Nobel nomination for Sheila

Sheila-Watt Cloutier, the former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, will share a nomination for the coveted Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, the former U.S. vice-president whose feature documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, brings the science of climate change to a mass audience.

”It was quite a surprise. I didn’t see it coming,” Watt-Cloutier said in an interview.

Watt-Cloutier and Gore were nominated by two Swedish members of parliament: Boerge Brende of the Conservative party and Heidi Soerensen of the Socialist Left Party.

The two Swedish politicians, who are normally political opponents, say in press reports that they nominated Watt-Cloutier for her grassroots work in drawing attention to the impact of global warming on the Arctic.

“It’s an honour to have been nominated for this work… It’s not just about the possible extinction of some of our wildlife, it’s about a people who are struggling to maintain our way of life, which is a hunting way of life,” Watt-Cloutier said.