A small Canadian flag and Greenlandic flag lie tucked together in each seat pocket, greeting dozens of Inuit boarding a charter Air Inuit flight from Montreal to Nuuk, Greenland – small symbols that underline the group’s message of unity.
“We are one people. We encompass the circumpolar world of the Arctic…Our message to everyone is: ‘We are very welcoming, but don’t control us,’” Makivvik’s President Pita Aatami said over the plane’s PA system to about 65 Inuit leaders, youth and community members plus about 10 journalists aboard.
Makivvik, which represents the Inuit of the Nunavik region in Northern Quebec, organized the flight to be present for Canada’s official consulate opening Friday.
“We’re bringing a plane full of Inuit to show our support and to show unity with our Greenlandic fellow Inuit facing all kinds of threats, especially from the United States wanting to take over ownership of Greenland and its resources,” said Adamie Delisle-Alaku of Makivvik before the flight took off.
The U.S. president’s recent threats to take over Greenland made it “very easy to fill up this plane,” Delisle-Alaku said, pointing to many ties between Inuit in Canada and Greenland.
“It’s an uneasy feeling, especially for the youth growing up, waking up in Greenland as a young Inuk, the big threats…like the U.S. president claiming that he’s going to take over. And same for us in Canada, like we’re being threatened that we’re going to be a 51st state,” Delisle-Alaku said.
“You’ve already heard that Greenland said, and Denmark also, that Greenland is not for sale. And I don’t think that any other Inuit in the northern Arctic will say, you know, this land is for sale, because we have lived in these lands since time immemorial,” Johannes Lampe, president of the Nunatsiavut Government told CTV News before boarding.
Lampe is from Nain, in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, and points out that’s just over 1,000 kilometres from Greenland.
He says he’s never seen or heard of a threat facing Inuit like what Trump proposed.
“And so, when that is happening, you know, we have to go to Nuuk, Greenland, where the Canadian consulate is being opened,” to show Greenlanders support.
While the U.S. threat may be new, Lampe does draw ties to a painful history for Inuit peoples.
“It’s certainly colonialistic,” Lampe said of annexation calls, which he calls a “great concern” given the impact of colonization for Inuit has been felt for a long time.
Many people on board tell CTV News they have Inuit friends in Greenland, in some cases family, and, as Lampe put it, likely distant relatives he doesn’t even know.
