Gwich'in Council International

Old Crow, Mary Jane Moses photo

The Gwich'in Council International (GCI) was established as a non-profit organization in 1999 by the Gwich'in Tribal Council in Inuvik, NWT, to ensure all regions of the Gwich'in Nation in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska are represented at the Arctic Council, as well as to play an active and significant role in the development of policies that relate to the Circumpolar Arctic.

The founding members of GCI includes six Alaskan Gwich'in communities (Arctic Village, Chalkyitsik, Fort Yukon, Birtch, Circle and Venetie) two Gwich'in representative bodies in Canada — Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation representing Vuntut Gwitchin in Old Crow, Yukon, and Gwich'in Tribal Council representing four communities in the Beaufort Delta region in the Northwest Territories. In total, the Gwich'in Council International founding members represent approximately 9,000 indigenous peoples of Gwich'in descent. The GCI Secretariat rotates between the Gwich'in Tribal Council in Inuvik, NWT and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow, Yukon.

GRRB seeks nominations for Chair

The Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board is seeking a Board Chair. Details about the application are in this .pdf file.

GRRB is looking for workshop facilitators

The Gwich'in Rewnewable Resources Board is looking for a person or organization to facilitate a stratefic planning workshop for the Board. Details are in this pdf file.

The GRRB is also looking for a person or organization to facilitate a reseach priority workshop in Inuvik on September 17, 2012. See this pdf file for details.

Latest Circle magazine focus on Arctic Council

The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has released its latest issue of the Circle magazine. This issue contains several stories on the Arctic Council and on issues facing the circumpolar world.

You can download this issue and past issues at the WWF website.

The 2011 GCI Newsletter is available

The 2011 Gwich'in Council International Newsletter which contains the GCI activity updates can be downloaded here in pdf format. <

Circumpolar Health Declaration

The First Arctic Health Ministers Meeting was held in Nuuk, Greenland. Member states and participants of the Arctic Council issued their declaration on Circumpolar Health.

Arctic Council Statement to COP 16

The Arctic Council released their statement on climate change in the Arctic to the upcoming conference on climate change. You can read their statement here.

The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP 6) to the Kyoto Protocol.

The Circle

Who are the people living in the Arctic? How are their lives influenced by the dramatic changes occurring in the region, as temperatures reach record high levels, the sea ice is melting with an alarming speed, and countries and companies compete for access to the wealth of arctic resources? How do people of the North cope with and adapt to these changes, and what is the role of traditional knowledge in these processes today? Is it possible to find a way forward to ensure a balance between resource exploitation on the one hand, and conservation of the Arctic’s unique and vulnerable natural values on the other? How do the arctic peoples themselves contribute to these processes?

These are some of the questions we asked in this issue of The Circle, which focuses on arctic peoples, or human response to arctic change; it is available from the WWF site here.

As always, we have asked for contributions from some of the key people involved in analyzing and trying to understand these issues. But most importantly, we have invited people who live in the Arctic to share their perspectives; people from a variety of countries, backgrounds, cultures and professions – from the student/fisherman in Norway to Indigenous leaders and the Premier of Greenland.

WWF International Arctic Programme
Oslo, Sweden

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Funding for this web site was provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs Canada. Updated 2010.12.21.