Alaskan Inuit Stand United in Support of Greenland

Anchorage, Alaska–Inuit Circumpolar Council was founded to unify Inuit across the Arctic and to promote Inuit rights and interests at the international level. Consistent with this purpose and the ICC press release, “A peaceful Arctic through mutually respectful cooperation,” dated January 27, 2025, Alaskan Inuit reaffirm our support and solidarity with our Greenlandic relatives, who are asserting that decisions concerning Greenland’s political future, governance, and international relationships must be made by the people of Greenland themselves.

Marie Greene, ICC Alaska President, emphasized, “It is important that we go back to the founding purpose of Inuit Circumpolar Council, to stand united as Inuit, and that is the basis in which we stand united with our Greenlandic relatives.”

Robert (Bobby) Evans, ICC Alaska Board Member, said, “Yes, we are Americans, but we were Inuit first, and always will be. It is part of our culture to take care of our people, and to stand beside our relatives, all across the Arctic.”

We emphasize the longstanding and unified Inuit position that the Arctic must remain a zone of peace, sustained through cooperation, mutual respect, and the full and effective participation and meaningful engagement of Inuit. Inuit declared the Arctic as a zone of peace at the first ICC General Assembly held in 1977, through the passage of “Resolu7on 77-11, Peaceful and Safe Uses of the Arc7c Circumpolar Zone.” We call on the United States of America to respect and uphold international law and rules based order that honors diplomacy and Inuit rights.

“For Inuit, peace in the Arctic is not an abstract principle; it is about protecting our homelands, our families, and the future of our children,” said Vivian Korthuis, ICC Alaska Board Secretary/Treasurer, representing Association of Village Council Presidents. “Lasting peace comes from listening to Inuit, respecting our rights, and engaging with us as partners whose knowledge and responsibility are rooted in the Arctic itself.”

We further underscore Inuit sovereignty and self-determination, a foundational principle of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, that affirms Inuit authority to govern our own affairs and determine our own political status and governance. Alaskan Inuit continue to look to our Greenlandic relatives as an example of meaningful progress toward self-determination, particularly through the establishment of Home Rule in 1979 and the Self-Government Act of 2009 achieved by the Greenlandic Inuit.

Elizabeth Cravalho, ICC Alaska Board Member, representing NANA Regional Corporation, “Inuit leadership continue our call of ‘Nothing about us, without us.’”

“Inuit have lived, governed, and upheld responsibility in the Arctic since ;me immemorial,” said Doreen Leavitt, ICC Alaska Board Member, representing Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. “From Alaska, we stand united with all Inuit in support of our sovereign right to determine our own future.”

Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska (ICC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that exists as the unified voice and collective spirit of Alaskan Inuit, to promote, protect, and advance Inuit culture and society. ICC Alaska represents Inupiat, Central Yup’ik, Cup’ik, and Saint Lawrence Island Yupik in the North Slope, Northwest Arctic, Bering Strait, and Southwest Alaska.

Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is an international Indigenous Peoples’ Organization, founded in 1977 by the late Eben Hopson, Sr. from Barrow, Alaska, to strengthen unity among Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka; promote Inuit rights and interests at the international level; develop and encourage long-term policies that safeguard the Arctic environment; and seek full and effective participation and meaningful engagement in the political, economic, and social development of the Arctic region.