Circumpolar Arctic business forum must build better communities, says Mary Simon

Historian John English, left, talks Arctic governance with Mary Simon at the University of Toronto Oct. 17. The pair discussed English’s new book Ice and Water, which covers the history and the evolution of the Arctic Council, in which Simon has been a central character. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

TORONTO — As the Arctic Council moves to create a circumpolar business forum, its role must focus on building more viable Inuit communities, Mary Simon, a former president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Canada’s first ambassador for circumpolar affairs, said Oct. 17 at a book-signing event in Toronto.

Simon appeared at a talk on Arctic governance at the University of Toronto alongside historian and author John English, who just released a book on the history of the Arctic Council called Ice and Water: Politics, People and the Arctic Council.

“If the status quo continues as it is, a development forum isn’t going to do much for the people,” Simon said Oct. 17. “We’re trying to survive — we’re not trying to get rich.”

Although its mandate is undefined, a circumpolar business forum could help nurture economic development by establishing guidelines on how to manage that development sustainably and making recommendations on how it should involve Inuit communities.

But as the world eyes the oil and mineral-rich Arctic region, sustainability isn’t just about resource extraction, she said.

“We’re talking about protecting the climate, but there are also the people,” Simon said. “How is this international forum going to connect to how our people get their education, their training and get the jobs that are going to be created out of those developments?”

Simon, who was a lead negotiator in the creation of the Arctic Council in the 1990s, is a central character in English’s book, also due to her roles at the helm of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and other Inuit organizations.

Through her different roles with the ICC throughout the 1980s and 90s, Simon recalled strong cooperation between the four Inuit national groups.

“But we always had to go back and talk through things with our respective governments,” Simon said.

“We felt that a council that embraced the eight Arctic nations and its indigenous nations would be the best way forward.”

The Arctic Council was formed in 1996 as an intergovernmental forum to coordinate the activities of Arctic states and indigenous communities on sustainable development and environmental protection.

Simon called its creation “an exercise of great patience.”

But, while the Arctic Council has provided its indigenous participants with a voice, she said Inuit are still far from being able to respond to the rapid changes they’ve experienced in their communities.

“We thought [the issues] were complex then, but they’ve gotten much more complex,” Simon said.

“When you look at the changes taking place in the Arctic — which are enormous — we don’t have capacity for our peoples to make changes to their livelihood that are necessary for them to survive.”

To that end, education is very relevant, Simon pointed out, because half the population of Canadian Inuit is under 25 years of age.

And too many Inuit have been ushered into the menial jobs that development brings, she said, rather than being offered meaningful education to develop their skills.

One of the areas where the Arctic Council has done poorly is to help its indigenous permanent participants, like ICC, become an “integral part” of the council, Simon said.

These indigenous permanent participants often don’t get funding and that means their perspective on sustainable development isn’t always heard, she said.

As for the move to establish an Arctic business forum, that, if anything, must be followed closely, John English said.

“If it’s done right, it’s a good idea,” said English. “Because we’ve seen what happened with development that doesn’t take into consideration the people who live there.”

English’s Ice and Water documents the birth of Arctic Council and its evolution as the Arctic’s prominence in international politics has grown.

And the council’s profile will only continue to grow, English said. Canada’s challenge now: to ensure its presence remains strong around the table — particularly the voices of its indigenous representatives.

This year, China, India, Japan, Singapore, Italy and South Korea became observers on the council, adding to six other nations with observer status.

“It’s going to be very tough to have that voice,” English said. “[But] if you don’t have them involved on the council as observers, they’ll find another game in time. I think it’s better to have them inside the room than have them in parallel meetings elsewhere.”