The Norwegian state was founded on the territory of two
peoples - Norwegians and Sami. It is clear that the Sami, as an
indigenous people in Norway, have a special right to cultural
protection. Norway's Sami policies mark the consolidation of this
goal. The name Sami stems from
sapmi which denotes both the geographical territory for
the traditional Sami settlement areas and the people
themselves.
The Sami live in the polar region
in what today comprises the northern area of Norway, Sweden,
Finland and Russia's Kola peninsula. Policies toward the Sami have
diverged strongly among these four sovereign states. From the south
the traditional Sami region extends from Femunden in Norway's
Hedmark county to Idre, in Dalarne, Sweden. To the north it
stretches to the Kola peninsula in Russia and down to Finland in
the southeast. Norway has the biggest Sami population.
The size of the Sami population has
been reckoned at 75,000, but estimates vary in accordance with
criteria used (genetic heritage, mother tongue, personal wishes,
etc.). Official censuses have not given reliable counts. Because of
the assimilation process, not all Sami have wished to acknowledge
or declare their ethnic identity. For this reason, the Sami
parliaments in the Nordic countries have worked out their own
criteria for defining Sami from a combination of subjective and
objective factors.
Sami Language
The Sami language belongs to the
Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic family, and is closely related to
the Baltic Sea-Finnish languages, such as Finnish and Estonian and
Hungarian.
Sami is a so-called "synthetic"
language with numerous derivations and inflected forms as well as
multiple cases. The system of derivatives provides a wealth of
opportunities to create new words out of a single word root. By
comparison, Germanic languages are "analytical" with their
inflected forms. There are several Sami languages: East Sami,
Central Sami and South Sami. Central Sami includes North Sami, Lule
Sami, and Pite Sami. North Sami is the most spoken. The Sami
language boundaries do not coincide with the national borders of
the Nordic countries.
Sami background - social life and economics
The Sami region stretches across a
large geographical area with cultural and economic variations and a
corresponding diversity in Sami society.
The Sami societies were formerly
organized in siidas, which were a form of practical cooperation
between several family groups, primarily regarding management and
sharing of natural resources and game. The individual siida had a
collective right to hunting and fishing within its area. The
siida's head, the siida-isit, led the siida council. Among other
duties, he oversaw the siida's regulations for use of natural
resources, ensuring that hunting and distribution followed rules
and traditions. The expenditure of labour and the sharing of
economic burdens were distributed among the siida's members.
The Sami have developed an economy
based on a direct relationship to nature and natural resources.
Adaptations can be seen as functions of the local resources and
natural conditions in the arctic and subarctic areas. This is
exemplified by their following reindeer herds and the exchanges
between agriculture and fishing practised by Sami coastal
societies.
The societies are also adapted to
the prerequisites for production in specific ecological niches, and
they are marked by strong integration between production, culture
and family. Earlier, they lived off a primary industry based on
self sustenance and a family's own work. Production was generally
oriented toward sustaining life rather than making money. This form
of organizing labour required that all - women, men and children -
performed necessary functions and they were perceived as vital
resources for the family and society.
Socialisation of children was
directly associated with the need for knowledge about nature and
survival. The bringing up of children was closely connected with
activities applying to making a living, with an early involvement
and responsibility for chores. Older children were taught parental
responsibility, while allodial privilege was given to the youngest
child, who was also bound to care for aging parents. Children were
tied to a network of relations beyond the nuclear family.
The Sami noaide was a person with
strong mental and spiritual power. The noaide functioned as the
siida-isit. He was a strong spiritual leader for his society in
moral matters and could resolve disputes. He was also a healer,
social worker and story teller.
The Samis used both animal and
vegetable products in their folk medicine. In cases of where a
diagnosis was uncertain, the noiade sought advice by means of his
shamanic drum, or runebommen. He was capable of transcending states
of consciousness and could travel to other spiritual realms to cure
sickness or prevent death. The traditional Sami music form yoik and
beating on a runebommen contributed to such spiritual travels.
This use of yoik is probably the
reason why the song form was banned when Christianity appeared. Yet
healers continue to operate in several Sami communities today. It
is not uncommon for local health personnel and healers to work in
unison. A healer's knowledge and authority can have a supplementary
function to modern medical practice.
The conditions of Sami social and
economic life have changed greatly through the decades. However,
growing focus has been given to the potential of combining a
development of business activities and developing traditional ways
of making a living as a material basis for Sami culture. One sees
that the marginal resources in the Sami areas seldom give
sufficient economic nourishment for single occupations.
Combinations of jobs yield a more balanced utilisation of natural
resources, and additional economic support.
Sami background - Norwegianization and contact
The Samis' situation is strongly
dependent on the politics of the national states as well as more
general social conditions. From around the 1600s, assimilation and
preservation can be detected as two competing views in policies
towards the Samis. The question asked was whether the Samis should
be absorbed by the Norwegian population or whether their language,
culture and identity should be preserved. But the policies carried
out were not always the result of a conscious decision on behalf of
the state.
The first contact the Samis had
with other peoples were meetings with explorers, adventurers and
missionaries. Trade and state taxation soon followed. The Samis had
furs etc. which were valued as trade goods.
The colonisation of the Sami
territories occurred step by step. To begin with, the spreading of
Norwegians to the north was generally at the initiative of petty
kings and rich farmers who were also engaged in fishing. From the
Middle Ages and onwards, settlements of Norwegians arose along the
coast and the outer fjord areas. As they stabilized, the new
settlement areas in the north came under the control of state
authorities. For ages, the Norwegian colonization was concentrated
along the outer coastal areas where such fishing villages were
established. Churches and fortresses followed. The Church had
representatives in these fishing villages and extracted values
through trade and the issuing of fines. The Church also marked
Norwegian territoriality.
In time, the Norwegian authorities
stressed rational agriculture and private ownership of property.
This did not harmonise with the traditional Sami way of life.
The ownership of reindeer herds
began in the 1700s and replaced earlier cultures' hunting of wild
reindeer and stationary ownership of tame animals. A pattern
developed involving the nomadic herding of large numbers of the
animals between autumn, winter and spring grazing lands.
No clearly defined national
boundaries within the Sami areas of the polar cap were found until
the peace treaty of 1751. The areas grew to be perceived as
strategic, cradling a considerable economic potential. From time to
time, the Sami were taxed by several nations simultaneously. When
national borders were staked out, the Sami's way of life had to be
taken into account. This was done in an addition to the 1751 peace
treaty, the so-called Lappekodicillen. It was intended to protect
the Sami's grazing rights in the frontier areas, and comprised a
recognition of existing rights to herd reindeer. The
Lappekodicillen was called the "Sami's Magna Charta," and is
considered to be rudimentary in the legal protection of reindeer
herding.
North of the polar circle a
revivalist movement spread around 1840 under the leadership of Lars
Levi Læstadius. Church leaders felt that this undermined their
authority. After a while it became clear that their concern
entailed the "path-strayers from Kautokeino" in particular. Through
coercion the clergymen hoped to draw the Sami back into the fold
and increase their respect for the Church and the laws. A number of
authorities and police constables were sent to Kautokeino in this
connection.
During the so-called Kautokeino
rebellion of 1852, members of the sect followed the leadership of
Aslak Hætta and attacked the local merchant who was also sheriff,
as well as a liquor dealer and the parish vicar. The rebellion was
subdued. Two of the leaders were sentenced to death and beheaded in
1854.
Part of the background for the
rebellion was the increasing trade in alcoholic spirits. The Sami
had no tradition in drinking alcohol and the Læstidians called for
total abstinence. Local disrespect for the clergy was partly due to
the ministers' involvement in the alcohol trade.
From around 1850 a number of
regulations were made to bolster the teaching of Norwegian to Sami.
The goal was to establish Norwegian as their school language. It
was not until the 1930s that Sami was again allowed as a secondary
language in some school districts to augment teaching. In practice,
the Sami language was banned in many Norwegian schools until well
into the 1950s.
The "Norwegianization" policy
eventually moved into other social spheres. Following language, it
became dominant in agricultural policies, defence, education,
communications and media. For instance the Land Act of 1902
stipulated that property could only be transferred to Norwegian
citizens and furthermore only to those who could speak, read and
write Norwegian.
Social-Darwinist thinking provided
the ideological legitimisation for claiming that Sami were destined
to fall prey to "evolution and natural selection." Agriculture was
viewed as essential to culture. People who farmed the land could
take part in the development of society. Reindeer herding was a
prerequisite for those who lived off the land, but it was also
doomed. The only way to "save" the Sami was to integrate them
completely into Norwegian society.
The development of such
assimilation policies occurred hand in hand with increased interest
in the Sami territories by the mainstream population because of
discoveries of ores anddue to national security considerations.
Assimilation policies were also legitimized and substantiated by
mounting nationalism.
Norway had no pretensions of
becoming a military power. Its nationalism must be considered in
light of Norway as a young nation struggling to establish roots and
nurture its identity. This resulted in a poor atmosphere for
recognition of ethnic diversity and cultural differentiation.
Nationalism resulted in pressure to conform.
The Norwegianization policy
continued to influence Sami life after the Second World War,
although conditions gradually changed.
After 1945 - Samis in a welfare state
Although the official
Norwegianization policy was eventually ended, it was no easy matter
to change the attitudes toward Sami that followed in its wake.
These could not be terminated by political decree. Time has left
its indelible traces on the Samis through a loss of language,
traditions and a fading perception of their history and background
- and these values are difficult to regain.
Sami protests and demonstrations
should be viewed from this perspective. A goal of the social
democratic notion of solidarity was to level the differences
between people. Particularly in the initial postwar years, it was
difficult to unite this ideal with a policy aimed at giving special
rights to the Sami.
Toward a new basis for Sami policy
Little attention was given to Sami
issues during the interwar period and the postwar reconstruction.
However, a new line of official thought began to split away from
conscious Norwegianization. Sami education issues were treated for
the first time by an official report in 1948. A new "spirit of the
times" tied in with the UN's Human Rights Declaration of 1948 which
embraced a political consciousness about cultural equality.
The Sami committee of 1956 was
established to discuss principles and concrete measures for Sami.
Its conclusions, issued in 1959, included numerous initiatives to
facilitate the Sami's retention of their culture within the
framework of Norwegian society. This was the first time that Sami
issues were put to the Norwegian national assembly, the Storting,
for debate on a wide-scale and principle basis.
Among the intentions was a wish to
create positive special advantages for Sami. Opposition to the
committee's ideas was initially vigorous. When put to the Storting
in 1963 the strongest agreement involved proposals for social and
economic development. In the following decades, Sami policies were
particularly oriented toward the social sphere and regional
development.
Sami organizations
Local Sami organizations had
existed for a long time but there were no national ones until after
the Second World War. Those who were actively involved with the
Sami cause were viewed as dreamers and idealists, or in some cases
as extremists. Sami cultural symbols flourished and the development
of Sami organizations began to have an impact.
Nordic cooperation among the Sami
was initiated in 1953 at a conference in Jokkmokk, Sweden. A second
conference, which took place in Karasjok in Norway three years
later, voted to establish a Nordic Sami Council. This functions as
a liaison body between the Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish Sami's
political organizations. The Nordic Sami Council passed a cultural
policy programme in 1971 and a Sami policy programme in 1980.
The oldest surviving Norwegian Sami
organization is the Sami Reindeer Herders' Association in Norway
(NRL), which was formed in 1947 with the goal of promoting the
interests of the reindeer-herding Sami. Samiid searvi (Sami
Association) in Oslo has existed since 1948. The National
Association of Norwegian Sami (NSR) was established in 1968. Full
membership was reserved for Sami. The Norwegian Sami Union (SLF)
broke off from the National Association of Norwegian Sami as a
moderate alternative in 1979. The SLF attracted many coastal and
fjord area Sami into Sami politics.
Sami were active in the founding of
the World Council for Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in 1975. An
international perspective found its way into Sami politics, and
human rights arguments were adopted in relation to Norweg ian
authorities.
The Alta controversy
The Norwegian Water Resources and
Energy Administration (NVE) issued comprehensive plans in the 1970s
to develop the Alta-Kautokeino water system on the Finnmark
plateau, including a dam which would inundate the Sami community at
Masi. Even after these plans were reduced, a major hydroelectric
project remained on the drawing boards, including a 100-metre high
dam across a river canyon. It involved the construction of a road
across reindeer grazing land and calving areas.
The reindeer owners who were
affected by this and the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of
Nature took the state to court to prevent the development in 1979.
The case gained symbolic value. Sami and environmentalist interests
joined forces in demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience.
Demonstrations were staged at the construction site and Sami
activists started a hunger strike in front of the Storting. A group
of Sami women contributed with a sit-down strike at the Office of
the Prime Minister.
The dam was completed but this
issue dominated the debate about Sami politics throughout the
1970s. The Sami's situation received public attention and many
claim that it cleared the air for a better climate for Sami
politics in the 1980s. In general, North Norway was high on the
political agenda at this time, also because of regional policy
concerns, relations with the EU, oil prospecting etc. Sami
consciousness was also affiliated with increased attention to North
Norway.
The debate about the Sami situation
grew heated and emotional in Finnmark county in particular. Both
Norwegians and Sami began to fear "extremism" and perceptions
spread about Sami who wished to secede territory from the state of
Norway. This was not so odd when viewed in light of the former era
Norwegianization.
The Sami media
The first Sami newspaper,
Muittalægje, was issued from 1873-75.
The Sami newspaper Sagat was
founded in 1956. The Sami-language newspaper, Sami Áigi, based in
Karasjok, was first issued in 1979. Today we have the Sami language
newspapers Min Aigi and Assu. Gaba, a magazine for women, is also
published, as well as the children's magazine Leavedolgi, the youth
magazine S as well as the religious periodical Nuorttanaste.
Broadcasts in Sami were first
started by NRK Radio in 1946. Since then, the programmes have been
expanded and given a more varied content. But even the short
broadcasts in the early days had a powerful impact on the use of
the Sami language. The number of TV programmes in Sami is growing.
NRK Sami Radio has its headquarters in Karasjok. A study and report
on the situation for Sami radio and TV is currently being
prepared.
Sami book publishing
A blooming of Sami literature
occurred in the 1970s as authors with Sami backgrounds began to
write and publish books in Sami. The first children's book in Sami
was printed in 1976. Sami authors have founded their own
organization Sami Girjecalli Searvi. The Sami publishers have
collaborated with the Sami Educational Council and the Sami
cultural committee within the Norwegian Council for Cultural
Affairs, and later with the Sami Cultural Council under the Sami
Parliament. With a mounting production, recruitment of Sami writers
has also made much headway. The Sami publishing house Jårgæddji
issued about 150 book titles in the course of a decade. Davvi Girji
published about 40 titles.
Sami cultural efforts
By means of special support
measures, the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs has helped
establish a number of Sami cultural institutions and cultural
initiatives. Sami cultural heritage is expressed by means of
culture days, poetry readings and concerts, the spread and
development of handicrafts, literature and graphic arts, as well as
through the development of theatre and modern Sami art. Sami
artists now have their own organizations. Their umbrella is Sami
Daiddagoveddas which is situated in Karasjok. The Sami theatre
group Beaivvás Sami Teater was established in 1981 and since 1990
has had the status of a permanent theatre eligible for state
subsidies. The group has adapted Sami oral storytelling traditions
for the stage. Sami yoik has become inspired by jazz as well as the
ethnic music of other indigenous peoples. Sami graphic art and
literature, perhaps lyrical poetry in particular, displays a
diversity in choice of themes and means of expression. Since 1985,
Sami have had the right to nominate candidates for the Nordic
Council Prize for Literature. The artist Nils-Aslak Valkeapää was
awarded the prize in 1981.
Reorganization and official studies
The Nordic Sami Council was
established in 1964 as an advisory agency for state, county and
municipal authorities. The council eventually consisted of 18
members who were appointed in part by Sami organizations. In 1975 a
development fund for Sami settlement areas was established to
promote initiatives with an economic, social and cultural
importance for the Sami region. The fund is now known as the Sami
Development Fund. The Sami Council was responsible for supervising
its activities and pronouncing on them for the government. The Sami
Council has issued such statements in a number of important
cultural as well as economic issues.
The Alta controversy exposed the
need for a national coordination of Sami issues. In 1980 work with
Sami issues was subject to reorganization within the state
administration, with the Ministry of Labour and Government
Administration as the central coordinating authority. It was
decided that the Sami Council's annual reports were to be put to
the Storting and added to the reports by the Sami Development Fund.
It was additionally resolved that the Sami Council was to
distribute state allocations to Sami organizations, to Sami
handicrafts and to Sami interpreter services, and have funds at its
disposal to other Sami initiatives.
To committees established in 1980
were given the task of reporting on cultural and rights-related
issues.
Education and Research
Sami as a beginning language in
certain elementary schools was initiated in 1967. Later legislation
extended the use of the Sami language in schools. Adult courses in
Sami are held and paid leaves of absence are granted to teachers
who take university courses in Sami. Since 1975, school districts
with a mixed language basis are permitted to establish Sami school
districts at parental request. This provides an opportunity for the
use of the Sami language as a means of education as well as
instruction in the language itself. A new curriculum in Sami
education was created in connection with educational reforms in
1997. This primarily applies to pupils who reside in areas which
are administrated according to the Sami Act's language regulations.
Furthermore, basic material about Sami matters have been added to
the national curricula.
The Sami Educational Council was
established in 1976 in Kautokeino to advise in educational issues.
Plans are now under consideration to organize this council into the
system under the control of the Sami Parliament.
Courses in Sami studies have been
offered at the University of Oslo since 1948. An expanding array of
courses in Sami is also offered by the University of Tromsø.
Opportunities to learn the Sami language are provided at a number
of schools and colleges in the northern counties.
The University of Tromsø has a
clear profile involving the maintenance of North Norwegian and Sami
interests in education and research. Its Centre for Sami Studies
plays a coordinating role. In the autumn of 1989 the Sami College
in Kautokeino was established, with Sami language teachers'
training as its main offer. The Sami College's goal is to adapt
this education to the needs of the Sami society.
The Nordic Sami Institute at
Kautokeino, established in 1974, is a Sami research institute
funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Several of these
institutions are now joining forces to build up a Sami research
network.
Women organize themselves
Following the Nordic Council's
women's conference in 1988, Sami women founded their organization
Sarahkka. Sarahkka is affiliated with the World Council of
Indigenous Women which was founded in 1989. The organization points
out that indigenous women are subject to different conditions than
their men. As long as there is little public work aimed at the
continuation of Sami culture, such efforts are among the
responsibilities of families - particularly the women, who carry
the heaviest load in child upbringing and the passing on of
culture.
It has also been pointed out that
the point of departure for Norwegian laws and regulations on gender
equality is a Norwegian and Western European perspective. This is
foreign for the Sami society, where women have had a different, but
strong position.
Reindeer industry
About 40 per cent of Norway's land
mass is used for reindeer grazing. Most of this is in Finnmark
county. The economic value of this industry is minor on a national
scale, but it is important financially and culturally on the local
level.
An agreement from 1976 which
regulates the business empowered the Ministry of Agriculture with
the right to negotiate two-year agreements with the Sami Reindeer
Herders' Association. The Reindeer Herding Act of 1978, which
replaced an older law from 1933, emphasises both the business and
cultural aspects of the reindeer trade.
Norway is divided into reindeer
grazing areas, and Sami have an exclusive right to the trade. The
right to maintain reindeer herds is based on traditional use. It is
a right of usage, independent of who owns the land. The trade has
its own management system, in which the Sami Parliament now has
increased influence.
A debate has arisen about the
proper use of grazing lands. Reindeer owners, the Sami Reindeer
Herders' Association, the Sami Parliament, municipalities, reindeer
industry administrative bodies and departments have all become
involved in the issue. The official goal is to develop the trade
with the objective of establishing sustainable reindeer herding.
This objective involves making the business ecologically,
economically and culturally sustainable - in other words, a
business that can continue to provide a living for families
connected with reindeer herding without undermining the distinctive
character of the Sami.
In recent times there has been more
focus on those who are engaged in the primary industries with
regard to their informal competence in aspects such as language,
environmental management, etc.
The Sami and fisheries policies
The population's means of making a
living along the coastal and fjord areas from mid-Norway up to
Russia is generally based on fisheries in combination with other
trades. Most fishing is carried out with small boats in the fjords.
A combination of such fishing and farming is the most common
strategy for Sami along the coast and could thus be called a
cultural hallmark. In the 1980s and 90s the former practice of
unregulated coastal fishing was stopped because of increased
exploitation of sea resources and the establishment of
international and national quota regulations. Because the coastal
Sami combined fishing with farming and other trades, they were
placed lower on the lists when quotas were distributed. They simply
had not fished enough. This was an unintended side-effect of
changes in fisheries policies, and the Sami Parliament notified
national authorities that the quota system threatened atraditional
Sami means of making a living. This led to special initiatives for
such fishermen, raised consciousness about the material basis of
Sami culture and a special Sami fisheries committee was
established.
Agricultural policies in Sami areas
Most of the farms in Sami areas are
run in combination with other trades and businesses. Agriculture
has traditionally been open and flexible. It has provided
employment for periods (onner) to persons who have lacked a
permanent connection with the trade, and it has given farmers an
opportunity to utilise other niches in the labour market. In
keeping with Sami tradition, but contrary to a key premise for
Norwegian agricultural policies, agriculture in Sami areas has not
been organized toward a goal of sectorisation and full-time
employment. The Sami Parliament ordered a comprehensive
agricultural plan which was completed in 1995. On several
occasions, the Sami Parliament has stressed the need to maintain
the culture-bearing functions of the primary industries. In several
meetings, Norwegian agricultural authorities and the Sami
Parliament have developed a shared viewpoint that employment in
agriculture and other primary industries will continue to be
essential to the rural social life which ensures Sami culture, and
which provides the basis for its transfer to future generations.
Ways of bolstering combinations of trades is now a topic of
discussion.
Sami health and social affairs issues
In their organizations, Sami health
and social workers have stressed the situation of Sami patients and
clients. Sami health and social issues were placed on the agenda in
1995 in connection with an official report - the Plan for Sami
Health and Social Services. Work is now under way to follow up this
report.
The Sami Act and Sami Parliament
In 1980 a committee was formed to
discuss and report on Sami cultural matters and look into Sami
rights issues. The Sami Culture Committee published reports in 1985
and 1987, providing a comprehensive study of Sami school and
cultural issues, including a proposal for a Sami Language Act.
The Norwegian Official Report (NOU
1984:18), concerning the legal rights of the Sami, and the Act
concerning the Sami Parliament and other legal matters pertaining
to the Sami (the Sami Act) of 12 June 1987 were passed in
accordance with this report. The Storting passed an amendment to
the Constitution, Article 110a in April 1988, which stipulated Sami
constitutional rights.
The Sami Parliament was opened in
1989 by King Olav V.
Regulations for the use of the Sami
language were put to the Storting in 1990 and incorporated into the
Sami Act. In 1990, the political leadership of the Ministry of
Local Government and Labour was supplemented by a Sami policy
advisor, and in 1997 the position of state secretary for Sami
issues was created.
Article 110a in the Constitution
states: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State
to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and
develop its language, culture and way of life."
This is a preeminent rule of law
which both gives rights to the Sami population and duties and
obligations to the Norwegian state. The Sami Act has the same
preamble, with the additions of concrete regulations.
Norway has ratified several
international conventions, declarations and agreements which apply
to the Samis. An essential one of these is Article 27 in the UN
Convention of 1966 on civil and political rights, and the ILO
(International Labour Organization) Convention No. 169 of 1989,
which deals with the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples in
independent countries.
The Sami Rights Committee has
issued several sub-reports. These provide further details on
current law, for the historical perspective connected with the
management of land and waters in Finnmark, and the land rights of
Norway's indigenous people. The Norwegian Official Report (NOU
1997:4) on the natural basis for Sami culture was issued in January
1997. At the heart of the proposals is the objective of
guaranteeing a natural basis for Sami culture in Norway, in
accordance with guidelines for national as well as international
law. The committee has tried to develop regulations on local
management of land and natural resources in Finnmark. The Sami
Parliament has a role along with county and municipal organs. The
report will be subjected to a comprehensive set of hearings before
being put to the Government and the Storting. The Sami Rights
Committee will continue with its work and issue corresponding
reports on Sami settlement areas and traditional lands south of
Finnmark county.
A separate project was initiated in
1997 which will look into Sami traditions in legal perception and
relations applying to the use of land and waters in the Sami
regions. The conclusions will be taken into account in connection
with further processing of the Sami Rights Committee's report.
In 1995 an official report was made
about plans for health and social services for the Sami population.
In cooperation with the Sami Parliament, the authorities are
currently following up this plan.
Several subsidy schemes relating to
Sami were transferred to the administrative bodies under the Sami
Parliament in 1993. The appropriate ministries have retained
professional responsibility for Sami matters within their fields.
Authorities operate in collaboration with the Sami Parliament in
developing appropriate routines in budgetary work between the
ministries and the Sami Parliament.
Sami Parliament
The Sami Parliament's plenary body
consists of 39 elected representatives from 13 electoral districts.
The parliament convenes four times a year for week-long plenary
sessions. The Sami Parliament's main administration is located in
Karasjok. The Sami Parliament Council leads the legislative body's
day-to-day political activities. Various professional advisory
organs have been established subordinate to the Sami Parliament.
These are the Sami Cultural Monuments Council, the Sami Culture
Council, the Sami Business Council, and the Sami Language Council.
They function as professional organs for the Sami Parliament and
assist in the management of allocations and subsidies.
A number of questions involving the
Sami Parliament's position in the Norwegian political system have
yet to be resolved. To date, the debate has generally applied to
its various supervisory duties.
The Sami Parliament's duties are
manifold. It has carried out comprehensive administrative work and
planning. The parliament has made a special impact through its
efforts on the behalf of the agrarian rural population's economic
rights and fjord fishermen's situation in the northern areas. It
has developed a plan of action for Sami coastal and fjord areas,
its own Sami agricultural plan, and it has participated in a
special Sami fisheries committee. In addition it has carried out
its own studies involving combinations of trades to boost
employment in the Sami areas. The Sami Parliament has worked with a
special plan for children and youth as well as a Sami women's
project.
Nordic cooperation also comprises a
central part of its activities. The Sami Conference in 1992
demanded that the Nordic countries commence work on a Nordic Sami
convention. In 1996 a Nordic working group was established to
research and report on the need for such a convention. The Sami
Parliaments in Norway, Sweden and Finland decided in 1996 to
collaborate through a special parliamentary council.
The Sami in a multi-cultural Norway
The Sami are now in the process of
establishing a natural position as an indigenous population in a
multi-cultural Norway. However, a number of tasks remain in
connection with the enactment of
the provisions of the Sami Act,
among these an adaption to activities occurring in other areas and
levels of public administration. An integration of Sami policies,
where necessary, will be important for a long time to come. The
Sami Parliament must achieve a position in the Norwegian social
system which will make it a key player, issuing the premises for
Sami social developments.
The author of this article, Wenke Brenna, has an M.A. in
history. Her thesis work concerned regional support initiatives in
the Sami areas. Since 1981 she has worked at the Ministry of Local
Government and Labour's section for Sami issues. She has also
worked at the Ministry of Agriculture's office on reindeer-herding,
and was secretary for a committee which issued an official plan for
health and social services for the Sami population in Norway (NOU
1995:6).
Act No. 56 of 12 June 1987 relating to the Sami Parliament and
other Sami legal issues (The Sami Act), Section 2-6 stipulates
eligibility to vote in an election to the Sami Parliament. To get
on the electoral roll one has to declare that one:
* considers himself or herself a Sami, or
* has Sami as his/her first language, or whose father, mother
or one of whose grandparents has Sami as their first language+),
or
* has a father or mother who satisfies the above-mentioned
conditions for being a Sami.
+) First language is defined as the
language used at home when growing up (mother tongue). If several
languages were used, one of these must have been Sami.
