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Greenland seeks greater autonomy

Jonathan Motzfeldt, premier of Greenland, met with Denmark’s minister of foreign affairs last week, calling for more control over foreign policy,

Motzfeldt told Per Stig Moller that Greenland wants a hand in any deal reached with the United States concerning the future of the Thule air base in northern Greenland.

The U.S. wants to include Thule in its proposed National Missile Defense system.

"We agreed that the problems concerning Thule should be solved. It is very important that Greenland and Denmark find a common response," Moller told Motzfeldt.

Moller promised to find a way to work together on foreign affairs in the future.

"It is essential that Greenland and Denmark continue together. And that will happen, but using different dancing steps. Dancing styles do change," Moller said.

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January 18, 2002

Funding freeze stuns ICC Greenland

Want to sample Greenlandic goodies? A new cookbook called Takanna! or "dig-in" in Greenlandic, will teach you how to cook curried auk soup or salted male capelin marinated with the herb angelica.

The cookbook is published by Atuakkiorfik-Greenland Publishers. It costs 248 kr ($50) and can be ordered from www.atuakkiorfik.gl

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January 18, 2002

Relatively few murders in Greenland in 2001

According to Sermitsiaq newspaper, 2001 saw relatively few homicides in Greenland.

Four men and three women died violent deaths. In previous years, the number of murders has been as high as 21, 15 and 12. Only three times since 1990 have there been fewer than seven murders.

Greenland’s justice system is now taking a stricter approach to murder. In earlier years, a homicide meant five years in the jail, but is now up to seven years, judge Mille Sovndal Petersen told Sermitsiaq.

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January 18, 2002

Norwegian hunters want more whales

While Norwegian authorities are coming under increasing pressure internationally for not following the International Whaling Commission agreement that forbids commercial whaling, groups within Norway want to increase the whale and seal hunts.

The High North Alliance, a Norwegian lobby group representing commercial whalers, claims Norway is missing out on millions of dollars a year by not catching more whales.

To justify an increased hunt, researchers say whales and seals compete with fishermen for cod, herring and smelt. Figures from the Marine Research Institute show whales and seals eat 325,000 tons of cod, 280,000 tons of herring and 1,480,000 tons of smelt, as well as 1,200,000 tons of krill — in Barents Sea alone.

The industry also wants to increase the market for seal parts, such as seal oil, sealskins and seal byproducts for dog and cat food.

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January 18, 2002

North Pole up for grabs

The battle for the North Pole and Arctic Ocean resources has begun in earnest, according to Greenland’s Atugagdliutit newspaper.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) recently confirmed that Russia has submitted a request for rights over the North Pole and much of the Arctic Ocean, areas over which Greenland and Denmark also say they have scientific and judicial proof of ownership.

Greenland, Denmark and the United States have already lodged protests against the Russian request.

"We told UNCLOS that we want the right to work out our own concept, which may overlap with the Russians’ claim," said Jorn Lilje-Jensen, an official with the Danish foreign affairs department.

Danish authorities maintain Greenland and Denmark can make a strong case for their jurisdiction because an undersea mountain ridge extends from the northern Greenlandic coast across the North Pole.

This mountain ridge appears to be connected to the Greenlandic continental base, so Greenland and Denmark may ask to extend the present marine boundary to 350 nautical miles from 200 nautical miles.

However, the Russians maintain this same mountain ridge extends all the way from Greenland to the Siberian peninsula, where it joins the Russian continental base.

According to Atuagagdliutit, surveys show the mountain ridge is not connected to Siberia. But if this turns out to be the case, the Russians are ready to argue that the sea floor is of a continental character, and there is a "sunken continent" connected to Siberia.

The international Law of the Sea says the UN can recommend a border that may conflict with demands from another state. When parties don’t agree, the Commission and the state concerned must negotiate an agreement.

No one knows how this judicial process will evolve, since Russia is the first nation to submit a request to the UNCLOS Commission.

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January 18, 2002

First Sami TV news in Finland

Sami in Finland saw their first Sami-language news broadcast on television last week, produced at the studios of the Norwegian public broadcasting corporation NRK in Karasjok in northern Norway.

Sami in Finland contribute a short news item and one longer story to the nine-minute broadcast. In Sweden and Norway, the news in Sami has aired every weeknight since August.

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January 18, 2002

Austria hosts Inuit art exhibition

The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre at the University of Guelph has organized the first exhibition of Canadian Inuit art to be shown in Austria.

This exhibition consists of wall hangings and drawings from the centre’s large Inuit art collection.

Entitled Asingit, meaning "different ones," it features work by 14 artists from Baker Lake and Cape Dorset. The theme of Asingit suggests transformation, that is, the possibility of every animate and inanimate object to exist in both the spirit and physical world.

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