Part of a statement released by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in 1992. I’m reading a study called Inuit in Cyberspace: Imbedding Offline Identities Online. Connection to the internet is very relevant to people in the arctic considering large distances between communities and the otherwise few connections to the rest of the world - especially considering how many interest groups are discussing the arctic without inviting arctic people or considering their views, let alone their right to determine their future for themselves. But it fulfills even more basic needs that are logistically more difficult in the arctic, like facilitating medical care, connecting families and friends, distributing news and giving citizens a say in governance. Greenland was the second country to have a fully functional digital communications network.
The first week in October a telecommunications satellite broke down and left all of Nunavut without access to the internet for about a day. When you consider that in most Western countries a large amount of medical information is stored online and even most local businesses rely on some distant companies to perform basic services - not to mention how many families in the arctic live in settlements that could easily be over 100 or 150 kilometers apart, and sometimes even further from substantial health and safety services - this is a big deal.
