About PROJECT Participants
Youth were invited to participate in Project CREATeS through the Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council. The category of Permanent Participant was created to provide for active participation and full consultation with Arctic Indigenous Peoples. The Permanent Participants include:
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) - Founded in 1977 by the late Eben Hopson of Barrow, Alaska, the ICC has flourished and grown into a major international non-government organization representing approximately 160,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia). The principal goals of ICC are to strengthen unity among Inuit of the circumpolar region; promote Inuit rights and interests on an international level; develop and encourage long-term policies that safeguard the Arctic environment; and seek full and active partnership in the political, economic, and social development of circumpolar regions. The most recent illustration of this vision can be found in the Utqiaġvik Declaration passed at the ICC General Assembly in July, 2018.
Aleut International Association (AIA) - Aleut International is one of the thirteen regional not-for-profit Alaska Native corporations created as a result of Alaska Native Settlement Claims Act in 1971, and the Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Aleut District of the Kamchatka Region of the Russian Federation (ANSARKO). The organization was formed to address environmental and cultural concerns of the extended Aleut family whose well-being has been connected to the rich resources of the Bering Sea for millennia.
Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) - The Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) is an international treaty organization established to defend the rights and further the interests internationally of American and Canadian Athabaskan members First Nation governments in the eight-nation Arctic Council and other international fora.
Gwich'in Council International (GCI) - represents 9,000 Gwich’in in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Yukon, and Alaska as a Permanent Participant in the Arctic Council. GCI supports Gwich’in by amplifying our voice on sustainable development and the environment at the international level to support resilient and healthy communities.
Saami Council (SC) - a voluntary Saami organization (a non–governmental organization), with Saami member organizations in Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden. Since it was founded in 1956 the Saami Council has actively dealt with Saami policy tasks.
Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) - founded in 1990 at the First Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the North of USSR. RAIPON is the Russian umbrella organization which organizes 35 regional and ethnic organizations of indigenous peoples in the regions where they live. RAIPON represents 41 groups of Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
