INUVIK, N.W.T. — Hundreds of Inuit from across the circumpolar world are meeting in the Northwest Territories this week to discuss a unified front on everything from wildlife management to economic development.
“We recognize the Arctic is changing,” Duane Smith, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, said from Inuvik on Monday. “We recognize there are certain negative effects that are taking place, but there’s also opportunities.”
Delegations made up of Inuit groups from Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland are at the conference, the first time in 12 years that the council has held such a meeting in Canada. Together with representatives from governments, academe, industry and other organizations, about 600 people have swarmed this small northern town on Canada’s northwestern corner.
