Photo: ICC Alaska head celebrates Inuit Day in Ottawa

Jimmy Stotts, the chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska, speaks Nov. 7 at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa at an event held on the birthday of ICC founder Eben Hopson of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, to mark International Inuit Day and the 40th anniversary of ICC’s creation in 1977. The celebration also marked the 30th anniversary of Inuit Tungasuvvingat. Stotts, who comes from Barrow, paid homage to Hopson: “I knew him as a young man. I learned a lot from that guy. I recall when the first meeting was held in Barrow in 1977 at the old school gym, sitting there and thinking I really want to get involved in this organization if it ever takes off. And it did. Eben was the leader. He was the one that called the people together.” Read more later on Nunatsiaqonline.ca. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)