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Gjoa Haven's Angela Nuliayok Rudolph was a guest of the Embassy of Canada to Norway on Jan. 27.

Gjoa Haven's Angela Nuliayok Rudolph presented at the Embassy of Canada to Norway on Jan 27. She is pictured here second from left with Canada's Ambassador to Iceland Anne-Tamara Lorre, left, Canada's Ambassador to Sweden Heather Grant, Canada's Ambassador to Kingdom of Denmark Emi Furuya and Canada's Ambassador to Norway Artur Wilczynski, back. - photo courtesy of Angela Nuliayok Rudolph

The ambassador invited the 2015-2017 Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship recipient to lead a presentation as part of the embassy's Arctic 101 series.

Rudolph spoke on Inuit Canadian Arctic history and current issues, including the seal economy, for politicians and diplomats from such places as Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and Switzerland.

"I'm very happy and appreciative that people want to include the Inuit voice, and a young Inuit voice," said Rudolph. "I think that voice is often not included at the level that it should be considering our population is so young and a lot of the really great things we do come from our young generation."

Rudolph is a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks studying Indigenous Arctic Policy. Her thesis work focuses on how Inuit colonial history in Nunavut has affected Inuit youth's identity, and how to address this through changes to education policy.

"I'm trying to look at alternatives that address the issues that Inuit youth go through," she said.

Her presentation at the embassy followed participation in an Emerging Leaders program that was part of the pan-Arctic conference Arctic Frontiers, held in Tromsø, Norway from Jan. 22 to 27.

The program brought together 23 young professionals and academics from science and policy backgrounds, with the intention of building future leaders who are conscious of Northern regions.

After learning about Arctic search-and-rescue, tourism and resource development, the young participants gave their own presentation on an Arctic green shift to interested members at the Arctic Frontiers conference.

Emerging Leaders organizer Laura Johanne Olsen said Rudolph was well-positioned to present on behalf of a larger group.

"She was very clear in her message," said Olsen. "She was reminding the group of the indigenous way of life and indigenous rights and to bear in mind history and tradition."

Rudolph said her main takeaway from the experience was an understanding of the many lenses through which to view the Arctic, and how these points of view impact international conversation.

"In this program I met people from the oil industry, I met people from science and research, I met people from Russia who work in policy, and they all have different perspectives on the Arctic," she said.

"I've learned to really appreciate and respect that there are different perspectives. It helped me understand how there needs to be cooperation in the Arctic. I've heard this before but I didn't really appreciate the meaning behind it until I had to share my experience with somebody from the oil industry who has a very different idea of what the Arctic can be. We had to find common ground to understand each other and try to move forward so both of us could benefit."

Rudolph is hoping to make the Inuit perspective more prominent on the world stage through her research for the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship. Her work compares policy in Alaska, Greenland, and Canada to show how education can prepare Inuit leaders to join global conversation and present in forums such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council or the Arctic Council.

She said this is necessary because international Arctic policy impacts the lives of Inuit people on a day-to-day basis.

"We need to build leadership capacity among Inuit to be prepared to work at that international level," she said.

When the Jane Glassco Fellowship wraps up in April, Rudolph will return to Gjoa Haven for the summer to continue her thesis work.

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