Atuagagdliutit - 26.06.1980, Side 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
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