{"id":821095,"date":"2026-07-23T15:37:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821095\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:37:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:37:33","slug":"inuit-circumpolar-council-general-assembly-gets-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821095\/","title":{"rendered":"Inuit Circumpolar Council general assembly gets underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inuit leaders, delegates, and performers from around the circumpolar world filled the Aqsarniit Hotel ballroom, in Iqaluit, to start the Inuit Circumpolar Council\u2019s 15th general assembly.<\/p>\n

This is the first such gathering in Iqaluit since the third general assembly in 1983. ICC\u2019s chair, Sara Olsvig of Greenland, opened the event after a qulliq lighting and invocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that across our homelands and among those who are living beyond our homelands, many Inuit are struggling,\u201d Olsvig said in her chair\u2019s report. \u201cBut we also know that Inuit continue to gather to share our experiences and to hope for a brighter future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloria Uluqsi, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which is acting as host for this year\u2019s meeting, spoke after Olsvig. She looked across the room at her first large gathering of international Inuit as an elected leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have partnerships that previous generations could only imagine,\u201d Uluqsi said. \u201cThe responsibility now belongs to us \u2026 to ensure that Inuit continue to lead the future of Inuit Nunaat.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were opening remarks from Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa, Nunavut Human Resources Minister Annie Tattuinee, Greenland\u2019s vice-premier M\u00fate Bourup Egede, North Slope Borough (Alaska) Mayor Josiah Patkotak, and ICC Chukotka (Russia) president Irina Meshcheryakova.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney was the honorary patron but could not be in Iqaluit. He sent a prerecorded address instead.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arctic is your own homeland,\u201d Carney said in the video. \u201cYou are the rights-holder. So even as the world pays closer attention to the Arctic, you will decide what happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patkotak, who represents eight north Alaska communities, echoed the same sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear a little bit of the Greenlandic struggle that was happening from my own government,\u201d he said, in reference to the Trump administration talking about buying Greenland earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s one of the things that we continue to have unity on,\u201d Patkotak continued. \u201cNothing happens in our specific regions, without our voices heard \u2026 There\u2019s nothing about us without us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herb Nakimayak, from the Inuvialuit region of Northwest Territories, had two extra reasons to celebrate: his election to a four-year term as the president of ICC Canada on Tuesday, and it was his birthday on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Nakimayak spoke after the assembly sang happy birthday for him in English, followed by the folks from Greenland singing in Kalaallisut, which moved Nakimayak to tears.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous knowledge is key to what we do, the work that we do as ICC,\u201d Nakimayak said. \u201cI look forward to our shared task over the next four days at the general assembly here \u2026 as we set the direction and offer a declaration for the 2026 [to 2030] term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ICC general assembly wraps up on July 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inuit leaders, delegates, and performers from around the circumpolar world filled the Aqsarniit Hotel ballroom, in Iqaluit, to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-821095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}