ICC delegates prepare for election of new president

DWANE WILKIN

MONTREAL — Global warming, human rights and the state of Arctic languages will figure among the many topics for discussion when up to 700 Inuit from four countries meet in Kuujjuaq this month for the ninth general assembly of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC).

The week-long summit, which starts Aug. 12, is being touted as the “largest and most important international event in the Inuit world” and the host community is bracing for a deluge of visitors.

“Everybody’s preparing for this,” said Sandy Tooma, a conference coordinator based in Kuujjuaq, home to slightly more than 2,000 permanent residents. “There’s people going out of town, doing a lot of fishing and stocking up their freezers. Even local retailers are stocking up with food.”

Conference delegates from the United States, Canada, Greenland and Russia are meeting in Kuujjuaq to debate and review a wide range of policies and positions that guide the work of the non-governmental organization.

Aqqaluk Lynge, the current ICC president, said the main objective of the general assembly is to reach consensus on the precise wording of the so-called Kuujjuaq Declaration, which lays out the mandate of the ICC for the next four years.

“In that, we want to proceed with some of the key issues that we have dealt with, including language development, cooperation, communications and trade issues,” Lynge said in a telephone interview from Copenhagen, Denmark.

An international elders conference will be held simultaneously throughout the week, and a full slate of cultural exhibits and entertainment has been worked into the busy schedule.

Founded in 1977 to promote the unity of Inuit across the Arctic, the ICC is said to represent about 150,000 people. The organization enjoys consultative status with the United Nations and has used this position over the last four years to press the UN to formally acknowledge indigenous peoples’ rights worldwide.

Among other things, delegates at the Kuujjuaq summit are expected to pass a motion calling on the UN to adopt its current Draft Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

But, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who was president of ICC until recently, hinted that even more work needs to be done at home.

“One of the very big issues for us is going to be to put the human face on the map, the Inuit face, because we’re not even on the radar screen oftentimes within our own country,” Watt-Cloutier said.

During one session, Lynge and Watt-Cloutier will join Mary May Simon, Canada’s ambassador for circumpolar affairs, and Ross Schaeffer of the Alaska-Inuvialuit Whale Committee to explore the many challenges of sustainable development in the Arctic.

Environmental questions are expected to dominate the talks. “The climate change issues, I think, are going to be monumental,” said Watt-Cloutier. “You can’t have sustainability if things are changing so rapidly for us in terms of the climate and the environment and rules are changing for hunters and our elders on the land.”

Delegates are also expected to assess the work of the Arctic Council and discuss whether the six-year-old international political forum benefits Inuit.

“Of course it’s still relevant,” Lynge said. “But the question is how we proceed in the future. The Arctic Council should not develop into a kind of scientists’ club, where the role of indigenous peoples are not visible.”

Although the world Inuit body meets regularly with the Arctic Council — the governments of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States are members — the ICC has no decision-making power.

Lynge said Inuit views must have greater influence within the Arctic Council so that these countries do more to mitigate environmental problems such as global warming and pollution.

Delegates to the Kuujjuaq summit will hear the recommendations of three special ICC commissions. The Inuit Language Commission, headed by Carl (Puju) Olsen, has promoted the idea of a common Inuktitut writing system in the past.

The Inuit Commu-nications Commission, headed by Kuupik Kleist, previously warned of an “increasing dependence on north-south flow of information,” and is now floating the idea of creating a pan-Arctic television network.

The ICC Task Force on Arctic Trade, established primarily to study trade barriers among circumpolar communities separated by international boundaries, will also report to delegates. In a session devoted to trade and development, discussions are likely to focus on controversial U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Canadian Inuit, in particular, oppose the legislation, which effectively prevents the sale of sealskin and other marine-mammal products in U.S. markets while making certain exceptions for Alaskan Inuit.

A review of land-claims and self-government negotiations in various circumpolar regions is also planned, as are discussions centred around the risks associated with economic development in the complex Arctic ecosystem.

Over the past 30 years, Inuit from Canada, Greenland and Alaska gained significant influence over political decisions affecting their lives, while the plight of Russian Inuit worsened. Without land-claims agreements, for instance, Inuit in Russia face greater hazards from oil and gas development than other circumpolar peoples.

One of the questions delegates will have to ponder in Kuujjuaq is whether sufficient conditions exist yet in Russia’s Chukotka region to warrant creating institutions of self-government; and if not, how can Inuit rights there best be protected?

Last year the ICC signed a cooperation agreement with the Chukotka governor which aims, among other things, to improve Inuit access to traditional food sources.

“I’m sure the good relations between the government of Chukotka and ICC will continue,” Lynge said.

Lynge, a Greenlander, will step down as leader of the ICC this month to make way for a Canadian successor. The new president will be elected during the assembly in Kuujjuaq.

“I’m very proud that I have been the president of ICC for almost six years,” Lynge said, “and I’m also proud that this organization is going to be taken over by good and competent people.”

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a strong contender for Lynge’s old job.

Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik is scheduled to attend opening ceremonies on Aug. 11, along with Alaskan senator Donald Oslon, Greenland’s parliamentary speaker Daniel Skifte, Ole Henrik Magga, chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous People, and political representatives from Siberia, Quebec City and Ottawa.

The ICC summit coincides with Kuujjuaq’s popular annual music festival Aqpik Jam, which normally draws 300 tourists, so local resources are bound to be stretched to their limit. But not to the breaking point.

Lodging for conference delegates and other visitors has been secured at local hotels, private homes, social housing units — even in construction camps.

The Kativik Regional Police Force, meanwhile, plans to beef up security in town.