Canada and the Arctic Council

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThe Arctic Council is a high-level, mainly intergovernmental forum for cooperation, coordination, and interaction among Arctic states,1 indigenous groups, and interested parties of two issue areas, sustainable development in the Arctic and the protection and study of the frague Arctic ecosystem. The council is poorly understood and little advertised. And while it cannot enact binding legislation (except among the member states) or discuss issues of military security, these supposed weaknesses have actually helped to forge consensus in other important issue areas.Canada will assume the two-year rotating position of chair of the council after 15 May 2013, following Sweden's second ministerial meeting to be held in Kiruna, Sweden. The US will follow as chair in 2015. This paper seeks to outline the role of the Arctic Council and the role of its chair. This article also explores the products and outputs of the council and the perennial challenges it faces. Finally, it suggests the possible issue areas on which Canada and the US may wish to concentrate during their terms, focusing on the contribution Canada can make especially in the areas of human health and development as Canada shepherds the start of the second decade of Arctic Council business.THE ARCTIC COUNCIL: WHAT IS IT?The Arctic Council was established in 1996 by means of the Ottawa Declaration. The council's mandate broadened a pre-existing cooperative and environmentally-focused declaration on the protection of the Arctic environment signed in 1991. The Arctic environmental protection strategy,2 a Finnish initiative with considerable Canadian contribution,3 established four environmental working groups and a sustainable development task force. The eight Arctic states,4 observers, and Arctic indigenous groups sent experts to assist the working groups with their studies and projects. Recommendations and scientific reports were written on a range of Arctic environmental issues, including universal issues, such as the impact of pollution on fragile Arctic ecosystems and more focused studies on statespecific issues, such as the impacts of nuclear waste in Russia's Arctic.Canada advocated the transformation of the Arctic environmental protection strategy into an organization that would include the existing strategy working groups and their programs, but would also address a broader range of Arctic issues. Thus, the mandate of the Arctic Council includes common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic...5 Excluded, however, are matters related to military security. In addition, and most significantly, Arctic indigenous groups were given privileged membership to ensure that their voices were included in discussions. As a result, the Arctic Council has various levels of membership - a practice developed in the Arctic environmental protection strategy. Those with voting privileges and the ability to determine policy and to make project-related decisions include the eight Arctic Member States - all of which were members of the Arctic environmental protection strategy.The indigenous groups are afforded the status of participants, a role more significant than usually afforded them at the UN and other multilateral meetings (Koivurova and Heinamaki 2006). While permanent participants do not have a vote, their status is meant to ensure their full consultation prior to the forming of decisions based on consensus. The six permanent participants are the Aleut International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwich'in Council International, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Saami Council, and the Russian Arctic Indigenous Peoples of the North. Arctic states and permanent participants may participate in all meetings and activities of the Arctic Council and may be represented by a head of delegation (referred to as the senior Arctic official) and such other representatives as each Arctic state and permanent participant deems necessary. …