Sheila Watt-CloutierOC (born 2 December 1953) is a Canadian
Inuk activist.[1] She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for the
Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference). Watt-Cloutier has worked on a range of social and
environmental issues affecting Inuit, most recently,
persistent organic pollutants and
global warming. She has received numerous awards and honours for her work, and has been featured in a number of documentaries and profiled by journalists from all media. Watt-Cloutier sits as an adviser to
Canada's Ecofiscal Commission. She is also a senior fellow at the
Centre for International Governance Innovation.
In the mid-1970s, she worked for the Ungava Hospital as an
Inuktitut translator and strove to improve education and health conditions. From 1991 to 1995, she worked as a counsellor in the review process of the education system of Northern Quebec. This work led to the 1992 report on the educational system in Nunavik, Silaturnimut - The Pathway to Wisdom. Watt-Cloutier also contributed significantly to the youth awareness video Capturing Spirit: The Inuit Journey.[2]
Political career
Watt-Cloutier has been a political representative for Inuit for over a decade. From 1995 to 1998, she was Corporate Secretary of
Makivik Corporation, the Canadian Inuit land-claim organization established for Northern Quebec (Nunavik) under the 1975
James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
In 1995, she was elected[2][3] President of
Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Canada, and re-elected in 1998.[2] ICC represents internationally the interests of Inuit in
Russia,
Alaska, Canada and
Greenland. In this position, she served as the spokesperson for
indigenous peoples in the
Arctic during the negotiation of the
Stockholm Convention banning the manufacture and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) or
DDT. These substances pollute the Arctic
food chain and accumulate in the bodies of Inuit, many of whom continue to subsist on local country food.[4]
In 2002, she was elected[2][5] International Chair of ICC, a position she would hold until 2006.[2] Most recently, her work has emphasised the human face of the impacts of global
climate change in the Arctic. On 7 December 2005, based on the findings of the
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, which projects that Inuit hunting culture may not survive the loss of
sea ice and other changes projected over the coming decades, she launched the world's first international legal action on climate change: a petition, along with 62 Inuit hunters and Elders from communities across Canada and Alaska, to the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that unchecked emissions of
greenhouse gases from the
United States have violated Inuit cultural and environmental human rights as guaranteed by the 1948
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.[6] Although the IACHR decided against hearing her petition, the Commission invited Watt-Cloutier to testify with her international legal team (including lawyers from
Earthjustice and the
Center for International Environmental Law) at their first hearing on climate change and human rights on 1 March 2007.
Publications
Her book The Right to Be Cold, about the effects of climate change on Inuit communities, was published by Allen Lane -
Penguin Random House in 2015.[7]
Her memoir The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet (2015) was short-listed for
Canada Reads, where it was championed by musician
Chantal Kreviazuk.[8] Activist
Naomi Klein reviewed the books for the Globe and Mail, calling it "courageous and revelatory".[9]
"The Inuit Journey Towards a POPs-Free World." Northern Lights Against POPs: Combating Toxic Threats in the Arctic. Ed. David Leonard Downie and Terry Fenge. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003. 256–267.
"Don’t Abandon the Arctic to Climate Change." The Globe and Mail 24 May 2006: A19.
"ICC responds to last week’s editorial." Nunatsiaq News 9 June 2006: Opinion.
"Nunavut must think big, not small, on polar bears." Nunatsiaq News 19 January 2007: Opinion.[10]
The Right Livelihood Award[43] "for her lifelong work to protect the Inuit of the Arctic and defend their right to maintain their livelihoods and culture, which are acutely threatened by climate change."[44]
Personal life
Watt-Cloutier has a daughter, a son, and a grandson. Prior to returning to Kuujjuaq, she resided in
Iqaluit,
Nunavut for 15 years.[45]