Bringing the Inuit voice to the international arena

In mid-July, I was acclaimed as president of Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada for a four-year term. I was previously vice-president international since 2018. Our organization began in 1977 with the goal of uniting all Inuit, and bringing our voice to the international stage. Now Inuit in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia) are united within our organization. We obtained consultative status at the United Nations in 1983. During my term as vice-president international, I brought our voice to the UN’s International Maritime Organization based in London, U.K. We stated that we must have a say at the IMO, and we were successful in obtaining provisional consultative status in December 2021. Now, we no longer have to borrow the microphone when we engage in issues such as black carbon, ridding the Arctic of heavy fuel oils, regulating climate emissions from international shipping, underwater noise, and arguing for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in issues that affect us. Lisa Koperqualuk is president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Canada. Handout photograph Similarly, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we bring our voice to the local communities and Indigenous peoples platform. At COP27, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from Nov. 6-19, we will be bringing a substantial Inuit delegation. We’ve been telling the world that the climate is warming in the Arctic ever since the COP process started in Rio de Janiero in 1992. At this stage, all nations have heard the message and are issuing warning messages of their own. Several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have shown the threats are clear: we are facing a climate emergency; something we Inuit have been warning the world about all along. The Paris Accord goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is no longer disregarded as all corners of the globe are facing fires, floods, hurricanes, and melting permafrost and glaciers. But the Arctic is warming up to three times as fast as the global average, according to the Arctic Council’s Arctic Climate Change Update 2021, which concluded that warming will have a major effect on ice, land, and seas. The necessity to protect our sila, our environment; nuna, our land; ima, our waters; and siku, our ice, has become increasingly urgent as we see the changes occurring due to climate change. Earlier this fall, we attended the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants’ 18th Technical Committee meeting in Rome to maintain pressure on banning “forever chemicals." This is a group of about 4,500 chemicals used in all manner of consumer goods and products. They are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment, they get into the food chain, and eventually into human bodies, and potentially cause cancer. Our work to ban them, along with partners such as Canada and other countries, has resulted in them being put on the multi-year review process. We look forward to the first round of negotiations on a global plastics treaty that will start in earnest in late November by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, part of the United Nations Environment Programme process, in Uruguay. The Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will also be held in Montreal from Dec. 7-19. It will focus on protecting nature and halting biodiversity loss around the world. We will also be present at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora COP19 in Panama City from Nov. 14-25, defending our rights to hunt. Finally, an important forum, which we worked hard to create in 1996 in Ottawa, is on pause. The Arctic Council announced in March that all of its work would be halted until further notice, due to the war in Ukraine. The current chair is Russia and the transition of the Arctic Council Chair to Norway should occur in May 2023. Our prayers are with the Ukrainian people who remain in the country, and the millions who have fled for safety. The war in Ukraine testifies to the fragility of peace and the importance of dialogue. As we navigate this pause in the work of the Arctic Council, we must remain vigilant to keep the Arctic as a zone of peace. I look forward to the next four years, and as always, bringing our Inuit voice to the international arena, sharing our perspective on development, putting into action our inherent right to self-determination by participating in decision-making processes in the international arena and ensuring our Indigenous knowledge is known and understood. Lisa Koperqualuk is president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Canada. The Hill Times

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Bringing the Inuit voice to the international arena

Several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have shown the threats are clear: we are facing a climate emergency; something we Inuit have been warning the world about all along.

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