[D66] The impact of Covid-19 on Saami communities

[R.O.]

https://arctic-council.org/en/news/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-saami-communities/


The Arctic Council <https://arctic-council.org/en/>News 
<https://arctic-council.org/en/news/>


  The impact of Covid-19 on Saami communities


            16 July 2020

Interview with Christina Henriksen, President of the Saami Council


        *How are Saami communities affected by the coronavirus pandemic?*

Sápmi covers the geographical area of reindeer husbandry in Norway and 
Sweden, the Saami administrative area in Finland and great parts of the 
Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia. Finland and Norway both imposed a 
lockdown in mid-March. Sweden remained open but provided strong advice 
on how to limit the virus. So far, there have been few COVID-19 cases in 
the Saami area. Except in Russia, and Norrbotten in Sweden. Thus, there 
is relatively little experience of the disease in Sápmi and we have yet 
to test the health service and infrastructure when put under pressure of 
an outbreak peak. One can say that the lockdown has reduced the spread 
of the virus, and in Sápmi, the peak is avoided during the most 
challenging weather conditions during winter.


        *How are Saami communities informed about the pandemic and
        measures taken to tackle it?*

The national media is the main source of information for many. General 
advice on COVID-19 and how to tackle it has been translated to several 
Saami languages and made available in media, including Saami media, and 
on the national health authorities as well as Saami Parliaments’ 
webpages. Information is available in davvisámegiella/north Saami, 
julevsámgiella/julev saami, åarjelsaemien/south saami, anarâškielâ /anar 
saami and nuõrttsääʹmǩiõll / eastern saami.


        *Are there health issues and/or other factors that could
        influence the susceptibility of Saami communities? What steps
        have/could be taken to alleviate these problems?*

The Saami people have equal access to the same health services as the 
society at large. In some cases, they face the same challenges such as 
too long distances to hospitals, unacceptable emergency preparedness, 
few respirators and so on. Additional challenges for the Saami people 
are the long-recognized lack of cultural-appropriate health services and 
lack of Saami speaking nurses and doctors.
Previous demography studies have indicated that there are generally more 
elderly people living in what are dominantly Saami communities. (e.g. 
northern Norway, except for big towns such as Romsa/Tromsø, Álttá/Alta, 
Girkonjárga/Kirkenes). Limiting the contact with elderly people (65+, 
later 80+), limits the natural exchange and nurture of the relationship 
with elders which is so important in Saami culture. This is likely to 
impact the general health of the elders in the long run.

So far, the virus has been most spread in the areas around the capitals 
and around the larger cities in the South. Municipals in the North has 
been criticized for putting in place local restrictions for people 
flying in from the South, and called for quarantine for those coming in. 
Finland is the only country that limited travel around the capital area 
which had most infection. This could have been done in the other 
countries as well. From a Saami perspective, we could keep the national 
borders in the North open and drawn the line at the Arctic circle 
instead, to keep natural movement for reindeer and people, and keep the 
Saami economy going.


        *How are Saami communities affected by the national measures
        taken to contain the coronavirus?*

There are both negative and positive impact on the Saami communities 
coming from the national lockdowns. In some areas, reindeer husbandry 
operates more or less on the national borders, thus migration and other 
movement is crossing the borders. In the cases of Norway and Sweden, the 
national authorities rapidly came up with an exception for reindeer 
husbandry and allowed these herders to cross the border without 
quarantining afterwards.

The Saami people lives across several national borders. Months of 
closing of these borders interferes with the Saami families living on 
different sides of a border. It interferes with the social life of Saami 
as a people. And not least, it impacts the economy. A great part of the 
Saami economy is Saami wide. The market for duodji (Saami handicrafts) 
stretches across the whole of Sápmi (across borders). The Saami festival 
audience does not know the borders, and the same goes for many large 
institutions, such as Saami University of Applied Sciences.

Many tourist companies report a total stop in their activities due to 
the closed borders and no travel. In some cases, this is positive for 
reindeer husbandry during Easter, this spring and summer, as the 
reindeer herders would not need to go out and call for closure of access 
due to reindeer migration, calving or similar. This will reduce the 
potential conflicts between reindeer herders and the tourist companies, 
and consequently have less impact on the mental well-being of the 
reindeer herders. A significant decrease in the cost of gas and diesel 
will have direct positive impact on the bottom line in the reindeer 
husbandry accounting. But it is still uncertain how the pandemic will 
influence the price of reindeer meat.

A lot of the Saami businesses are small or micro businesses, often in 
combination with several other activities. It will be interesting to see 
if Saami businesses have survived better than in other areas, in the 
sense of being small in the first place and traditional. It will be 
interesting to see if this made them more vulnerable or more resistant 
for these abrupt changes. Or maybe this traditional way of doing 
business has been broken already by Western ideas of how to organise a 
business. The question is also at what level we measure resilience, at 
company level or personal economy level of the person behind the business.
The Saami Parliament in Norway and the Norwegian government has provided 
economical support to Saami business in particular through the revised 
national budget.

There is a great concern that we risk the same attitude towards 
industrial projects as in other Indigenous Peoples’ areas in the world. 
There is concern when the government calls for or argues for rapid 
opening and start-up of industrial projects in order to keep the economy 
rolling, and ensuring labour opportunities in projects that the Saami 
peoples have been opposing due to the impact they will have on our 
culture (e.g. mines and windmills).


        *Have Saami communities taken any measures in addition to
        national/regional measures to contain the outbreak?*

The lockdown has prevented activities gathering people and have a great 
impact on the Saami cultural life, as our festivals and markets, as well 
as conferences and seminars, are important meeting spots for us as a 
people. Many Saami individuals and organizations make a living from 
organizing or performing in these events, and our duojárat - our 
handcrafters - are relying on these events for selling their products. 
As a result of the Covid-19 spread and lockdown, Saami artists and 
organizers have lost their income. This is devastating for the cultural 
sector, which is so crucial for preservation and development of Saami 
music, art, film, literature and other cultural activities as well as 
for catalysing important discussions regarding the Saami culture, our 
rights and our existence. The situation keeps evolving and restrictions 
are still in place over the Summer when reindeer husbandry moves into 
calf marking period that often gather up to 300 people. In the reindeer 
corral it is hard to keep distance to each other while working face to 
face and shoulder to shoulder. Guidelines on how to regulate human 
behaviour during this important event, are under discussion many places.

A positive measure enabled through The International Sámi Film Institute 
was the invitation to Saami film makers to apply for small grant to make 
short film about the COVID-19 situation. All together 15 short films 
will show experiences of the lockdown and the Covid-19 situation from a 
Saami perspective. The series is called Home Sweet home - Oru lea buoret 
go jođi 
<https://www.isfi.no/en/?post=home-sweet-home-significant-digital-premiere-of-sami-films> 
(A Saami saying). The films became available in June.

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