Three Canadian Inuit vie to lead ICC-Canada

When Inuit from Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland gather next month in Utqiaġvik, Alaska for the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s annual general meeting, they will select a new president for the international organization. (PHOTO/ WIKIPEDIA COMMONS)

When delegates to the Inuit Circumpolar Council head to the annual general assembly in Utqiaġvik, Alaska next month and vote for a new executive, they will have a choice of three Canadians who want lead the Canadian arm of the organization that represents Inuit internationally until 2022.

The call for nominations for the positions of ICC (Canada) President and Vice President International Affairs closed on June 13, with the three below having been nominated for the position of ICC- Canada President for the term 2018-2022:

• Okalik Eeegeesiak (Nunavut)

• Monica Ell-Kanayuk (Nunavut)

• Herb Nakimayak (Inuvialuit Settlement Region)

The two nominated for the position of ICC-Canada Vice President International Affairs/Council member for 2018-2022 are:

• Lisa Koperqualuk (Nunavik)

• Sheila Pokiak Lumdsen (Inuvialuit Settlement Region)

The election for these two positions will take place at the ICC Canada AGM on July 15.

At the last ICC assembly held in Inuvik in 2014, Inuit from Russia,Alaska, Canada and Greenland agreed to the Kitigaaryuit Declaration which called for three ICC-organized summits to address pressing needs in Inuit regions: on education, wildlife management and economic development.

In Utqiaġvik, Alaska assume the presidency of ICC, which Canada has held since 2014, until 2022.

“This General Assembly will see 66 delegates take stock of where Inuit are and discuss the Arctic we want. We will discuss policies and strategies that will guide the work of ICC for the upcoming 2018-2022 term, under the Alaskan Chairmanship,” says ICC-Alaska’s new AGM website.

In 2017, ICC, which sits as a permanent Indigenous participant on the Arctic Council, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first ICC meeting, held in Utqiaġvik, then known as Barrow, in 1977.