Experts on indigenous peoples to attend Saturday seminar

The rights of the Sami and other indigenous peoples are on the agenda for the Church of Sweden’s seminar on indigenous peoples in Uppsala on Saturday. Photo: Marcus Engström/IKON.

A seminar on indigenous peoples is being held in Uppsala on Saturday 13 December as part of the Church of Sweden’s more in-depth work on indigenous issues. The panel will include indigenous peoples representative Dr Wilton Littlechild, UN expert on indigenous issues and Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner for indigenous issues in Canada.

The indigenous peoples seminar is an expression of the desire of the Church of Sweden to work in more depth on indigenous issues. During the seminar, indigenous rights and the opportunities and obstacles of reconciliation will be up for discussion, partly based on experiences from the truth and reconciliation process in Canada. Those especially invited to the seminar include the foreign guests at Sunday’s bishop’s ordination – which will have a Sami theme – when Eva Nordung Byström will be ordained Bishop of Härnösand Diocese.

Dr Wilton Littlechild is a former member of the UN’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for indigenous issues. The Commission focuses on areas including what happened to the thousands of children placed in what were known as “residential schools” in Canada with the aim of forced assimilation.

The indigenous peoples seminar is being led by Margareta Grape, senior advisor at the Central Church Office in Uppsala and former head of the UN office of the World Council of Churches in New York.

“The Church of Sweden has in various contexts highlighted issues concerning Sami rights and the importance of living up to the intentions of the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Continuing this dialogue in order to resolve issues relating to the Sami population is a matter of urgency,” says Margareta Grape.

Next year the Church of Sweden will be publishing its White Paper on the historical relation of the church to the Sami. The Church of Sweden also pursues indigenous issues in the World Council of Churches and through its reports to the Council of Europe and the UN.

Members of the Sami Council will be taking part in the seminar.

Other panel participants at the indigenous peoples seminar:

Bishop Mark MacDonald, the first national bishop for indigenous peoples in the Anglican Church in Canada. He is the only bishop who represents a group of people regardless of which diocese they belong to geographically.

Tore Johnsen, Secretary-General of the Sami Church Council of the Church of Norway and indigenous representative when the World Council of Churches participated in the UN’s World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in New York, 22–23 September 2014. He helped create the Sami hymn book “Sálbmagirjii II”.

Lars Anders Baer belongs to Luokta-Mávas Sami village and is chairman of the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in the Barents region. Former chairman of Sametinget (the Sami Parliament) and from 2004–2010 member of the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Sagka Stångberg, pensioner, educator and Sami activist for decades, both within and outside Sametinget. She was head teacher of the Sami school in Tärnaby for more than 30 years until 2011.

The indigenous peoples seminar is open to the media. Please send your name, editorial office and mobile number to press secretary Ewa Almqvist, email: ewa.almqvist@svenskakyrkan.se, no later than Friday 12 December at 12 noon.