Atuagagdliutit

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Atuagagdliutit - 26.06.1980, Blaðsíða 19

Atuagagdliutit - 26.06.1980, Blaðsíða 19
be Joint inuit organization to founded in Nuuk The work involved in preparing a draft for the charter of the organization has taken three years, and the committee that was elected to put it to- gether was dissolved after only two meetings be- cause of financiel difficulties and internal conflicts in Alaska. It will be an historie occasion if it proves possible to form an inter- national inuit organization at the Inuit Circumpolar Conference which begins Saturday the 28th of June in Nuuk. It was at the first Inuit Cir- cumpolar Conference in Alaska in 1977 that it was decided to form an inter-arctic organization for inuit. At that time it was, howe- ver, not possible to reach agree- ment about the form such an or- ganization should take, nor how its charter should be formulated. Therefore the participants in the conference from Alaska, Canada and Greenland elected a commit- tee, the so-called Interim Com- mittee, which was to work out a final draft for a charter. At that time it was expected that the committee could finish before the summer of 1978, which is to say in one year. But the work proved to be far more difficult than anticipated. Even though all concerned are fellow-inuit, the hi- storie divisions have created sub- stantial differences between inuit in Alaska, Canada and Green- land. Furthermore, there were fi- nancial difficulties as well as in- ternational conflicts among the inuit in Alaska and Canada. Only two meetings The Interim Committee had four members from each country. From Greenland Robert Peter- sen, Carl Christian Olsen, Moses Olsen and Ove Rosing Olsen were elected. Charles Edwardson jr. from Alaska became chairman of the committee. However, the committee only managed to meet twice. Both meetings took place during the fail of 1977. — At the first meeting in Sep- tember we agreed that the three groups — the Alaskans, the Cana- dians and the Greenlanders — each should prepare a draft for a charter. We set a deadline, but by the time we reached the deadline, we had only received one propo- sal, Robert Petersen explains. — Later we recived a proposal from Alaska, but when we held our second meeting in December we had still not received any from Canada, he continues. Robert Petersen goes on to explain that there were no great differences between Greenland and Alaska as far as the main principles were concerned; howe- ver, the Greenlanders had some reservation with regard to the ac- tual wording of a number of the points in the Alaskan draft. — Expressions such as sove- reign regions and the like were be- ing used, and we thought that ex- pressions of that kind might end up causing some problems. Dissolved under protest However, the Interim Committee never reached the point of nailing down any final formulations. Du- ring the spring of 1978 there were financial difficulties which proved so serious that it became impos- sible to hold a meeting which had been planned for March. It was Mayor Eben Hobson from North Slope Borough in Ala- ska who said stop. More than a- nyoneelse he had been the initia- tor behind the first Inuit Circum- polar Conference, and North Slo- pe Borough, where about 6000 in- uit on the northern shores of Ala- ska administer their own affairs, had to a large extent financed ICC. — Eben Hobson suggested that the Interim Committee be dissolved and that the special re- solutions committee of the confe- rence take over the work, Robert Petersen explains. During the I- nuit Circumpolar Conference the- re was a resolutions committee which edited the resolutions. It was made up of one representa- tive from each country: Robert Petersen from Greenland, Willy Hensley from Alaska and Bill Ed- mond from Labrador in Canada. — It is undoubtedley correct that there were financial pro- blems, Robert Petersen explains; — but the way the matter was håndled raised many procedural qustions. The Interim Committee was never asked if it was able to accept dissolution. The chairman, Charles Edwardson jr. (Etok), was never informed; and mem- bers of the Greenlandic delegati- on protested, since the committee had been elected by the conferece itself to draw up a new constituti- on. International conflicts Nevertheless, both Greenland and Canada accepted the faet that the Interim Committee wouldn’t be able to continue be- cause of the lack of founds, and after a number of informal discus- sions among the Greenlandic re- presentatives Robert Petersen continued to work alone. It was not until later that the Greenlandic participants became aware that internal political conf- licts also lay behind the dissoluti- on of the Interim Committees. — In 1978 there was mayoral election in North Slope Borough, Robert Petersen states. — Here Charles Edwardson jr. and Billy Niaqoq, who also was elected as a member of the Interim Commit- tee, both ran for election against Eben Hobson. This electoral batt- ie more or less had the consequen- ce that they were unable to talk to each other. This we had felt, but it didn’t become clear until the time of the official implementation of home rule in Greenland May lst 1979. At that time all three of them we- re in Nuuk, but it proved impos- sible to hold a meeting with them all present. During these May lst activiti- es the Greenlandic group insisted that no meeting be held until both Charles Edwardson jr. and Billy Niaqoq had arrived. When they fi- nally arrived in Nuuk after ha- ving been delayed in Kangerlus- suak, then the other half of the Alaska group failed to show up. — Just what the effeet of the internal conflicts in Alaska has been, we do not know; but there is no doubt that they have done the- ir part to strech the preparation of a draft fror a charter over such a long period of time, Robert Pe- tersen states. Skepticism AG: — Was it only the Greenlan- dic group that was skeptical with regard to the dissolution of the Interim Committee? — No, there was skepsis in se- veral quarters, also within the Alaska group. But in the end eve- ryone accepted the revival of the Resolution Committee and its take-over of the remaining work, Robert Petersen concludes. The Resolution Committee held its first meeting in 1979. Thus the work with the new organizations charter lay still throughout 1978. -lip. Grønlandsk og engelsk bliver sprogene på ICC Fra Alaska, Canada og Grøn- land er der hvert af stederne udpeget 18 delegerede til Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Men foruden disse 54 officielle del- tagere, er der meget stor inter- esse for mødet. Mange obser- vatører og gæster, musikere og teaterfolk vil komme til Nu- uk for at overvære ICC-mødet. Alene fra Alaska og Canada kommer der omkring 250 re- præsentanter for Inuit i de to lande. De mange folk samles i Frobisher Bay, hvorefter de med fly kommer til Nuuk. I alt vil det være nødvendigt at flyve seks gange på ruten, in- den alle med denne luftbro vil være færget til Nuuk. Som nævnt i A/G i sidste uge vil der være mulighed for en udveks- lingsrejse for interesserede i Nuuk. De mange gæster bliver ind- kvarteret på Seminariets Kol- legium, på Egtmondgården og på GTO-lejren, mens resten bliver indkvarteret på privat basis og i Ukaliussaq skolens gymnastiksal. Selve Inuit Circumpolar Conference bliver holdt på Grønlands Seminariums kol- legiesal. Fra Danmark er der hentet apparatur til en simul- tantolkning, og de to officielle sprog på ICC-mødet er grøn- landsk og engelsk. Fra grøn- landsk til engelsk vil Karla Jessen Williamsson, som er gift og bosat i Canada, tolke, og fra engelsk til grønlandsk vil Maria Simonsen fra Grøn- lands Radio tolke. Desuden vil arbejdet foregå i syv arbejdsgrupper, og her tolker Bolethe Papis, Karl Lennert, Ivalo Egede, Malik Høegh, Gitte Hertling, Kaj Lyberth og Johanne Martin- sen Holm. -urt. i 19

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