To mark the Arctic Council’s 30th anniversary, we conducted a series of interviews with the people who helped build the Arctic Council, shape its work and carry it through some of its most challenging moments.
In this interview, we sat down with Chief Bill Erasmus of the Arctic Athabaskan Council, who has been involved with the Arctic Council since its inception.
Chief Bill speaks about Indigenous Peoples’ role in shaping the Council, how the Council has benefited form its consensus-based approach and the responsibility to empower the next generation.
Chief Bill Erasmus: I go back to the really early days of the Arctic Council, in fact, before it was set up. There were people like Mary Simon and others who traveled amongst the Inuit communities and the Athabascan or Dene, and they talked to us about the possibility of setting up this entity that would deal with northern issues, including Indigenous Peoples and the Arctic States. They asked us if we thought it was a good idea to set up this body to deal with relevant issues. And we all thought it was a good idea. That was around 1988-89.
The one stipulation that we put in place was that if we do sit down with the States and other Indigenous Peoples, then we need to have an equal voice at the table, because this is our homeland. We're from here. We've proven in the courts that we are nations. We are landowners. We have governments. We have lands. We have culture. We have everything that constitutes nationhood. That discussion went on for a while. And the States came back and said, we don't want to get into a situation where we're all voting – we can't really go there. In other words, they wanted us to design something different.
The whole discussion was very unique because the only thing similar to it was the United Nations, which really is quite archaic compared to the Arctic Council. So we talked about it and we said, okay, how about if we design it so that it's based on consensus? Because that's the way we [as Indigenous Peoples] make decisions. We discuss an issue, we wait until everyone is in agreement, and then we make a decision. The strength behind that is we have all agreed that this is the best way forward. And there may be compromises or give and take, but we agree to do this together.
It was huge because there is no other international body designed like that, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples. And the unique thing was, when the Arctic Council first started, we as Athabascan Peoples weren't formally organized to meet the criteria to be Permanent Participants. So, it took us a little while to determine how we wanted to do that. And we didn't join the Arctic Council as Permanent Participants officially until 2000, but we did participate in right from the beginning, either as part of Canada's delegation or by other means.
Chief Bill Erasmus: What I found interesting at the time when the Arctic Council first started, is that many of the States saw consensus as that they had a veto. It was really quite an exercise because we would have a subject on the table and they didn't have the diplomacy designed yet as they do now that it’s more of a mature organization. So if they didn't agree to something, they just basically stopped all the talks and said, “well, we can't agree so let's move on to the next item.” And what's really interesting is that now we’re at a point where we all know we need consensus. And as Indigenous Peoples, there are some things that we can say or do that the States can't, and vice versa. So we bring our strengths together to come to consensus.
Chief Bill Erasmus: It’s important we're at the table because we are nations of People. We have land rights and we have self-determination. We have recognition at the table, and we're able to exercise our authority with States. It provides an opportunity to decide on matters that directly affect us so that States are not determining our future based on their institutions alone. So it is really quite significant. And it's important that, we participate and that the Arctic Council continues into the future.
Chief Bill Erasmus: Quite frankly, the Arctic Council wouldn't exist without Indigenous Peoples, and it probably wouldn't exist with only Indigenous Peoples. It would be quite a different body. We recognize each other's sovereignty. We recognize each other's capacity. And we have to find a way to agree on moving forward.
For example, the 2021 Reykjavik Declaration and the Arctic Council’s ten-year Strategic Plan recognized the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). Based on that, we are taking the lead to implement UNDRIP so that it applies within the Arctic Council. So, we're making progress in those regards. The UN declaration hasn't been exercised in an international body like the Arctic Council. So it's quite a unique exercise.
Chief Bill Erasmus: Right now, it's really difficult living in the Arctic. For example, I come from the Yellowknife area in northern Canada - which is huge, the territory’s larger than Norway, for example - and 80% of the population had to evacuate because of wildfires. So our priority right now is emergency management. Our priority is coming to terms with climate change.
We also need to adjust to all of the changes that are happening in the winter. Right now, we rely on winter roads because we don't have all weather roads going into many of our communities. We need winter roads to bring in supplies and so on. But the windows for those roads are getting narrower all the time because it's warmer in the fall, so the roads aren’t ready until much later than normal. And because it gets warmer in the spring, the roads have close early. So we're having new or extreme problems that we have to deal with. And a lot of it is costly.
So, in terms of our priorities, they may be different from others, but the main thing is that we have to be in charge of our own future and our own lives. And we're quite willing to work with others.
Chief Bill Erasmus: The Arctic Council is a model for other parts of the world to emulate. I don't think there's another example similar to it. It's important because we can't do things in isolation. The climate really has no boundaries. We work with Arctic States, but we also have to work with other States that are Observers within the Arctic Council. More and more, we're relying on Observers to cooperate with us.
Thirty years ago, we weren't exactly sure where the Arctic Council would go. There's certainly been ups and downs. But generally, we have made progress. Even though there's geopolitical tensions, that will eventually be sorted and we'll continue to work together. We have to use the strength of cooperation to make it work. We’re confident that the future will keep us together. And it's up to us to see the long term necessity to work together.
Chief Bill Erasmus: In terms of achievements, the fact that we're still at the same table, talking to each other and making decisions is really significant because you can only do that if you have common goals. And because we agree on the goals and objectives together by consensus, it has held us together.
So that uniqueness again comes out in different ways. And I think it's really important for us to reflect after 30 years. It seems like a long time, but actually, it just happened so quickly.
Chief Bill Erasmus: We have to think about what can we do as an Arctic Council to give young people – not so much hope – but make them feel good about themselves and where everyone is going. We have an obligation to do that so that the next generation is comfortable and can thrive rather than live in fear of an insecure environment.
The Arctic youth, especially the Indigenous youth, are not separate. We can't isolate them. The youth are part of our nation. We're organized by families. And I can really only speak for my People – we’re hunters and gatherers by definition. We’re organized in small families on the land we have, and those families work together to – I was going to say survive – but it's more than survive. They work together in a complicated social system that has been in place for thousands of years. And young people play a vital role in that. So, when we're participating in the Arctic Council, we do the same. We have young people as part of our delegations so that they're at the table with us and they have a role to play. There are expectations for them to lead. People like me are not going to be here forever, there will be others here that that take my place. I have a responsibility to teach them, and they also have a responsibility to learn. So I think it's important to tell young people that if they're concerned with a particular issue, they shouldn't be hesitant to speak to us. We need to know what they're thinking. I'm always happy and pleased when young people are involved.