Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, OC (born 2 December 1953) is a Canadian Inuit activist. She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference). Watt-Cloutier has worked on a range of social and environmental issues affecting Inuit, and has most recently focused on persistent organic pollutants and global climate change. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work, and has been featured in a number of documentaries and profiled by journalists from all media.

Early life and career

Sheila Watt-Cloutier was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Northern Quebec, Canada. Her mother was known as a skillful healer and interpreter throughout Nunavik. For the first ten years of her life, Sheila was raised traditionally, traveling on the land by dog sled, before she was sent away for school in Nova Scotia and Churchill, Manitoba. At McGill University in Montreal she took courses on counseling, education and human development. In the mid-1970s, she worked for the Ungava Hospital as an Inuktitut translator and strived to improve education and health conditions. From 1991 to 1995, she worked as a counselor in the review process of the education system of Northern Quebec. This work lead to the influential 1992 report on the educational system in Nunavik, "Silaturnimut - The Pathway to Wisdom." Watt-Cloutier also contributed significantly to the youth awareness video "Capturing Spirit: The Inuit Journey." [http://www.nce.gc.ca/agm2006/swcloutierbio_e.htm Sheila Watt-Cloutier's Biography at the Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence] ]

Watt-Cloutier has a daughter, a son, and a grandson. Her son is the youngest captain-pilot ever in Air Inuit. Her daughter is an acclaimed Inuit folk singer, throat-singer and drum dancer. Currently, Sheila Watt-Cloutier lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada.

Political positions

Watt-Cloutier has been a political representative for Inuit for over a decade. From 1995 to 1998, she was Corporate Secretary of Makivik Corporation, the Canadian Inuit land-claim organization established for Northern Quebec (Nunavik) under the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

In 1995, she was elected [http://www.nativefederation.org/forum/LF06Bios.php Alaska Federation of Natives - Leadership Forum] ] President of Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Canada, a position she was re-elected to in 1998. ICC represents internationally the interests of Inuit in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. In this position, she served as the spokesperson for Arctic indigenous peoples in the negotiation of the Stockholm Convention banning the manufacture and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) or DDT. These substances pollute the Arctic food chain and accumulate in the bodies of Inuit, many of whom continue to subsist on local country food.See the [http://www.amap.no/ Arctic Monitoring Assessment Programme (AMAP)] for more information on POPs in the Arctic.]

In 2002, Watt-Cloutier was elected [http://www.iucn.org/places/canada/news/archives2005.htm ICUN - The World Conservation Union] ] International Chair of ICC, a position she would hold until 2006. Most recently, her work has emphasized the human face of the impacts of global climate change in the Arctic. In addition to maintaining an active speaking and media outreach schedule, she launched the world's first international legal action on climate change. On December 7, 2005, based on the findings of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, which projects that Inuit hunting culture may not survive the loss of sea ice and other changes projected over the coming decades, she filed a petition, along with 62 Inuit Hunters and Elders from communities across Canada and Alaska, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that unchecked emissions of greenhouse gases from the United States have violated Inuit cultural and environmental human rights as guaranteed by the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. [http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=316&Lang=En Sheila Watt-Cloutier's Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the ICC] , 7 December 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2006.] Although the IACHR decided against hearing her petition, the Commission invited Ms. Watt-Cloutier to testify with her international legal team (including lawyers from Earthjustice and the Center for International Environmental Law) at their first hearing on climate change and human rights on March 1, 2007.

Awards and honors

2002:
* Global Environment Award, World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations - Washington, DC, USA (On behalf of ICC Canada) [http://www.wango.org/other_sites/wango2002/awards.htm 2002 WANGO Awards] . Retrieved 27 November 2006.]

2004:
* National Aboriginal Achievement Award (Environment), National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation - Ontario, Canada

2005:
* Sophie Prize, The Sophie Foundation - Oslo, Norway [http://www.sophieprize.org/Prize_Winners/2005/index.html The Sophie Prize, Winners, 2005] , 14 June 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2006.]
* Champion of the Earth Award, United Nations Environment Programme - Nairobi, Kenya [http://www.unep.org/champions/Winners/#Winners2005 Champions of the Earth Winners 2005 (biography and speech] . Retrieved 27 November 2006.]
* Northern Medal, Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson - Ottawa, Canada [http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4566 Governor General presents the Governor General's Northern Medal to Sheila Watt-Cloutier] , 3 October 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2006.]

2006:
* International Environmental Leadership Award, 10th Annual Green Cross Millennium Awards, hosted by Global Green, USA - Los Angeles, USA [http://www.globalgreen.org/media/events/millenium_evite_2006.pdf 10th Annual Green Cross Millennium Awards] . Retrieved 27 November 2006. (PDF)]
* Honorary Doctorate of Law, University of Winnipeg - Winnipeg, Canada [http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/hd-watt-cloutier Honorary Doctor of Laws - Sheila Watt-Cloutier 2006] . Retrieved 27 November 2006.]
* Citation of Lifetime Achievement, Canadian Environment Awards - Vancouver, Canada [http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/cea/archives/archives_lifetime.asp?id=159 Canadian Environment Awards 2006, Citation of Lifetime Achievement] . Retrieved 27 November 2006.]
* International Environment Award, Gala 2006, Earth Day Canada - Toronto, Canada [http://www.earthday.ca/gala/ Earth Day Canada Gala 2006] . Retrieved 27 November 2006.]
* Order of Greenland, Inuit Circumpolar Conference General Assembly - Barrow, Alaska, USA
* Officer of the Order of Canada - Ottawa, Canada [ [http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4941 Governor General to invest 38 recipients into the Order of Canada] ]

2007:
* On 2 February 2007 The Globe and Mail published a report that Watt-Cloutier, along with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore, had been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. [ [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070202.NOBELSB02/TPStory/National Inuit leader nominated for Nobel] ] The report stated that they had been nominated by Boerge Brende and Heidi Soerensen, both Norwegian members of parliament. The article also pointed out that the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not comment on the names of people who may have been nominated and according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation they do not publish the names. [ [http://nobelpeaceprize.org/eng_com_nom.html The Nobel Peace Prize - From Nomination to Ceremony] ]
* Rachel Carson Prize - Stavanger, Norway [ [http://www.rachelcarsonprisen.no/winners.html Rachel Carson Prize Winners] ]
* Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Award, United Nations Human Development Awards - New York, USA [ [http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=94 U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's Presentation of the Mahdub ul Haq Human Development Award to Sheila Watt-Cloutier] ]

2008:
* Testimonial Award, 21st Annual Public Policy Forum Testimonial Dinner and Awards - Toronto, Canada [ [http://www.ppforum.ca/en/testimonialdinner/ Public Policy Forum Annual Testimonial Dinner & Awards] ]
* Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Guelph - Guelph, Canada [ [http://www.uoguelph.ca/atguelph/08-06-04/news.shtml Honorary Degrees to be Awarded to 11] ]
* Honorary Doctorate of Laws, University of Windsor - Windsor, Canada [ [http://www.uwindsor.ca/units/pac/newsrel.nsf/f8e26b1a592c9edb8525676a0048614a/8fa2a558ffeb8ea385257463005654b6!OpenDocument Spring 2008 Honorary Degree recipients announced] ]
* Honorary Doctorate, University of Ottawa - Ottawa, Canada [ [http://www.president.uottawa.ca/doctorate-details_746.html Honorary Doctorates: Sheila Watt-Cloutier 2008] ]

Publications

* "The Inuit Journey Towards a POPs-Free World." Northern Lights Against POPs: Combating Toxic Threats in the Arctic. Ed. David Leonard Downie and Terry Fenge. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003. 256-267.
* "Don’t Abandon the Arctic to Climate Change." The Globe and Mail 24 May 2006: A19.
* "ICC responds to last week’s editorial." Nunatsiaq News 9 Jun 2006: Opinion.
* "Nunavut must think big, not small, on polar bears." Nunatsiaq News 19 Jan 2007: Opinion. [http://www.nunatsiaq.com/test/archives/2007/701/70126/opinionEditorial/opinions.html Nunavut must think big, not small, on polar bears] ,Retrieved 1 Feb 2007.]
* "The Strength to Go Forward." CBC: This I Believe 23 May 2007. [http://www.cbc.ca/thisibelieve/essays/may23_Sheila_Watt-Cloutier.html This I Believe: "The Strength to Go Forward"] ,Retrieved 20 Aug 2007.]
* "Canada's Way." The Ottawa Citizen 29 Aug 2007. [http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=b92d96f2-18d3-4456-a74f-79e160cf3578&p=1 Canada's Way] , Retrieved 22 Sep 2007.]
* "Ozone treaty offers insurance against climate change." The Globe and Mail 6 Sep 2007: A19. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070906.wxcoclimate06/BNStory/specialComment/ Ozone treaty offers insurance against climate change] , Retrieved 22 Sep 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=34&Lang=En Sheila Watt-Cloutier's Speeches]
* [http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/cea/archives/archives_lifetime.asp?id=159 Canadian Environment Awards - Citation of Lifetime Achievement, 2006]
* [http://www.naaf.ca/html/s_wcloutier_e.html NAAA, 2004 - Sheila Watt-Cloutier]