Arctic Council Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. Eight member countries constitute the council: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States as these are the eight countries with sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle. Outside these, there are some observer states. The first step towards the formation of the Council occurred in 1991 when the eight Arctic countries signed the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). The 1996 Ottawa Declaration established the Arctic Council as a forum for
Inari Sami people Northern Sami immigration after Norway and Russia closed their borders in 1852, and eastern Sami immigration from south when Finnish settlement crawled northward. In 1920s Spanish Flu killed 190 people in the Inari area, which constituted one-tenth of the population. After the Second World War Skolts from Pechenga area were evacuated and settled to Inari. Till the 1950s most Inari Samis lived in natural economy, but this was changed rapidly and during this process the use of Inari Sami language decreased. Unlike most of other Sami groups, Inari Sami didn't historically practice large-scale reindeer husbandry. The more descriptive feature of