The streets of Nuuk:
I think it is time to give readers some idea of what Nuuk looks like. I have had little time to wander around and explore as I would like, but I have managed to take a few pictures of the community as I have walked back to my hotel late at night from the cultural entertainment.
I am trying a little experiment here. While I have only posted two pictures from my walk here in the main blog body, if you click the Nuuk walk link below it will take you to a nine image slideshow. The same is true for the other three segments of this post: the ICC General Assembly floor, the Greenlandic Inuit opera singer and Pamyua, performing with Canadian throat singers.
Each has a link that opens up to a slide show with several more images.
A young girl manipulates her cell phone while skateboarding through the streets of Nuuk.
See more of my walk through Nuuk in this slideshow.
From the floor of the General Assembly
A very serious agenda is unfolding on the floor of the 2010 General Assembly of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, under the overall theme of "Inoqatigiinneq-Sharing Life." Today, Edward Itta, Mayor of Alaska's North Slope Borough and the President of the Alaska delegation is conducting the meeting. Here, as delegates from Alaska, Russia, Canada and Greenland listen, he calls today's General Assembly to order.
Before I came to Greenland, I had it in my mind that each day I would sum up all that was said on this floor, but I find that the only way I could intelligently do that is to give that task my full attention and take few if any photos - alone edit and post them. As it is, I am already spending more than half my time doing work other than taking photos and I don't even have the time to give the photos that I do take a good close look and edit.
So I think I will hold off and at the end, after the General Assembly adopts the Nuuk Declaration of 2010, I will try to communicate the essence of it. For now, I will focus my efforts on getting pictures and posting a few, which is proving to be an enormous task in itself.
National leaders have come from all the modern nations whose boundaries encompass the ancient homeland of the Inuit and many issues are being discussed - from the impacts of global warming (and here, in the Far North, where a declining ice pack is already drastically changing the way people live, it is seen as real and present danger), to economic development and resource extraction, improving the health of the people and many more issues.
At 81, Paul John, Yup'ik of Southwest Alaska, is the oldest delegate on the floor.
The Greenlandic and Canadian Executive Council members. Left to right is Aqqaluk Lynge, Carl Chr. Olsen of Greenland and Violet Ford and Duane Smith of Canada.
The Russian and American Executive Council Members: Valentina Leonova and Tatiyana Achirgina of Russia; Willie Goodwin, Jim Stotts and Mayor Edward Itta of Alaska.
Maliina Abelsen of Greenland speaks about health issues, including healing from alcohol and drug abuse.
The highest ranking official to show up from the federal government of the United States has been Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, the Assistant Secretary of State for Ocean and International Environment and Scientific Affairs. Dr. Jones works just below Interior Secretary Hilary Clinton.
After she addressed the General Assembly, she met with the Alaska delegates in their caucus. She received both praise and hard questions - the praise being that relations between the indigenous people of the Arctic and the federal government seem to be improving with the new administration of Barack Obama.
Even so, the Iñupiat and Yup'ik of Alaska stated that they must be more fully included in the establishment of US Arctic policy.
ICC Assembly chair Jim Stotts of Alaska addresses Assistant Secretary Jones.
See more from the GA floor in this 12-image slide show
Inuit opera singers
Two Greenlandic Inuit opera singers, Ida Heinrich and Josef L. Josefson, wait to perform at a reception hosted by the Greenlandic delegation. They sang two Greenlandic songs, Pigaaara Illunni Asslt an Illaanni Unnulermatt and it was exquisitely beautiful.
Ida Heinrich, back up by members of the men's chorus Qissiat, which means "driftwood."
See more of the Opera singers in this nine-image slide show
Pamyua with Canadian throat singers
Karina Moeller and Pamyua put on an energetic performance before an equally charged audience, as you can see in the slide show.
Pamyua was joined onstage by Akinisie Sivuarapik and Sylvia Cloutier of Canadian Throatsingers Aqsarniit.
I have many more performances, by artists of all four nations and will post them as I find the time. I need an assistant!
See more of Pamyua and the throat singers in this 17-image slide show