The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of 30 January, 2023
Federal Agencies in Nunavut Accused of Failing to Carry Out Obligations Under Territorial Language Legislation
As reported by CBC News on January 31, Nunavut’s Languages Commissioner Karliin Aariak presented testimony before a Canadian federal committee this week, alleging that federal agencies in Nunavut have failed to fulfil their legal obligations under the Inuit Language Protection Act of 2008 (ILPA). The Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, which is currently examining Indigenous language needs in the region, heard examples from several witnesses of how Inuktitut was missing from health-related signage and government building facilities. Commissioner Karliin Aariak called for government organizations to be held more accountable for their compliance with the language legislation. (CBC News)
Take 1: Indigenous language was fundamental to the vision of Inuit self-determination that first led to the establishment of Nunavut. Consequently, the maintenance and promotion of languages such as Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun is critical. The ILPA supplements the Official Languages Act of 2008 (OLA) by creating legal obligations for federal agencies and private businesses in Nunavut to offer services and communication in Indigenous languages. However, the enforcement of Indigenous language obligations is undermined by soft deterrence measures for non-compliance. The current process relies on an investigation by the office of the Languages Commissioner, which may be followed by special measures or possible recourse to the Nunavut Court of Justice. Other challenges for the implementation of language legislation objectives include a lack of incentive for Indigenous language speakers to apply for federal employment positions. Unlike federal employees who speak French and English, Indigenous language speakers are not entitled to the annual $800 bonus granted for bilingualism. As recently as last year, the Canadian Treasury Board announced it had no plans to broaden the scope of the program to include Indigenous languages, despite the prioritization of preserving and promoting Indigenous languages as part of the current Government’s reconciliation-related promises. Discussions of funding for Indigenous language is often focused on youth education, but the situation in Nunavut highlights the equal importance of societal immersion of Indigenous language through government communications. (CBC News, Nunatsiaq News, The Guardian)
USA Prepares for Potential Arctic Confrontations with “Northern Strike” Exercise
As reported by High North News on February 1, over 600 service personnel from the USA Army, Air Force and Marine Corps have been training in near-Arctic conditions to hone their cold-weather skills. The 10-day combined arms exercise, which took place in Northern Michigan between January 20 and 29, is being conducted to improve military capacity to meet the objectives of the Department of Defense’s updated National Strategy for the Arctic Region. (High North News)
Take 2: Historically, the Arctic was a central arena for Cold War geopolitical tensions. However, the period of political détente from the late 1980s onward saw the Arctic reimagined as an ‘international zone of peace,’ where regional identity and multilateral relationships were developed under the auspices of the Arctic Council and Arctic States worked collaboratively to resolve common issues. Today, however, the Arctic’s modern metamorphosis appears compromised by growing strategic competition and renewed potential for actual conflict. The USA’s latest strategy plan for the region cites increasing diplomatic discord with Russia as justification to prioritise the redevelopment of hard security capabilities. Plans for further national and joint military exercises by the USA and its Arctic allies will offset Russia’s ongoing economic development and military hardening of its northern coastline. Whether the American military will ever need to utilise their lessons in Arctic cold-weather conflict remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the chill from the latest Northern Strike exercise is certainly not lost on those concerned with the preservation of Arctic peace. (Arctic Yearbook, High North News, US Department of Defense)
The Arctic Mayors’ Forum Opens Secretariat in Tromsø
As reported by High North News on January 31, the Arctic Mayors’ Forum (AMF) Secretariat was officially opened by Norwegian Foreign Minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, in Tromsø, Norway this week. Mayors from 7 of the 14 AMF member regions were present at the reception event, which was held in Tromsø City Hall. AMF Secretary General, Patti Bruns, thanked the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its support, which included a 3 million NOK grant approved in December 2022.(High North News).
Take 3: Established in 2019, the AMF is the first formal forum to coordinate mayors and elected leaders from local governments within Arctic nations to discuss Arctic policy on a continuous basis. However, the AMF goes beyond an exchange of experience and networking amongst local government leaders. Mirroring the structure of the Arctic Council with a rotating presidency, secretariat and working groups, the forum has Observer status within the Arctic Council as an early objective. In the three years following its inception, the AMF has gradually built momentum. In 2021, the AMF began an informal dialogue with the Arctic Council and the Sustainable Development Working Group to facilitate the inclusion of local perspectives at an international policy-making level. The AMF also featured in the latest EU Arctic policy update, for their shared goals on Arctic sustainable development, resilient societies and meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels. The grant received in December 2022 will allow the AMF to work at full capacity for the next three years, and the opening of a permanent Secretariat in Tromsø is a major milestone for the organization. The legitimacy of permanent physical location and staff will undoubtedly assist the AMF accomplish its long-standing objectives. More importantly, the funding and space that will enable consistent output, discourse and networking between Arctic community leaders is increasingly needed as discord persists at a multilateral level following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. (Arctic Mayors’ Forum, High North News, UArctic)
Newly Discovered Prehistoric Primates Shed Light on Climate Change Impacts
As reported by Phys.org on January 30, a research paper published in PLOS ONE has identified two new species of prehistoric primate through fossils excavated on Ellesmere Island, Northern Canada. The team of scientists from the University of Kansas suggest the ‘Ellesmere Ignacius’ primates are uniquely evolved and likely derive from the same North American gliding primate which migrated to higher latitudes during a period of ancient warming. (Phys.org)
Take 4: It isn’t difficult to draw ecological parallels between the ancient episode of global warming that encouraged ‘Ellesmere Ignacius’s’ northern migration and the present progressive temperature rise. Scientists are already familiar with the northward shift of biodiversity as ancestral ranges become too hot. However, the study’s findings are significant in that they demonstrate that successful colonization of high latitudes is also dependent on selective genetic adaptations, in this case to seasonal polar darkness which sets a limit on sources of dietary nutrition. Even so, the adaptive responses of wildlife may not be able to keep pace with the speed of warming temperatures, which NASA estimates to be at a rate of 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade. This rate is even higher in the Arctic, which experiences warmer temperatures at more than twice the speed of the global average. The trend of rising temperatures despite the growing global awareness of the issue suggests climate change is increasingly the preeminent threat to Arctic biodiversity. Should measures fail to curb the human impact on global temperature rises, the outlook over the coming century for both current and ‘new’ Arctic biodiversity is bleak. (Nature, PLOS ONE, Science, Scientific American)
First Draft of Greenland’s New Constitution Expected Soon
As reported by Arctic Today on January 28, Greenland’s Constitutional Commission is in the final stages of drafting a proposal for the country’s first-ever constitution, with the document expected to be ready by April 1, 2023. The Commission consists of a group of elected politicians, which draws on a small group of academics, including the Ombudsman of Iceland, for advice. Although the drafting process has experienced multiple delays, the final date is unlikely to be rescheduled this time as the government has made no additional financial allocations for the Constitutional Commission to continue beyond the final drafting effort. (ArcticToday)
Take 5: A Danish colony for over 250 years, Greenland was formally incorporated into Denmark as a county in 1953 when the Danish constitution was amended to allow two elected representatives from Greenland to sit in the Danish Parliament. Autonomy gradually gained by the Home Rule Act in 1979 was later augmented in 2009 by the Greenland Self-Government Act. In 2016, Greenland’s Parliament, the Inatsisartut, voted in favour of establishing a Greenlandic Constitutional Commission to draft a constitution for Greenland. The draft will provide the first concrete and coordinated definition of an independent future. However, detailed content of the draft has remained confidential. Whether the draft will lead to an imminent declaration of independence appears unlikely given the existing economic and structural limitations tied to Denmark’s strong financial and cultural influence. Public controversy over the Constitutional Commission’s financial conduct and repeated delays of the final deadline also mean the draft is not without a few sceptical critics. Nevertheless, the completion of the document is an exciting prospect and is sure to generate interesting discussions on the potential future of a new sovereign Arctic State. (Arctic Today, Foreign Policy, Sermitsiaq AG, Swiss Info)