ICC 11th General Assembly

The 11th Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) General Assembly began today in Nuuk, Greenland.

Once every four years delegates from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia gather to discuss matters of international Inuit concern. The ICC ensures that Inuit have an international voice, that our perspective on world events, and our commitment towards the sustainable development, is heard.

Since the last General Assembly ICC has been at the forefront of issues essential to our well-being, for example

• ICC played a pivotal role leading the development and adaptation by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and
• ICC authored A Circumpolar Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic, where in they reminded the states of the world that the concept of sovereignty must be situated within international law and politics, and sovereignty must be balanced against the rights of Inuit to self determination.

Mary Simon delivers her opening address to the ICC 11th General Assembly in Nuuk, Greenland

I am happy to lead the Canadian delegation to this year’s event and will be calling on ICC to be an international advocate for socio-economic change. We will be putting forward a resolution that brings to the forefront the need for concerted action by governments and Inuit to improve health and education outcomes in our communities.

I also believe that ICC can, and should, be a strong voice in facilitating research directed towards improving health and education indicators among Inuit. ICC can, and should, foster forums to share our best (and promising) practices in the spheres of health and education so that we all learn from, and build upon, them.

Inuit have proven to ourselves, our respective national governments, and to the world, that we can speak, and act, with a united voice. I am calling on the delegates to this 11th General Assembly to use the power of that united voice to embark on a new era for circumpolar Inuit - an era dedicated to ensuring that our children enjoy better health and better education than any generation before them.

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