Arctic Peoples

by Paul Kaludjak
What should the Canadian federal government do in the face of the continued American rejection of Canada’s assertion of sovereignty over the Northwest Passage? Inuit occupy and travel throughout the area that Washington claims to be international waters. We will be most affected if the passage is opened to shipping as a result of climate change.

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An Arctic Council Assessment of shipping in Arctic Waters is taking note of the historic use of those waters by Indigenous Peoples. There had been some concern among Indigenous Peoples, particularly those who traditionally use the sea forSaami Council )" alt="Gunn-Britt Retter (Sámeráđđi/ Saami Council )" src="http://www.arcticpeoples.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/gunnbritt_update.jpg" align="right" /> travelling, fishing and hunting, that the assessment would only concentrate on modern use of Arctic waters. Arctic indigenous peoples’ organizations, including the Saami Council and the Inuit Circumpolar Council , have been working hard to ensure that the assessment looks further back in history. Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of the Arctic and Environmental Unit with the Saami Council , says that looking at the historic indigenous use of Arctic waters is important for Saami.

“The Saami have been using the fjords on the Barents Sea for fishing and for subsistence for millennia. In the last twenty years Norwegian commercialisation of the fisheries have put pressure on the traditional fisheries, it has been pressured by commercialisation. That has implications for indigenous rights, the rights of Saami on the coast.”

The organization conducting the Assessment is a working group of the Arctic Council called PAME (Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment).

It intends to not only include indigenous use in its assessment, but also intends to hold “town hall’ meetings in different parts of the Arctic to get information and opinions from Arctic Indigenous Peoples who live on the coast.