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Preparations Before a Truth Commission on the Violations of the Sami People by the Swedish State

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Preparations Before a Truth Commission on the Violations of the Sami People by the Swedish State PREPARATIONS BEFORE A TRUTH COMMISSION ON THE VIOLATIONS OF THE SAMI PEOPLE BY THE SWEDISH STATE Title: Preparations before a truth commission on the violations of the Sami people by the Swedish State Presentation of government assignment Sami Parliament dnr 1.3.2-2020-1316 Government office dnr A2020/01285/MRB Project leader and author: Marie Enoksson Translation: Lisa C. Q Holmström, lisatext.se Cover image: Oil painting by Johan Tirén 1892, a contribution to the debate on the conflicts between the Sami and the ironmaster Farup at Ljusnedals forge in Härjedalen. Farup was the town’s parliamentary representative for many years. Photo: Bertil Wretling/Nordiska Museet. Contact info: Sametinget Box 90 981 22 Kiruna Street address: Adolf Hedinsvägen 58 E-mail: [email protected] © Sametinget 2021 2 Contents Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Preface ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Background ...................................................................................................................................... 7 2. Foundation process ....................................................................................................................... 11 Organization....................................................................................................................................... 11 Budget ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Implementation .................................................................................................................................. 11 Dialogue meetings ............................................................................................................................. 12 The surveys ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Other contacts .................................................................................................................................... 13 3. Expectations ................................................................................................................................... 14 4. Covered themes ............................................................................................................................. 18 A divided people ............................................................................................................................... 18 Sami outside the samebys/ State's impact on Sami rights ....................................................... 19 Expatriate Sami .............................................................................................................................. 22 Segregation and assimilation ....................................................................................................... 23 Consequences of the 1928 legislation.......................................................................................... 23 Today’s samebys ............................................................................................................................ 24 Sami in the concession area .......................................................................................................... 26 Loss of land rights ............................................................................................................................. 29 Problems along national borders .................................................................................................... 32 Reindeer grazing conventions ..................................................................................................... 32 Border closings ............................................................................................................................... 33 Forced displacement of Northern Sami...................................................................................... 33 Consequences of forced displacements ...................................................................................... 35 Other forced displacements ......................................................................................................... 36 Northern Finland ........................................................................................................................... 36 Education policies ............................................................................................................................. 37 The nomad school.......................................................................................................................... 37 Public school................................................................................................................................... 39 Middle school and High school ................................................................................................... 40 Loss of language, culture and identity ........................................................................................... 42 Racial biology, racism and structural discrimination................................................................... 44 3 5. Other truth commissions in Scandinavia ................................................................................... 47 Norway: Commission to investigate Norwegianisation policy and injustice to Sami, Kvens and Norwegian Finns ....................................................................................................................... 47 Commission .................................................................................................................................... 47 Crisis and support talks ................................................................................................................ 48 Finland: Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sami ........................................................... 49 Commission .................................................................................................................................... 49 Sweden: Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaisiens 50 6. The health aspect ........................................................................................................................... 51 7. Concluding discussion .................................................................................................................. 53 Goal and mandate ......................................................................................................................... 53 Adequate time and resources ...................................................................................................... 53 The importance of psychosocial support ................................................................................... 54 Members of the Commission ....................................................................................................... 54 Archive questions .......................................................................................................................... 55 Expectations and requirements from Sami Parliament ........................................................... 55 Appendix 1: A Historical Overview ................................................................................................... 56 4 Summary Throughout history, The Sami people have been subjected to abuse, violations, and racism. These wrongdoings still have a negative effect on the living conditions of the Sami people and individuals. They also effect the relations between different Sami groups and between the Sami people and the Swedish State. The Sami Parliament Plenary Assembly adopted a motion in 2014 to work with the matter of setting up a Truth Commission to examine the abuses of the Sami by the State. Vital parts in this work are the round-table discussions and seminars with international experts that were arranged in Umeå in 2016 as well as the SWOT-analysis that a working group developed in 2018. These are the foundation for the proposal that the Sami Parliament unanimously submitted to the Ministry of Culture in June 2019. In 2020, The Parliament was given a government assignment to prepare and anchor the work for a Truth Commission in the Sami community. This report is an account of what has been accomplished within the assignment and presents the viewpoints that have emerged in discussions and questionnaires. A truth commission should examine how the actions of the Swedish State and the County Administrative Boards divided the Sami people, primarily through the so-called “a Lapp should be a Lapp”-policy, which had elements of both cultural darwinism and racism. This was expressed in the nomad school reform of 1913 and the reindeer husbandry legislation of 1928. The Sami lost ownership rights to land and water; the right to reindeer husbandry was limited, different types of reindeer husbandry were set against each other, and Sami in other traditional livelihoods such as hunting, fishing and handicrafts were excluded from the rights system. The issue of land is a theme mentioned by many. A truth commission should review what happened when the
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