Iceland, Obama, and indigenous rights: Arctic week in review

The President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson responds to reporters questions, at a news conference in Quebec City in February 2015. A story looking at Grimsson's call for more concrete action on Arctic shipping was among your most read stories on Eye on the Arctic this week. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
The President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson responds to reporters questions, at a news conference in Quebec City in February 2015. A story looking at Grimsson’s call for more concrete action on Arctic shipping was among your most read stories on Eye on the Arctic this week. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

On this week’s news round-up, we bring you some of your most read stories from Eye on the Arctic this week:

-Iceland’s president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson calls for more concrete action on Arctic shipping including infrastructure and policy commitments

– Budget cutbacks are negatively affecting border security between Finland and Russia officials say

Obama’s visit to Alaska is putting  the world’s attention on everything from Arctic policy to logistics

-A UN human rights expert visits northern Sweden for a three-day conference on the human rights situation of the Arctic indigenous Sami people.

-The lack of icebreakers in the United States, especially compared to other circumpolar nations, has long been a hot political topic. But at an Alaska conference this week,  retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Robert Papp, the U.S. Special Representative for the Arctic, asks the question: What is the national imperative now?

That’s all from us for now. We’ll have your next Eye on the Arctic review up on Friday.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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