Northerners are involved in our foreign policy processes on multiple levels. As permanent representatives at the Arctic Council meetings and also at the working groups, we see it.
The permanent participants, in many cases, don't only operate within the Arctic Council; they're also representing themselves in other venues, too, which is key. We have northerners representing themselves through territorial governments and through land claim governments, which is very key. They're doing this not only internally but internationally, on an increasing level.
Also, within the machinery of government and decision-making, we also see northerners involved in things like the Arctic Council Advisory Committee, which is key. One of the misconceptions that is sometimes out there is that unless northerners are representing themselves, northerners aren't being represented by the Canadian state. In particular, this came up during the Chelsea meeting and the Ilulissat meetings in 2008 and 2010, when there was quite a bit of blowback.
If one looks at even the Inuit Circumpolar Council's Inuit declaration on sovereignty, there's a really interesting formulation up front that Inuit are Arctic peoples, Inuit are Arctic aboriginal peoples, and Inuit are aboriginal peoples, but Inuit are also citizens of states, so in some cases northerners are being represented by the Canadian state. When we're dealing with issues like extended continental shelves and sovereign rights to resources beyond 200 nautical miles—I've yet to see any indigenous claim to traditional use of resources beyond 200 nautical miles—the systems to delineate those jurisdictions are actually state-based processes through the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. There, I think, it's appropriate that northerners be represented by the Canadian state.
But what that means is that within our own machinery, within Canada, it's imperative that we have conversations and dialogues. Again, I applaud the process. I was in Europe on a speaking tour for the last number of weeks and felt a sense of frustration from Europeans about what is Canada's agenda for the Arctic Council chair. The response I was giving, which I think was a fair one, is that in Canada we have dialogues before we announce our agendas.
The minister responsible for the Arctic Council is up in the north, in all three territories, having dialogues and speaking with northerners to help shape that agenda. Again, I wasn't part of those dialogues, so I don't know how substantive they were, but in terms of process, it's very important when Canada is going to present an agenda that it be done in a way that's based upon conversations. Some of them are going to be informal and some of them are going to be very formal. Some of them are going to be institutionalized.
But I think it's very helpful if we keep a very flexible approach and continuously reinforce the message internationally that one of the things that makes us such a responsible actor is that our northerners are front and centre, always keeping in our minds the Inuit motto: Canadians first, first Canadians. It's one that warms my nationalist soul. This is really a positive thing that Canada should be broadcasting to the world: that we are at the forefront of true engagement and dialogue, and this is something that I think animates the policies of all of the parties in Ottawa.