[Indigsol] Fwd: Colloquim on an Aboriginal Topic, Inuit Leader Speaking

Fri Oct 12 08:52:29 PDT 2007

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is coming to Ottawa! see below...

 *Department of History – 2007 Shannon Lectures*

Thinking Women and Gender
Topic: Nimble Fingers and Strong Backs: The Marginalized Labour History of
Aboriginal Women in Fur Trade and Rural Economies
Speaker: Sherry Farrell Racette, Concordia University
October 26, 2007 at 1:00 p.m.
Humanities Theatre, 303 Paterson Hall

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Imelda Mulvihill

Equity Policy and Research Analyst

Equity Services

Carleton University

Room 421 Tory Building

Tel: (613) 520-2600 x 8454

Fax: (613) 520-4037

email: imelda_mulvihill at carleton.ca <imelda_mulvihill at carleton.ca>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Imelda_Mulvihill <ImeldaMulvihill at Cunet.Carleton.Ca>
To: Irvin_Hill <IrvinHill at Cunet.Carleton.Ca>, Barbara_Carswell <
BarbaraCarswell at Cunet.Carleton.Ca>
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:41:19 -0400
Subject: FASS 2007 Distinguished Lecture Series - Inuit Leader Speaking
 *FASS 2007 Distinguished Lecture Series*

*Topic:* "The Arctic and the Global Environment: Making a Difference on
Climate Change"

*Speaker:* Sheila Watt Cloutier

*Date: *Monday, October 22, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.

*Location: *416 Southam Hall

*Please Note:* Seating is limited.  Register by email: fassod at carleton.ca
*        * *Abstract:*

In the past several decades, Inuit across the Arctic have reported profound
changes in their environment. Melting sea ice, rapidly eroding coastlines,
dangerously unpredi[image: Sheila Watt Cloutier]ctable weather patterns and
strange behavior amongst animals relied on for food are all conspiring to
threaten the Inuit's ability to survive as a culture. These violations of
human rights are very much connected to the world's other vulnerable
regions: as the Greenland ice sheet melts into the sea, the waters rise
around the small island developing states and the low-lying coastal nations.
To address climate change, our world must re-connect. Individuals,
communities, corporations, and nations must realize that the Inuit hunter
falling through the melting ice is connected to the cars we drive, the
policies we create, and the disposable world we have become.

 ------------------------------
 *Biography:*

Sheila Watt-Cloutier currently resides in Iqaluit, Nunavut. She was born in
Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (northern Quebec), and was raised traditionally in her
early years before attending school in southern Canada and in Churchill,
Manitoba. She is the past Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), the
organization that represents internationally the 155,000 Inuit of Canada,
Greenland, Alaska, and Chukotka in the Far East of the Federation of Russia.

Dealing with youth issues holistically is important for Ms. Watt-Cloutier.
She contributed significantly to "Silatunirmut: The Pathway to Wisdom," the
1992 report of the review of educational programming in Nunavik, and she
co-wrote, produced and co-directed the acclaimed youth awareness video
"Capturing Spirit: The Inuit Journey."

Ms. Watt-Cloutier was a political spokesperson for Inuit for over a decade.
>From 1995 to 1998, she was Corporate Secretary of Makivik Corporation,
set-up under the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Land Claims Agreement.
Defending the rights of Inuit has been at the forefront of Ms.
Watt-Cloutier's mandate since her election as President of ICC Canada in
1995 and re election in 1998. Ms. Watt-Cloutier was instrumental as a
spokesperson for a coalition of northern Indigenous Peoples in the global
negotiations that led to the 2001 Stockholm Convention banning the
generation and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that contaminate
the arctic food web. In 2002, Ms. Watt-Cloutier was elected international
Chair of ICC.

She contributed markedly to ICC Canada's Institution-Building for Northern
Russian Indigenous Peoples' Project, which focused on economic development
and training in remote northern communities.

During the past several years, Ms. Watt-Cloutier has alerted the world that
Inuit will not become a footnote to the onslaught of globalization by
working through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to defend
Inuit human rights against the impacts of climate change. On December 7,
2005, she filed a climate change-related petition with to the Commission as
an urgent message from the Inuit "sentinels" to the rest of the world on
global warming's already dangerous impacts. Most recently, on March 1, 2007,
she testified before the Commission during their extraordinary first hearing
on the links between climate change and human rights.

Ms. Watt-Cloutier received the inaugural Global Environment Award from the
World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations in recognition for her
POPs work. She is the recipient of the 2004 Aboriginal Achievement Award for
Environment. In 2005, she was honored with the United Nations Champion of
the Earth Award and the Sophie prize in Norway. Later in the year, she was
presented with the inaugural Northern Medal by the outgoing Governor General
of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson.

In early 2006, Global Green, USA, the American Branch of Mikhail Gorbachev's
Green Cross International, selected Sheila for its International
Environmental Leadership Award, and in June she received both the Citation
of Lifetime Achievement from the Canadian Environment Awards and the Earth
Day Canada International Environment Award. Also in June, the University of
Winnipeg conferred Ms. Watt-Cloutier with an Honorary Doctorate of Law.
Sheila was made an Officer in the Order of Canada in December 2006.

In February, 2007, she was publicly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by
members of the Norwegian parliament, including the former Minister of the
Environment. Also in Norway, she received the Rachel Carson Prize in June,
2007. Later that month at the U.N. Human Development Awards in New York,
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon presented Sheila with the 2007 Mahbub ul Haq
Human Development Award.

She currently serves as a mentor for two Trudeau Foundation Scholars
pursuing their Ph.D.'s. She is writing a book to further share her message:
"The Right to be Cold."

Ms. Watt-Cloutier sums up her work by saying: "I do nothing more than remind
the world that the Arctic is not a barren land devoid of life but a rich and
majestic land that has supported our resilient culture for millennia. Even
though small in number and living far from the corridors of power, it
appears that the wisdom of the land strikes a universal chord on a planet
where many are searching for sustainability."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Imelda Mulvihill

Equity Policy and Research Analyst

Equity Services

Carleton University

Room 421 Tory Building

Tel: (613) 520-2600 x 8454

Fax: (613) 520-4037

email: imelda_mulvihill at carleton.ca <imelda_mulvihill at carleton.ca>

-- 
"In life we meet extraordinary people who follow us wherever we may go" -
Trisha Nagpal
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