Photo: ICC’s international chair at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples

Okalik Eegeesiak, the international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples held Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. More than 1,000 indigenous leaders from around the world representing more than 370 million indigenous people sat down with governments to discuss the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The government of Canada raised objections to paragraphs in the document that assert the principle that indigenous peoples must give free prior and informed consent to activities on their lands, raising the ire of the Assembly of First Nations, and others. (UN PHOTO)