Duane Smith to Head

ICC-Canada For 4 More Years

INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE Press Release

OTTAWA , Tuesday, 20 June 2006 – The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) Canada will be led by the same president who presided over the organization during the last four years. Duane Smith of Inuvik, NWT first took over the organization’s top position in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik in July 2002, the last time Inuit gathered together from Russia, Alaska, Greenland, and Canada for the ICC General Assembly.

ICC is the international body that represents the world’s 155,000 Inuit, promoting their unity and their rights. ICC-Canada is the body that advocates on behalf of Canadian Inuit on matters of international importance and is the representative body of ICC in Canada.

Violet Ford, a Labrador Inuk who was elected as Vice President of ICCCanada in Kuujjuaq, will also be serving another term. Mr. Smith and Ms. Ford have been committed for many years to promoting the rights of Inuit, and advocating on their behalf in numerous international bodies such as the United Nations.

Duane Smith was nominated by the Chair and CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Nellie Cournoyea. In her nomination, Ms. Cournoyea states that Mr. Smith “has shown leadership, commitment and dependability in furthering the Inuit cause, both nationally and internationally” and that he “has proven to be an excellent ambassador for all Inuit”.

Both Mr. Smith and Ms. Ford will be formally elected by acclamation at the ICC Canada Annual General Meeting July 8 in Inuvik. Their elections are expected to be warmly welcomed at the ICC General Assembly the following week in Barrow, Alaska. Mr. Smith and Ms. Ford will, respectively, sit as Vice-Chair and Council Member on international body of ICC until 2010.

Right: Duane working with Eddie Dillon and Gerry Roy on the Access and Benefits information package for beneficiaries. Duane is also chairperson of the Inuvik Community Corporation.