest Territories brought together about 170 delegates in Inuvik, near the Arctic coast of the Northwest Territories, for a ‘Caribou Summit’, the first gathering of its kind.

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