Indigenous Women Leaders on the International Stage

Indigenous Women Leaders on the International Stage

 

Ryerson University

Toronto, Ontario

Canada

November 24, 2011

 

A Presentation by National Inuit Leader Mary Simon

 

(Inuktitut Introduction)

As I said in Inuktitut, thank you for your kind invitation to speak with you today.

I congratulate Ryerson and its Centre for Indigenous Governance for organizing this series of lectures by indigenous women leaders.

For those of us outside the academic world, it is always a pleasure to see institutions of higher learning taking seriously their age-old mandate of contributing to the building of a better society and a better world.

The opportunity to learn is a gift … and with this gift, of course, come responsibility.

In thinking about leadership, it has occurred to me that there are three dimensions that can be usefully distinguished.

There is a personal dimension.

There is a cultural dimension.

… and there is universal dimension, that transcends personal history and cultural context.

I will address each of these in turn.

In looking at the personal dimension of leadership, I will draw on my own past … because I have been so strongly guided by my early years in Nunavik, or Northern Quebec.

Marion Pearson, the wife of former Prime Minister Lester Pearson, is reported to have said that “behind every successful man, is a surprised woman.”

But perhaps we might take this a bit further, and say that “behind every successful leader is a surprised leader.”

In my case, my early life gave me no hint that I would one day be speaking at the United Nations or advocating for Canada in diplomatic meetings or, most importantly for me, representing my people, the Inuit of Canada, in key political events.

I was born in Kangiqsualuujuaq, in the Nunavik region of Quebec. My family and I lived what was then a very traditional lifestyle, speaking only Inuktitut, travelling only by dog team, and hunting for, and gathering, our food.

We lived in a tent, and with the wood stove blaring hot, my grandmother Jeannie would teach us the legends of our past and how family ties bound us together as a culture.

Those early years grounded me in my language and customs – and the lessons I learned have stayed with me throughout my life.

Though I didn’t fully understand it then, those years were undoubtedly my first introduction to leadership, and to the values that would guide me throughout my career.

Those values have served me well in life.

I believe that being a leader means being – or, perhaps more realistically, trying as hard as possible to be – a person of integrity, honesty and determination, on good days and bad.

Those early days were not without adversity – long distances, harsh weather, limited communications, and a great many cross-cultural challenges.

But over time, I have realized that adversity plays a key role in shaping leaders, because from adversity can come awareness, and empathy for others.

Adversity also teaches that opportunities have to be earned, almost always with the help of others, but also through a careful calculation of risk, and with some informed experimentation.

During my career, whether as Ambassador to Denmark, Ambassador of Circumpolar Affairs, Chancellor of Trent University, or today as President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the so-called “breakthrough” moments have almost always involved thinking across boundaries … and taking risks.

In this age of connectivity, we need to encourage cross-boundary thinking in leaders of today and tomorrow.

This is especially true in the face of such complex and seemingly insurmountable challenges that I encounter every day, such as youth suicide, child hunger and the sad, sad fact that three-quarters of Inuit youth are not completing high school.

Every human journey is a separate and unique one, however much it overlaps the lives of others. And each human life must be valued as unique and precious.

But each human life is also profoundly shaped by cultural surroundings. Cultural context determines what issues take leadership priority, and determines who is best positioned to take on leadership roles.

In traditional Inuit society, our leaders were our elders and the most experienced, most successful hunters.

But as I grew into early adulthood, our traditional leaders looked to members of my generation – young men and women who spoke English and had a level of formal schooling – to become the brokers of our exchange with the outside world.

And so a group of young, bilingual, literate Inuit were given leadership roles far beyond what our years would have otherwise allowed.

 Inuit society had been organized without a fixed hierarchy, with decision making anchored in collective discussion and resolution.

While we have in time learned to use various imported decision-making mechanisms, such as regulatory bodies and government systems, our preference for inclusive, transparent politics remains strong.

Because cultural context is so important to every form of leadership, and particularly for leadership among indigenous peoples, I would like to elaborate a bit further on the historical forces that have shaped Inuit in contemporary times, and how Inuit have responded.

 As I am sure you all know, Inuit have lived in the Arctic since long before recorded history.

Our days were structured around the opportunities, risks, and realities of a hunting way of life.

Until relatively recently, most Inuit lived a nomadic lifestyle, hunting and fishing, and with very little contact with other peoples.

The depth of contact between Inuit and European peoples was limited on a day-to-day basis before the first half of the twentieth century.

But our relationship to the world changed forever as a result of that contact.

From the time of Martin Frobisher’s ill-fated voyage and continuing through centuries of activities involving naval ships, whalers, traders, missionaries, police and public servants, Inuit have been living through an ever-evolving   inter-societal relationship with qallunaat (our word for non-Inuit people).

More specifically, we have experienced a tight political and legal relationship with the Crown – first the British Imperial Crown and then the Crown in right of Canada.

In the period leading up to the 1960s and 1970s, the relationship between Europeans and Inuit was a grossly one-sided one.

Inuit suffered a steady loss of control over our ability to make decisions for ourselves and for the lands and waters that have sustained us for thousands of years.

We were pushed to the margins of political and economic and social power in our own homeland, which we call Inuit Nunangat.

During the lowest point of this one-sided relationship, entire camps were wiped out by measles …

.. Families were coerced into relocating thousands of miles serve government agendas …

… Children were taken away to residential schools.

A society’s loss of control cannot be illustrated more pointedly, or more painfully, than through the forced rupturing of the bonds between parents and children.

We were caught up in policies of assimilation on the one hand … and the relentless push of natural resource development on the other. 

Our rights as Aboriginal peoples were not worthy of consideration.

Yet we did not reconcile ourselves to our colonization or our marginalization.

We mounted a great effort, along with First Nations and Métis peoples in Canada, to make our voices heard.

We used meeting halls … and airwaves.

We used negotiating tables when we could get people to talk to us. And when we couldn’t, we used the courts.

We have made progress. And we have hope.

We have responded to the challenges of new technologies and global forces to stretch our culture, and to re-organize how we go about our lives and business.

We have taken particular care to equip ourselves with a set of representative institutions and mechanisms.

We have community and regional organizations within Canada.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, ITK, is the national Inuit organization within Canada, built on regional organization membership.

ITK, in turn, works closely with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents the Inuit of Inuit Nunaat at the international level.

In Canada, we have concluded five contiguous land claims agreements, or modern treaties, stretching from the Labrador coast to the Yukon/Alaska border.

These agreements, or modern treaties, create a set of contemporary power sharing arrangements with the Canadian State – as represented by the Crown – that equip us for critical roles in the governance and economies of our regions and communities.

Land claims agreements provide us with tools for shaping our lives and developing our lands and resources.

Collectively, Inuit own large parcels of land, some with full subsurface rights.

We now share in the management and, to some extent, the benefits, from natural resource development.

We have access to investment capital and are using it.

We own air and marine transport companies, fishing companies, and service industries for oil and gas development, and are joint venturing with various business enterprises.

Through the creation of the Nunavut territory in 1999, we brought about the first change to the map of Canada since Newfoundland’s entry in 1949.

In Nunavut, we have created the largest public government jurisdiction in the Americas that was built on – and is building on – its aboriginal majority.

Nunavut joins with Quebec as being the only member of the provincial and territorial club with a majority language other than English.

We are also working on and building up innovative regional self-government and public government models outside Nunavut, in Nunatsiavut, Nunavik and Nunakput.

And we need all these tools to attack the very deep and dispiriting social problems that confront us every day … problems ranging from an ongoing housing crisis, to sky high rates of chronic and infectious diseases, to tragic rates of suicide and domestic violence.

What do all these changes tell us, looking forward as well as looking back, about where Inuit fit in Canada, what it means to be Inuit in Canada, and what role leadership has played and will play?

First, looking back. 

Understanding where we have been can teach us a lot about where we want to go, and what it will take to get there.

Inuit have experienced some hard blows over the last 40 years, but we have also shown great resilience.

Much of that resilience has come from the leadership – leadership by active example – shown by a remarkably large number of Inuit men and women.

Leadership at every level … international, national, regional, and in communities.

Leadership in the world of formal, public affairs, to be sure … negotiating land rights agreements, and greater self-governance, and changes to Canada’s Constitution and laws.

But also in the worlds of business and commerce, and in the arts, and in sport, and in keeping Inuit culture infused with the outlook and spirit we associate with “living off the land.”

And let us not forget where leadership by example counts the most: in the family and in the home.

There can be no greater leadership than that shown by every parent, every grand-parent, every older brother and sister, and, indeed, every family member, in nurturing the young, helping the old, and defending the weak.

And we know that the healthiest communities act as extended families, looking after their own while showing generosity of spirit to newcomers and outsiders.

So, in looking back, Inuit must salute leadership, and responsibility to and for others, wherever and however we find them.

Yes, the leadership that resulted in recognition of our long-standing rights as the first people of Inuit Nunangat, and our acquisition of new rights and new opportunities, as well as new threats and challenges, through the unrelenting forces of globalization. 

But, the leadership we have also seen when parents do whatever they must to make sure their children show up at school with full stomachs and hope in their hearts.

And when a recovering alcoholic gets through another day without a drink.

And when a teenager offers the friendship that makes life bearable for a classmate tempted to give up on life itself.

Leadership exists over time and space, at the collective level as well as the personal, in grand events, and in our everyday lives.

And what awaits us for the future … what kind of leadership can sustain Inuit over the next 40 years? What must be most important for us, and drive our attentions and priorities?

For my part, I would suggest Inuit, and those who seek formal political leadership roles on behalf of Inuit, keep three things uppermost in our minds.

The first is that we remember that we are a single people.

We have done impressive things out of our unity, and we can do impressive things in the future.

But we will only accomplish what we are capable of if we remember that what holds us together far outweighs what can divide or separate us.

In so many ways, the world is a shrinking place. 

We all know far more about other cultures and other ways of life than any of us could have imagined not so long ago.

Yet the very things that bring the world together can also fracture and splinter.

We live with a wide range of television channels, and an infinite number of social media connections. Our lives are shaped by a complex set of jurisdictional boundaries and boxes, and layers of statutes and regulations.

Inuit are mastering and benefiting from such diversities and complexities. 

But we must also be careful to know and value what ties us forever together.

A second thing for us to remember is that inter-personal, and inter-generational respect and civility have been features and strengths of our culture.

Current and future leaders must respect and treasure that part of our culture, just as leaders have in the past.

It has often been remarked that the hunting cultures of this world have placed great emphasis on the equality of persons in status and freedom of action – and a great aversion to anyone claiming special powers or privileges on the basis of birth or wealth.

It is important that we recognize and retain the strength of what we have inherited.

It is important that we insist on fair play and basic courtesy in our politics.

That we remind leaders that all power is on loan.

That there are always those among us willing to speak truth to power.

That we seek consensus wherever it is possible.

Modern democratic practices, including representative governments, have been a good fit with traditional Inuit values and preferences, and we must safeguard the integrity and accountability of our political life.

And, finally, I believe it is important that we remain masters, not servants, of material wealth and prosperity.

As a final topic in my lecture, I would like to turn to a third dimension of leadership:   leadership in its universal dimension … that transcends personal history and cultural context.

Until relatively recent times, Inuit were among the most isolated peoples in the world.

But we have pushed to the forefront of those peoples who are mindful of the unity of mankind and the central importance of creating an international order that works, and that is just.

There are many reasons for this.

An obvious starting point is the reality that Inuit are a circumpolar people living across four Arctic states … Chukotka, in Russia, Alaska, in the United States, Inuit Nunangat in Canada, and Greenland, which has self-rule within Danish sovereignty.

But many other reasons contribute to our awareness of international issues and challenges …

… reasons ranging from decolonization, to cold war politics, to the effects of climate change, and to many other topics. 

And we have not been silent or passive in the international sphere …

… no, we have been loud and proud.

We were very active in the development and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We played a central role in the creation of the Arctic Council.

Most recently, the Inuit across the circumpolar world have spoken to the States and other peoples of the world on important issues facing the international Arctic through two Declarations:

A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic; and A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Resource Development Principles in Inuit Nunaat.

The first Declaration situates the concept of sovereignty within a larger context of international law and politics, including the important right of all peoples to self-determination.

The second Declaration sets out Inuit requirements and expectations with respect to the development of natural resources in the Arctic.

It puts the world on notice that, while Inuit look forward to new forms of economic development, those developments must be conducted in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner and must deliver direct and substantial benefits to Inuit.

This includes the reinvestment of tax revenues into core education, infrastructure and community support.

Our experience on the international front has taught me that there are certain aspects of leadership … certain qualities of leadership … that all peoples and states must emphasize if we, as humanity, are to ensure the secure future of our planet and our place in it.

Leadership involves just that … a willingness to lead.

And it is not possible to lead from behind.

Yes, it is true that a leader should be in as constant and as open communication as possible with constituents, with a good ear and an open mind as to how public opinion may be tracking or shifting.

But, that said, it is the responsibility of leaders to offer intelligent and informed ways to solve problems, far in advance of those problems becoming critical.

And even … perhaps particularly … in moments of crisis, leaders must show a way forward, while being honest about the probable consequences and costs.

Leadership works best when it is entrusted to more than a single set of hands, or a small set of hands.

Good governance structures are all about the distribution of political and associated powers across a variety of levels and institutions.

In our case, Inuit are committed to the foundational values of Canadian federalism, and we are optimistic that Canadian federalism can be further shaped in creative and flexible ways that will make governance work better for us.

Leadership must allow for the reality that in liberal democratic societies, individuals must be free to have complex identities and multiple attachments: I can be both a proud Inuk and a proud Canadian at the same time … just as I can be a leader, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and the neighbour next door.

It is a primary responsibility for leaders in every society around the world to build good governance through healthy communities and families, grounded in culture and language.

And it is equally a responsibility for leaders to contribute to the peaceful and collectively beneficial conduct of international relations … to respect diversity and champion human rights … to invite all human beings to chart our lives by what Abraham Lincoln famously called “the better angels of our nature.” 

The other side of this responsibility is the responsibility to challenge hatred, and racism, and the exploitation of the marginalized or vulnerable.

The history of the globe is littered with indigenous peoples cast crudely to one side in the race for lands and resources.

Seeking a peaceful and sustainable planet gives all of us ample incentive – and ample responsibility – to turn to more collaborative, constructive and respectful approaches.

Just as health is more than the absence of disease, so too, security is more than the absence of military conflict.

With that view, Inuit will continue to advance what we believe are creative and reasonable ideas for Arctic and international policy and decision making.

A final item on my list of priorities for leaders, wherever they hold or aspire to office, is the duty to encourage the young, and to trust the young, and to be prepared to hand over to the young, and, most importantly, to teach and help educate the young.

For Inuit, our path forward demands that critical attention and highest priority be given to education … and that public and private sector efforts and budgets be conceived and applied accordingly. 

I have made education my number one job in my tenure as President of ITK.

It is not good enough to merely acknowledge a need to “close the gap.”

We need to admit candidly the depth and severity of the Inuit “education deficit,” and to calibrate our theories of governance and our practice of politics to tackle that deficit.

Finger pointing and buck passing are of little use … there is more than enough jurisdiction to go around for all those who are willing to share in providing concrete and constructive solutions.

Why is this urgent?

More than half of our population is under the age of 25.

This demographic is making its way through the school system right now, and for the most part, not very successfully.

Many of the existing and emerging jobs and professions in the Arctic will require high school and post-secondary school graduates.

We are playing catch-up with the rest of Canada, and in some cases, to the rest of the circumpolar world, in putting in place the components of an education system that will graduate our children, with their language intact, and motivating them to succeed.

It is the job of every generation of leaders to prepare the next one to take over from itself. I have been doing everything I can do to help make that happen.

You have been a very attentive and a very patient audience … these are good leadership qualities in themselves … and I thank you for being both.

I would be more than happy to hear any comments that you might wish to share, and respond as best I can to any questions you might have for me.

Taima.