Arctic Council

The Arctic Council was established in Ottawa on September 19, 1996, with the signing of the Declaration of the Establishment of the Arctic Council (Ottawa Declaration). Canada played a key role in founding the council and was the leading voice in ensuring that Indigenous peoples would be a key part of this forum. The Ottawa Declaration was signed on Parliament Hill by representatives of the eight Arctic states. It was signed for Canada by the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, former minister of foreign affairs.

The Arctic Council promotes cooperation, coordination and interaction in the Arctic region on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection. It helps advance Canadian priorities, including a renewed focus on multilateralism, strengthened relations with Indigenous peoples and addressing climate change.

Arctic Council decisions are made by consensus of the eight Arctic states, with the active and full participation of Arctic Indigenous communities represented by six Permanent Participant organizations.

The Arctic Council member states are Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. The six Indigenous Permanent Participants are: the Aleut International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwich’in Council International, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Saami Council.

Canada was the first chair of the Arctic Council (1996 to 1998), and it recently concluded its second term as chair (2013 to 2015). The United States is the current chair (2015 to 2017). Finland will succeed the United States as chair in May 2017 following a meeting of Arctic Council foreign ministers in Fairbanks, Alaska.