ITK applauds ICC declaration

Mary Simon, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said she welcomes the release of the “Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Resource Development Principles in Inuit Nunaat,” signed May 11 in Nuuk by Inuit Circumpolar Council members.

“Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami very much supports this declaration, and I congratulate my fellow Inuit leaders for its development and today’s signing,” Simon said in a May 11 news release.

“The world is on notice that while Inuit look forward to new forms and levels of economic development, the use of resources in the Arctic must be conducted in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way, and must deliver direct and substantial benefits to Inuit.”

The ICC declaration sets the context for resource development in the modern Arctic, taking into account economic, social, and political development of Inuit in Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Russia, Simon said.