The Finnish Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission will continue until a decision is made about their future.
Two of the five members have resigned.
The Secretary-General also resigned. The Commission’s regulators are currently negotiating the future path.
The Truth of Sámi and the work of the Reconciliation Commission will continue to be reduced in composition for the foreseeable future.
Hannere Pokka will serve as the interim chair of the three-member committee until a decision is made on the future of the committee.
Hannere Pokka emphasizes that the continuation of the Commission is in the hands of the State Council, the Sámi Parliament and the Colts Village Council.
On Wednesday, the government allowed two members, Miina Seurujärvi and Heikki J. Hyvärinen, to resign from the trust of the members. At the beginning of May, Seurujärvi announced his resignation because he felt that the Commission could not perform the assigned tasks due to lack of resources. Hyvärinen has resigned for health reasons.
In addition to Seurujärvi and Hyvärinen, Commission Secretary-General Anni-Kristiina Juuso also quit her job during the probationary period.
Despite the resignation of some members of the committee, Hanere Poka said it was possible and necessary to continue the preparatory work.
At the same time, the Sámi in Lovozero (Luujärvi), a neighboring region of Russia and the village of Krasnoshchelye in the Murmansk region, also met with authorities and businessmen interested in starting lithium mining in their settlements.
The meeting also brought together Nenets and Komi representatives, as well as government officials.
The main purpose of the meeting was to set up dialogue with indigenous peoples, inform the local community about upcoming projects, and listen to and record suggestions and comments from the community.
In April 2022, two Russian companies, Nornickel and Rosatom, signed an agreement to implement a joint project that spans the development of the Kolmozerskoye lithium deposit in the Murmansk region and the further processing of lithium raw materials. Kolmozerskoye is Russia’s largest and most promising undeveloped lithium deposit.
The parties also discussed basic approaches to ethnographic and sociological studies. The company collects and validates all possible information about the subject, the nature and scale of traditional transactions, sacred places and burials, identifies potentially affected people, and provides a detailed map of the area. I confirmed the intention to create it.
The research will be carried out in collaboration with Sámi, Nenets and Komi with the involvement of major scientific institutions.
