Problem Solving in a Northern Community With Wisdom and Sense of Humour

The Arctic Council was established in Ottawa, Canada, in 1996.

30 years later, Arctic people and friends of the Arctic are gathered in Tromsø, Northern Norway, for a pubinar setting the stage for informal conversations on the council's role, experiences of cooperation, and the path forward.

Here, the madness of today’s world politics is meet with reason and a cooperative spirit. Anchored in important northern common denominators. Low shoulders, albeit not entirely relaxed, given the state of the world. And not least: solid doses of cathartic laughter.

On stage are voices from Arctic diplomacy, indigenous organisations, emergency management, and research, all of which are well familiar with this unique, regional cooperation forum in the circumpolar North.

Status

First of all, to review the 30-year-old: The Arctic Council is still alive and functioning, now under the chairship of the Kingdom of Denmark, with Greenland at the forefront.

Council meetings at the diplomatic and political levels are still on pause, and the room for new initiatives is limited.

However, the working groups, which carry out the main work of the Arctic Council, continue their activities diligently through hybrid and digital cooperation.

These include the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR), which focuses on saving lives and protecting the marine environment across the Arctic region.

We are talking about the lives of the Northerners in Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, as well as people from other parts of the world who travel in the far north.

Great enthusiasm

"We are absolutely working. In a couple of months, we will have a communication exercise on search and rescue. All of the eight Arctic coordination centres for search and rescue will participate," says Benjamin Strong, Chair of the EPPR from the US.

Strong's energetic body language and explicitly stated passion for the Arctic Council allow for other examples of the ongoing work to practically pour out of him:

"We are working with Indigenous partners on projects related to radiological emergency response, in which we connect Indigenous knowledge and language with Western science and scientific terms to demystify the dangers."

"The mental health of first responders is also an issue that we are working on. Do you know who the key first responders are? They are indigenous peoples who live ten metres away from the shore.”

 “The work of search and rescue in the Arctic is critically important, and whatever format we in the EPPR have to operate within, we will find a way to persevere," he underlines, who himself has a paramedic and coast guard background.

An extended 'family' 

The glowing enthusiasm for Arctic cooperation and its practical significance flows through the entire panel – and resonates in the audience.

Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene Nation in the Northwest Territories, Canada, and International Chair of the Arctic Athabaskan Council, picks up where Strong left off. 

"Just as you, Benjamin, now talked about search and rescue, I was reminded of my father and our home. As children, we are taught to cooperate with everyone. Because we live in the elements [earth, air, fire, and water, ed. note]," says Erasmus, and continues:

"When it’s 40 degrees below zero and a guy needs firewood, you give him firewood. And you do it knowing that in the future, he or his children will help you in return. So, you don’t think, you just do. That is why it's a family. It is this place that makes you interact that way."

A common purpose

The narrative of the Arctic sense of community is also articulated by Morten Høglund, Norway's former ambassador to the Arctic and Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials during the Norwegian chairship of the Arctic Council (2023-3035).

"The passion for the future of the Arctic is unique. Nowhere else than in the Arctic Council have I experienced such close cooperation with a common purpose. People do not engage in the council's work to prove that ‘they are right’, but to understand things better and contribute to making the region better," says the High North diplomat in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From Høglunds contemplations, lines run to the very beginning of the Arctic Council, which Erasmus share some insights into.

Design

With a lively voice, he takes us back to when he, as a younger chief, participated in the negotiations on the formation of the council, focusing on the relationship between the states and the indigenous peoples.

Equal voting rights for all parties were rejected by the states. At the same time, there was a willingness to sit at the same table, discuss relevant issues and make decisions together, he outlines.

“I think that the states partly understood that they could not build the Arctic Council without us. This was in the 1990s, and by then, everyone knew that we indigenous peoples have rights. So, they had to work with us in shaping the body. ‘Let’s design it by the concept of consensus’, we said.”

“However, the states did not really know what consensus was...”

The comment, delivered with both jest and gravity, elicits chuckles from the audience.

Getting 'everyone' on board

"But, you know, this was in the early years, and consensus building is quite the process. The way we see it, majority rule is easy: If you give a good speech, you can get 51 percent of the people on your side. Consensus, however, means that we all have to talk together and come to a broad agreement," Erasmus continues.

In other words, if someone in a group is skeptical about a proposal, a small majority (or the most powerful) cannot simply push trough their project.

The process includes discussing and developing an understanding shared by many, but not necessarily by absolutely everyone. Only with such a basis in place, one can move forward and put words into action.

"Our people have always worked on consensus. It has kept us alive and makes us who we are," says the chief.

"Fascinating"

The first time the Arctic states and indigenous organisations were gathered in the council, the interaction went in different directions, Erasmus describes.

“Some of the states interpreted consensus to include veto power. ‘Sorry, we don’t agree. Let’s move on to the next topic,’ they said. However, slowly but surely, people realized that this way, you don't get very far at the decision-making table.”

"And so, we developed ways to work together, and that meant collaborating before the meetings and collaborating in the hallways during the meetings. Looking back on this is quite fascinating," he underlines with bright eyes.

Possible lodestar

In this story of how the Arctic Council came to be and has functioned through many years, there are lessons and inspiration for the word today, several on stage suggest, both directly and indirectly.

Since in these days, international politics can seem to roll like thunder, and the world order is in flux.

It has also become far more demanding for the Arctic Council to keep a steady course at cooperation, but the will and ability have proven to be there, from both the states and the indigenous organisations' sides – with strong support and energy from voices in, around, and beyond the council.

The Kremlin's full-scale war against Ukraine (from Feb 2022) and the White House's attempts to threaten its way into control of Greenland and more (from Jan 2026) are still living chapters in themselves, and part of the ‘book’ on the Arctic Council. But so far, one can say that this book has taken more constructive than destructive turns.

Joint navigation

In the previous round, it was Norway’s turn to take over the leadership of the council from Russia and navigate it through the turbulence.

"I have said publicly before and been honest about it: The dialogue with the Russian side was constructive and professional, and I conducted it knowing that my own government, as well as the other member states, with the full support of the permanent participants, were in favour of it," says Høglund about the process surrounding the chairship handover.

Norway's chairship was wisely conducted, praises Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of the Saami Council's delegation to the Arctic Council, while offering an observation:

"I cannot recall having seen work on wildfires among the priorities in the Norwegian chairship program. But Gwich'in Council International had this high on their agenda, and Morten got together with them in launching a wildfire initiative."

"This was something that all parties seemed to be impacted by and comfortable talking about. So, when the geopolitical situation got heated, the wildfires were bringing people together," she points out both astutely and humorously, to the great amusement of the audience.

The Saami Council also actively supported the Norwegian chairship's efforts to guide the Arctic Council into the future, specifically by hosting an important physical meeting in Kirkenes (Girkonjárga), Northern Norway, between Høglund and all six indigenous organisations, including the Russian RAIPON.

Ongoing cooperation

What about the current leadership's efforts to find a viable path forward for the council together with the American and Russian sides?

During the Kingdom of Denmark's chairship (2025-2027), the Greenlandic Kenneth Høgh is Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, and thus leads the diplomacy that ensures the functioning of the council, on behalf of all member states and permanent participants.

"I deal with multilateral cooperation in the Arctic, not the bilateral issues that we have going on with the US," Høegh clarifies.

"We have good and constructive talks with the US within the framework of the council. Here on stage, we have with us an American leader of a working group, with whom we work together. Please also note that the council has a Russian chair of the working group PAME. This is also constructive."

Calm and collected

Strong follows up with examples from his field: Across the Bering Strait between Alaska and East Siberia, mutual offers of search and rescue assistance were made in 2025 in connection with submarine earthquakes (having tsunami potential) and typhoons.

"As the chair of a working group on emergency prevention, preparedness and response, I represent, despite being from the US, eight Arctic states and six permanent participants. Period. My job is to make sure that we are all cooperation and rowing the boat in the same direction," he states.

"I think there exists an image of the Arctic Council as highly divided. Yes, we do have our problems. But we are working together and that is enormously important," emphasizes SAO Chair Høegh. 

The Greenlander also offers a sober reminder:

“We should remember that all Arctic states and permanent participants expressed their commitment to continue the work of the Arctic Council in the Romssa-Tromsø Statement of May 2025.”

Appeal (with moderation)

Arctic Council Chairship Handover: “We Must Move Forward With Courage,” Says Greenlandic Foreign Minister

As a concluding 'exercise' at the pubinar, the panelists are asked the following question: What are the Arctic Council's greatest achievements and how can these be 'sold' to the world?

"I was prepared for this question and was going to say that this is a great achievement that indigenous peoples, as permanent participants, sit at the decision-making table. This was my first gut feeling. Upon reflection, I realized that the great achievement is that the states also sit at the table," says Retter, and continues cleverly:

"Then came the follow-up question about how to sell this, but we are not for sale."

A thundering applause fills the room.

"Beautifully put," responds Høglund. He also highlights that there is a great achievement in having as many active observers as the council has, and that observer status is coveted by many other organizations and states around the world.

"So, we must be quite attractive to cooperate with. Hopefully, the appeal also lies in the way we work within the Arctic Council, which Chief Bill talked about regarding the consensus principle and the way we process issues."

Seed for hope and action?

Without downplaying the gravity of the current situation, the conversations at the pubinar suggests that there is potential for new achievements under the umbrella of the Arctic Council – if the muscle for broad cooperation is continually exercised.

With an eye for the long term perspective, and not least for the major climate changes both in the Arctic and the rest of the world, Erasmus offers some few, well-chosen words for the road ahead:

"Of course, there are challenges nowadays, and over 30 years, you have to expect that," says the chief and pauses thoughtfully, before continuing:

 "I have a little grandchild whose birthday is today. He is now four years old. What kind of future will he have? What kind of future are we putting in place for the young? This is what we need to think and talk about."