NUNAVUT - Three organizations representing Inuit and First Nations living in the North are calling on the foreign affairs minister to invite them to a meeting of five Arctic Ocean coastal countries Canada is hosting next month.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will host his counterparts from five Arctic Ocean coastal nations March 29 in Chelsea, Que., a small town outside Ottawa. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States will discuss responsible economical and environmental development for the Arctic.

Left out of the discussions are Iceland, Finland and Sweden, countries that do not border the Arctic Ocean but are part of the Arctic Council, a multinational organization that discusses sustainable development, environmental protection and other issues related to the North.

Left out also are the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Arctic Athabaskan Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Both the circumpolar council and the Athabaskan council are permanent participants of the Arctic Council.

Cannon will meet with the two aboriginal councils prior to the ministerial meeting of Arctic Ocean Coastal States, said Alain Cacchione, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, but all three organizations have said they want to be at the discussion table.

The Inuit Circumpolar Council sent a letter to Cannon earlier this month, thanking him for the initiative while mentioning the circumpolar council still expects an invitation, seeing no reason one was not given, said senior policy adviser Chester Reimer.

"We still expect and hope to be invited. We have not yet been invited but we have not been turned away," he said. "If the five ministers don't invite Inuit to play a central role, then a great opportunity will have been missed and the clock will have been turned back a decade."

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, representing the Inuit of Canada, stated in a press release Inuit should be included in the summit.

"As we have said many times before, a specific and direct relationship with Inuit should be at the core of any Arctic discussions. That remains our position and we fully expect that Inuit, through the Inuit Circumpolar Council, will have a seat at the conference table," acting president Pita Aatami said in a press release.