VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4, DECEMBER 2012 Inupiaq: QILAUN Siberian Yupik: SAGUYA Central Yupik: CAUYAQ Inuit students from Nunavut perform at the Circumpolar Conference on Education for Indigenous UPCOMING EVENTS Peoples. Photo courtesy of Ivalo Adolfsen. January 9-10 Arctic Council Task Force for Institutional Circumpolar Indigenous Gather for Education Issues (TFII) • Reykjavik, Iceland • www. arctic-council.org Conference January 15-19 By Pausauraq Jana Harcharek ICC Executive Council Meeting • Nuuk, Greenland Undaunted by the first blizzard of the year, participants at the Circumpolar January 21-25 Conference on Education for Indigenous Peoples gathered in Iqaluit, the capitol Alaska Marine Science Symposium • Anchorage, of Nunavut in Canada to a ground-breaking gathering to exchange ideas and Alaska, USA • www.alaskamarinescience.org best practices in education in the Arctic. Co-hosted by the Honorable Eva Aariak January 21-23 and Honorable Palle Christiansen, Ministers of Education in the governments Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials Meeting • Tromso, Norway • www.arctic-council.org of Nunavut and Greenland in November 2012, the event was designed to bring educators into the same room to forge new partnerships, share information and January 25-26 research and have discourse regarding mutual challenges. Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) Meeting • Tromso, Norway • http://portal.sdwg.org/ With a focus on the major themes of Early Childhood Education, Delivering Quality Programming and Parental and Community Engagement, the conference February 5-6 Bering Strait Maritime Symposium • Nome, was organized with keynote addresses and workshop sessions surrounding a Alaska • http://seagrant.uaf.edu/conferences/2013/ variety of topics. Speakers from Norway, Greenland, Canada and Alaska honed bering-strait-maritime/index.php in on curriculum efforts/reform, parenting support programs, early childhood February 11-15 programs/reform and assessment fostering dialogue amongst the participants. Arctic Council Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Biennial Meeting • Yakutsk, Russia • http://www.caff.is/ One of the presenters, Navarana Beveridge, Executive Director at the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, a 2010 Jane Glassco Arctic Fellow in Inuit Language and Early February 11-14 Childhood Education and the founder of the first Inuk Day Care “Tumikuluit Arctic Council Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Meeting • Rovaniemi, Saipaakivik” stated, “[they] found that kids in Early Childhood Education Finland • http://www.pame.is who were well-grounded in their language and culture did really well when March 3-14 they entered grade school.” This private early learning center is run on a Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna – COP 16 • full- immersion policy where children are cared for and taught in a homelike Bangkok, Thailand • http://www.cites.org/ environment using only Inuktitut. Living in the Arctic as Inuit is the focus of March 19-21 instruction. Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) Meeting • Stockholm, Sweden • www.arctic- Presenter Shanna Hagens who is a teacher at the Canadian First Nations’ Deh Gah council.org Elementary and Secondary School in Fort Providence talked about an exciting approach where learning is done in natural contexts. An intriguing example is where “Rites of Passage Camps” are held when students approach puberty. Boys learn survival skills including firearm safety and then go out on the land. Girls make sewing kits, learn to prepare medicinal plants and pick berries in a camp continued on page 7 President’s Message Jim Stotts “Shell’s Great Arctic Adventure” Like others I’ve been following the evolving saga I call “Shell’s Great Arctic Adventure.” In the tradition of the old Viking sagas, this adventure has its share of highs and lows. However, right from the start, the mishaps have ICC ALASKA overpowered the accomplishments. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Why? Because of poor decision making and poor management; there have been serious miscalculations right from the start. It’s not ICC Executive Council what the insurance industry would call acts of god, its human error, pure and simple. It’s not right to blame technology or the weather for Shell’s problems; management is Jim Stotts, President to blame here. Vera Metcalf, Vice President I presume everyone that follows Arctic development knows by now that the “Kulluk,” Shell’s Arctic oil-drilling ship, has run aground on an island just south of Kodiak Island North Slope Region in Alaska. It’s the culmination of what can only be described as a comedy of errors; or more appropriately, a tragedy of errors. Charlotte Brower (North Slope Borough) It’s only proper to state the fact that this is just the latest in a string of mishaps. It’s only proper to state the fact that this is Shell’s Arctic legacy now. We should not try to sugar- George Olemaun coat it any longer. We need a time-out to reconsider what’s going on here; before we make (Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope) a real serious mistake that we might not be able to recover from. Richard Glenn ICC is not the only one suggesting that we need to take a cautious approach to development (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) in the Arctic Ocean. The green environmental movement has been calling for the same for some years now. It’s important to mention that some in the business community, Northwest Arctic Region particularly in the finance and insurance sectors, are calling for caution. Why? Because the risk outweighs the reward; tremendous amounts of shareholder capital Marie Greene is at risk. We are talking about potential financial misadventure of $100 billion. This (NANA Regional Corporation) is not an exaggeration; the number comes from Lloyds of London, possibly the largest Percy Ballot insurance company in the world. (Maniilaq Association) There are some in the oil and gas industry itself calling for caution. Some members of the United States Congress are calling for an investigation of Shell’s entire drilling operation. Hendy Ballot I think this is a good idea considering what’s at risk and Shell’s performance so far. (Northwest Arctic Borough) In Alaska, Inuit living along the coast from Bristol Bay to the Canadian border are Willie Goodwin Jr. nervous and worried about oil spills in the offshore from oil and gas development and (Elder Representative) increasing marine traffic. Nothing short of our culture is at stake. It’s time for the U.S. government to live up to its responsibility to all of us. It’s time to take another good hard Bering Straits Region look at Shell’s Great Arctic Adventure to ensure that it is done right. Melanie Bahnke The U.S. government does not have to reinvent the wheel to figure out how to best (Kawerak, Incorporated) manage offshore oil and gas development. The Arctic Council is an organization that approaches offshore oil and gas development from a sustainable point of view and has Roy Ashenfelter done some good work in developing guidelines that are appropriate for the Arctic. (Bering Straits Native Corporation) Most recently, the Arctic Council’s Task Force on Marine Oil Pollution, Preparedness and Response concluded negotiations that resulted in a binding oil spill agreement that Kelsi Ivanoff will be presented for ratification at the upcoming Ministerial meeting. This is a good (Youth Representative) starting point. Finally, ICC has looked at offshore oil and gas development and while Inuit recognize Southwest Region that both a healthy environment and healthy economy are necessary, all development Vivian Korthuis must proceed in a responsible, sustainable manner. To get a real understanding of the (Association of Village Council Presidents) Inuit perspective on how offshore oil and gas development, and responsible resource development in general, should proceed, take a look at the Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Resource Development Principles in Inuit Nunaat available on our website: www. iccalaska.org. PG. 2 • DRUM • December 2012 Report from Arctic Council SAO Meeting By ICC Alaska Staff The Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) met in Haparanda, Sweden in the Sustaining Arctic Observing Network (SAON). All of these mid-November. The meeting was interrupted by the news that Council initiatives and projects are further described on the RAIPON was unable to attend as reported on elsewhere in this Arctic Council website. issue of DRUM. Oceans: Under this theme there were discussions on: Ministerial Preparations: The first day of the meeting was a closed Recommended Practices in the Prevention of Marine Oil Pollution session to discuss preparations for the upcoming Ministerial (RP3); the Task Force on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and meeting in Kiruna, Sweden. They discussed the wording of the Response; and the Arctic Ocean Review (AOR). Again these are Kiruna Declaration and Kiruna Statement, the SAO Report to described further on the Council website. Ministers, and how to input the various Working Group and Task Human Development: There were discussions on: Corporate Force products into the SAO report. The Working Group Chairs Social Responsibility (CSR); and the Sustainable Development attended in the afternoon to discuss how to coordinate their Working Group (SDWG) Reform and Strategic Plan. These are reports with the SAO report. As the Swedish chairmanship winds described on the Council website. down most efforts are focused on the upcoming Ministerial meeting. Other Business: The Chairs of the six Council working groups made presentations on their work and discussed deliverables Administrative: The Chair provided an overview of plans for for the Ministerial meeting and priorities for the next term the last part of the Swedish chairmanship. The Swedish SAO (2013-2015). There was an update report on the planning for then gave a progress report on the progress of the Task Force on the Environmental Ministers meeting to be held February 5-7 Institutional Issues (TFII). in Sweden. Finally there was an informational report from the Climate, Environment & Biodiversity: Participants discussed the Arctic Parliamentarians from their recent meeting in Iceland.