The Sámi People: Today’s Issues

Land and water rights

• ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent States, which Norway (the only Nordic country to do so) ratified in 1990, guarantees land & water rights.

• 96% of Finnmark (Northern Norway) is now state-owned and now the Sámi are asking for the rights to this land.

Will they get their rights?

• But public opinion on this issue is running over 80% against the Sámi, as we see in this poll: “Should the Sámi get the right to the land and water through the new Finnmark law?”

Visibility in local press

Invitation to join Sámi electorate

• Mailed to all Norwegians 3/2005

• Criteria: A) Speak Sámi, or B) Have parents/grandparents/ great-grandparents who speak Sámi, or C) Be the child of someone in the electorate

Status of Sámi electorate in Norway

• Currently 11,000 registered voters

• Estimated 80,000 to 90,000 potential voters

• Registered voters can vote in Sámi parliamentary elections

The Sámi and the EU

• Some Sámi are for joining the EU because they hope for better protections for minorities, but many share Norwegian fears about losing fisheries

Iver Jåks

“Silently The Thought Turns”

• in wood, reindeer antlers and reindeer leather

• natural weathering and decay

But what happens when…?

• A culture that is accustomed to using natural materials is introduced to technological artifacts?– Traditional Sámi artifacts were simply

discarded in nature when they could no longer be used

– One can’t do the same thing with snowmobiles

– No cultural context for dealing with modern trash

Challenges to Sámi

• Environmental degradation

• Climate change

• Lack of traditional employment

• Health/mental health issues

• Endangerment of language

• Struggle for identity

Environmental degradation

• 1986 Chernobyl – 30,000 contaminated reindeer slaughtered,

grazing areas still contaminated – similar future disasters are a great concern– Arctic environment is very vulnerable and

slow to recover

• Mining, oil & gas exploration, represent similar threats

• Building of roads, cottages, etc.

Climate change

• Very minor climate change will disrupt fishing and reindeer environments and destroy those traditional undertakings

• Climate change on this magnitude is predicted to take place within a century, and some changes are already apparent

Lack of traditional employment

• Reindeer herding is popular, all boys want to do it, but there is not enough for all of them

• Men are less likely to finish school because they want to pursue herding

• Women are more likely to work at paid jobs

• High unemployment in Sámi areas

Health/mental health issues

• Unemployment and stigmatization contribute to mental health problems

• Suicide rate is high

• Teenage pregnancy rate is high

• Special social services are available for Sámi at UiTromsø

Endangerment of language• Not all North Sámi agree about this, but some

think that the Sámi themselves are too complacent

• Too much exposure to Norwegian: TV plays a major role– Even in Sámi-speaking areas, where there are Sámi

schools, virtually all of TV (and thus everything “cool”) is in Norwegian

• Teenage mothers are immature and do not care enough about language preservation

• Lack of well-trained teachers with native command of Sámi and lots of turnover

Struggle for identity• Even siblings within a family will differ in

identifying themselves as Sámi or Norwegian

• Sámi who move out of traditional Sámi areas are often stigmatized

• Sometimes people who grew up as Norwegian realize later that they are Sámi