ICC's Beginning
In 1973, several Greenlandic organizations based in
Inuit visionaries such as Mayor Eben Hopson of the North Slope Borough,
Planning, fundraising, and focussed attention to this goal began in earnest. A grant submission made to an American foundation in 1975 contains the following:
We Eskimo are an international community sharing common language, culture, and a common land along the Arctic coast of
Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Although not a nation-state, as a people, we do constitute a nation.
Inuit from
At that historic and celebratory meeting, political resolutions were passed, poetry was read, and songs were sung. All 54 delegates (18 from each country) agreed to found an organization to carry on the task of working together on an international basis. The celebratory mood in 1977 was only dampened by the absence of Inuit from the former