The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) ( kl, Inuit Issittormiut Siunnersuisooqatigiiffiat), formerly Inuit Circumpolar Conference, is a multinational
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
(NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization (IPO) representing the 180,000
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
,
Yupik Yupik may refer to:
* Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East
* Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages
Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to:
* Yup'ik people
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...
, and
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee ( ckt, Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэт, О'равэтԓьэт, ''Ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, O'ravètḷʹèt''), are a Siberian indigenous people native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Berin ...
s (sometimes referred to as
Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
) people living in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
(United States), Canada,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
(
Kingdom of Denmark
The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...
), and
Chukotka (Russia). ICC was ECOSOC-accredited and was granted special consultative status (category II) at the UN in 1983.
The Conference, which first met in June 1977 in
Barrow, Alaska (now Utqiaġvik), initially represented Native Peoples from Canada, Alaska and Greenland. In 1980 the charter and by-laws of ICC were adopted. The Conference agreed to replace the term Eskimo with the term Inuit. This has not however met with widespread acceptance by some groups, most pre-eminently the
Yupik Yupik may refer to:
* Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East
* Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages
Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to:
* Yup'ik people
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...
(see Background section below). The goals of the Conference are to strengthen ties between Arctic people and to promote human, cultural, political and environmental rights and polities at the international level.
ICC holds a General Assembly every four years. ICC is one of the six Arctic indigenous communities to have the status of Permanent Participant on the
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, ...
.
Background
The Inuit population includes the following groups and regions:
*Canada:
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, the
Inuvialuit
The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska
Alask ...
(
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
),
Nunavik
Nunavik (; ; iu, ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the I ...
(Northern
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
), and
Nunatsiavut
Nunatsiavut (; iu, italics=no, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᑦ) is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebe ...
(
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
)
*United States (
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
): the
Iñupiat
The Iñupiat (or Inupiat, Iñupiaq or Inupiaq;) are a group of Alaska Natives, whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current ...
and
Yupik Yupik may refer to:
* Yupik peoples, a group of indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Russian Far East
* Yupik languages, a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages
Yupꞌik (with the apostrophe) may refer to:
* Yup'ik people
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg ...
*Greenland: the
Kalaallit
Kalaallit make up the largest group of the Greenlandic Inuit and are concentrated in Kitaa. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the indigenous people living in Greenland (Greenlandic ''Kalaallit Nunaat'').Hessel, 8 Th ...
,
Inughuit
The Inughuit (also spelled Inuhuit), or the Smith Sound Inuit, historically Arctic Highlanders, are Greenlandic Inuit. Formerly known as "Polar Eskimos", they are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in North America, livin ...
and
Tunumiit
Tunumiit or Iivit are Greenlandic Inuit from Tunu or Kangia, the eastern part of Greenland. The Tunumiit live now mainly in Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit and are a part of the Arctic people known collectively as the Inuit. The singular for Tunumi ...
*Russia (
Chukchi Peninsula
The Chukchi Peninsula (also Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula; russian: Чуко́тский полуо́стров, ''Chukotskiy poluostrov'', short form russian: Чуко́тка, ''Chukotka''), at about 66° N 172° W, is the eastern ...
): the
Siberian Yupik
Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
and
Chukchi
All of these peoples are sometimes collectively referred to by the
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
Eskimo, the use of which is frowned upon by many of the Inuit, especially in eastern Canada. ICC uses the term ''Inuit'' to refer to them all, which has its own problems. One of those is administrative: an Inuk in the United States could be considered "
Native American," "
Alaskan Native
Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...
" or "
Aboriginal American." The Yupik of both Alaska and Russia generally prefer being called Yupik. Inuit is currently used in Alaska but it is not a word in the
Yupik languages
The Yupik languages () are a family of languages spoken by the Yupik peoples of western and south-central Alaska and Chukotka. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that they are not mutually intelligible, although speakers of one ...
, nor a word which they traditionally used to describe themselves. Eskimo, which was formerly used in Alaska is generally dying out.
Structure and functions
The main goals of the organization are to strengthen unity among Inuit, to promote their
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
(
Indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
and
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
) and interests, and to ensure the development of
Inuit culture
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat (northern Alaska), and Yupik (Siberia and ...
.
Structurally, the organization is made up of four separate offices in each of the four Inuit nations, chartered individually under their national rules. The Presidents of ICC Chukotka, ICC Alaska, ICC Canada, and ICC Greenland, along with one Executive Council Member elected from each of the nations, make up the eight-member ICC Executive Council. The Executive Council is presided over by an International Chair (formerly International President—the title was changed in 2002).
ICC holds a General Assembly every four years, bringing together Inuit from across the northern circumpolar region to discuss issues of international importance to their communities, provide direction for the work of the organization over the next four years, and divide responsibility for issue areas between the national offices. Assembly delegates appoint an international chair from the General Assembly host-country, along with the members of the Executive Council, and develop
policies and
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
s for the coming term.
The General Assembly, and thus the International Chair position, rotates between the four Inuit nations quadrennially at the General Assemblies. At the 2002 General Assembly in
Kuujjuaq
Kuujjuaq (; iu, ᑰᑦᔪᐊᖅ, i=no or iu, ᑰᔾᔪᐊᖅ, i=no, label=none, "Great River"), formerly known as and by other names, is a former Hudson's Bay Company outpost at the mouth of the Koksoak River on Ungava Bay that has become t ...
, Nunavik, Canada, the Chair passed from Greenland, where it had been held for the previous seven years by
Aqqaluk Lynge
Aqqaluk Lynge (born in 1947 in Aasiaat, Greenland) was the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference) from 1995 to 2002. He is a former member of the Inatsisartut and one of the founders of the Greenlandi ...
, now a member of the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
, to Canada, where
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Sheila Watt-Cloutier (born 2 December 1953) is a Canadian Inuk activist. She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for the Inuit Circumpolar Counc ...
, formerly the President of ICC Canada, took the position.
In 2006, the Chair passed to ICC Alaska at the General Assembly in
Barrow, and was then occupied by
Patricia L. Cochran, formerly executive director of the
Alaska Native Science Commission. At that Assembly, ICC also voted to change its name to Inuit Circumpolar Council as there has been perennial confusion over an organizational name that sounds more like a past meeting. For the 2010–2014 term,
Aqqaluk Lynge
Aqqaluk Lynge (born in 1947 in Aasiaat, Greenland) was the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference) from 1995 to 2002. He is a former member of the Inatsisartut and one of the founders of the Greenlandi ...
was elected chair.
Okalik Eegeesiak served as chair for the 2014–2018 term. For the 2018–2022 term,
Dalee Sambo Dorough
Darlene "Dalee" Sambo Dorough (born 1959) is an Iñupiaq advocate for Indigenous rights as well as an expert in international human rights law, international relations, and Alaska Native rights. Dorough was part of the Alaskan tribal sovereignt ...
was serving as chair. As of 2022,
Sara Olsvig is chair.
Chairs
*
Sara Olsvig (2022 - present)
*
Dalee Sambo Dorough
Darlene "Dalee" Sambo Dorough (born 1959) is an Iñupiaq advocate for Indigenous rights as well as an expert in international human rights law, international relations, and Alaska Native rights. Dorough was part of the Alaskan tribal sovereignt ...
(2018-2022)
*Okalik Eegeesiak (2014-2018)
*
Aqqaluk Lynge
Aqqaluk Lynge (born in 1947 in Aasiaat, Greenland) was the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference) from 1995 to 2002. He is a former member of the Inatsisartut and one of the founders of the Greenlandi ...
(2010-2014)
*James Stotts (2009-2010)
*Patricia Cochran (2006-2009)
*
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Sheila Watt-Cloutier (born 2 December 1953) is a Canadian Inuk activist. She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for the Inuit Circumpolar Counc ...
(2002-2006)
*Aqqaluk Lynge (1997-2002)
*Rosemary Kuptana (1995-1997)
*Caleb Pungowiyi (1992-1995)
*
Mary Simon
Mary Jeannie May Simon (in Inuktitut syllabics: ᒥᐊᓕ ᓴᐃᒪᓐ, iu, script=Latn, Ningiukudluk; born August 21, 1947) is a Canadian civil servant, diplomat, and former broadcaster who has served as the 30th governor general of Canada ...
(1986-1992)
*
Hans-Pavia Rosing (1980-1986)
See also
*
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, ...
*
Saami Council
The Saami Council ( se, Sámiráđđi; smj, Sámeráde; sma, Saemienraerie; smn, Sämirääđi; sms, Sääʹmsuåvtõs; sjd, Са̄мь Соббар; sje, Sámerárre) is a voluntary, non-governmental organization of the Sámi people made u ...
*
West Nordic Council
The West Nordic Council ( da, Vestnordisk Råd, kl, Nunat Avannarliit Killiit Siunnersuisoqatigiiffiat, fo, Útnorðurráðið, is, Vestnorræna ráðið) is a cooperation forum of the parliaments and governments of Greenland, the Faroe Islands ...
*
Arctic cooperation and politics
*
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
*
International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on 9 August each year to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigen ...
*
Working Group on Indigenous Populations The Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) was a subsidiary body within the structure of the United Nations. It was established in 1982, and was one of the six working groups overseen by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of ...
*
Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957
*
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention
*
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or DOTROIP) is a legally non-binding resolution passed by the United Nations in 2007. It delineates and defines the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including th ...
References
External links
Inuit Circumpolar Council, AlaskaInuit Circumpolar Council, CanadaInuit Circumpolar Council, GreenlandInuit Circumpolar Council, Chukotka
{{Aboriginal Orgs Canada
Circumpolar Conference
Ethnic organizations based in the United States
Indigenous organizations in Russia
Organizations based in the United States
Organisations based in Greenland
Government of the Arctic
Organizations established in 1977
Indigenous rights organizations in Canada