2030 North Press Release * Inuit, academics, and NGOs to help chart course for Arctic Canada

(Ottawa, 2/6/09) A conference starting today in Ottawa aims to help set a policy agenda for Canada’s Arctic. The conference is co-hosted by Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the University of Calgary’s Institute for Military and Strategic Studies.
"I look forward to the discussions this important conference will generate," said National Inuit Leader Mary Simon. "The Arctic has shifted to the top of political agendas due to sovereignty, climate change, international shipping, and resource development. The policy direction we provide collectively at events like this one will contribute to more sharply focussed policymaking which I hope will continue to improve living conditions for Inuit in the Arctic, and set a brighter future for our children and youth."
 
The conference hopes to capture the increasing amount of attention on northern issues, and give it some focus.
 
“Life in the Arctic is changing at an unprecedented rate,” says Rob Huebert of the Institute for Military and Strategic Studies. “The climate is changing, the ecology is changing, people’s lives are changing, and governments around the pole and beyond are now paying attention.”
 
 “This is a profoundly pressing interest – both at the local and national levels,” says Chuck Birchall, Chair of Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.  “We have long been promised, by parties of various political stripes, a national strategy for dealing with the immense changes coming to Canada’s North. While there have been glimpses of a federal vision, it has so far failed to come together as coherent whole. It is time for planned and co-ordinated action - locally, regionally, territorially, and nationally. Otherwise, we will be overtaken by events, and will be stuck just reacting again.”
 
The conference continues for three days, and ends with the drafting of an action plan.
 
For more information:
Clive Tesar, conference media relations, ctesar@wwf.no   613-883-3110 (mobile)
 
To book an interview with Mary Simon, Stephen Hendrie, Director of Communications, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, hendrie@itk.ca cell (613) 277-3178,
 
Registration and agenda at http://www.2030north.carc.org/