ICC declaration calls for better cooperation, coordination among Inuit orgs

Okalik Eegeesiak assumed the role of chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council July 24. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ITK)

The Inuit Circumpolar Council’s 12th general assembly closed July 24 in Inuvik with a declaration to promote better knowledge sharing between Inuit organizations and the rest of the world.

The quadrennial gathering of Inuit leaders from Canada, Greenland, Chukotka (Russia) and Alaska ended in the Northwest Territories community with the signing and adoption of the Kitigaaryuit Declaration — outlining 51 principles meant to guide the ICC’s activities over the next four years.

Among its points, the declaration urges Inuit regions to develop more community-based monitoring — on varied issues, from the local environment to food security — and to strengthen links with other Inuit organizations to share that knowledge.

The Kitigaaryuit Declaration also calls on the ICC leadership to plan and convene a circumpolar Inuit economic summit over the next four years to help encourage collaboration among Inuit businesses, as well as an Inuit-specific convention on wildlife management and planning.

The declaration also wants to:

• encourage ICC leadership to use the Arctic Council and other forums to further Inuit interests;

• promote the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People as a means to advance the human rights of Inuit;

• work to become better informed on security and transport safety in Arctic waters, ensuring the traditional knowledge on those areas is being shared;

• recognize Inuit hunters in their ongoing struggle to adapt to a changing Arctic environment;

• advocate for culturally-relevant mental wellness and substance abuse program;and

• and insist upon the use Inuit Qaujimanituqangit (traditional knowledge) in scientific reports and programs.

You can read the full declaration here.

Outgoing ICC chair Aqqaluk Lynge of Greenland signed off on the declaration, passing the torch to the organization’s new chair, Okalik Eegeesiak, the former president of the Qkiqtani Inuit Association.

“We know that the world is looking to our homeland to develop our renewable and non-renewable resources and Inuit must be at the table as discussions and decisions are being made about activities in our own backyard,” Eegeesiak said in a July 24 release.

“Inuit will still be in the Arctic when the last barrel of oil and the final piece of ore is extracted from our land.”

Eegeesiak assumes the role of chair alongside Duane Smith, returning president of ICC Canada, Jimmy Stotts, president of ICC Alaska, Tatiana Achirgina of ICC Chukotka and incoming president of ICC Greenland, Hjalmar Dahl.

Three new members were elected to the executive council to replace retiring members, including Herb Nakamayak (Canada), Martha Abelsen (Greenland) and Elena Kaminskaya (Russia.)

The next ICC General Assembly will be hosted in Barrow, Alaska in 2018.