By: Hannah Adamson
MHCR Director Antti Pentikäinen and MHCR Programs Officer Hannah Adamson below Rastigaisa Mountain which is valued by the Sami (Photo: Antti Pentikäinen, Author’s Personal Collection)
Throughout my time studying conflict analysis and resolution, I have developed an interest in understanding Indigenous {1} processes related to truth-telling, healing, justice, and sustainability. At the end of May 2022, I traveled to Northern Finland to Sami Land with MHCR Director Antti Pentikäinen as he worked alongside local actors involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Concerning Sami People. We visited with Sami healers, community leaders, members of the Sami Psychosocial Support Unit, politicians, and other actors to listen to their experiences and, when appropriate, offer encouragement and guidance. Now, a few months following my trip, I recognize my reflections on the experience and lessons learned are infinite; however, some of my key reflections include:
1. The crucial role of trust in reconciliation processes,
2. Contemplating the roles of insiders and outsiders,
3. The need for mental health and wellbeing support for reconciliation practitioners,
4. The opportunity for Indigenous reconciliation processes to support environmental justice.
Background on Sami (Also spelled Sámi and Saami) history and culture
Before sharing my reflections from visiting Sami people involved in the reconciliation process, it is important to offer some brief context about the Sami people and the ongoing conflict:
· The Sami people range across Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia.
· They are the only recognized Indigenous people within the European Union.
· The Sami population is ~75,000, with ~10,000 people living in Finland.
· Much of Sami traditional land is in the northern Lapland region of Finland.
· The Sami are recognized in the Finnish government through the Sami Parliament established in 1996.
· Sami people in Finland are divided by language (North Sami, Inari Sami, and Skolt Sami as the three main languages) and forms of livelihood (notably reindeer herding and fishing).
· All three of these main Sami languages are at great risk, with approximately only 300/350 speakers remaining.
· The Sami people have been colonized and oppressed throughout history by various government powers, the forceful spread of Christianity, and several wars including World War II, the Winter War, the Continuation War, and the Lapland War.
· Faced with displacement as a result of this, Sami traditional language and culture have struggled to survive.
· Sources of information: Sámediggi, Information; Sámediggi, Language; Siida Museum.
About our visit
Historical replica of a traditional Sami cabin in Northern Finland (Photo: Hannah Adamson, Author’s Personal Collection)
Considering this historical violence and its present legacy, the Sami are actively resisting their cultural erasure, especially due to a lack of their oppressors’ acknowledgment of past harms and the ongoing impacts of unresolved trauma within the Sami people. To address these forms of oppression, the Sami and the Finnish Prime Minister’s office co-developed a Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Commission Concerning the Sami People, which came into being in 2019 and began work in 2021. MHCR Director Antti Pentikäinen was instrumental in spearheading this commission while working in the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office.
Although the TRC was developed with a majority of Sami commissioners, mistrust arose between Sami people and the government and, surprisingly, within the commission itself. This mistrust centered around whether the TRC could provide a positive outcome and if it was sufficiently championing the Sami community. Tensions culminated in the resignation of the Secretary-General on May 22, 2022. With our arrival on May 26, our central aim was to talk with relevant actors in a moment of pause following the tensions as the future of the TRC was re-evaluated.
With a focus on empowering local actors, we met with Antti’s contacts to discuss what was happening, cultivate safe spaces for reflection, and for Antti to offer technical guidance on next steps. During our drives between visits, Antti would provide me with translations and context to our meetings and ask me to share my observations. While most meetings were held in Finnish, I could sense the emotion of what was being shared through body language and periodic translation.
“It was powerful to feel a sense of connection during these meetings, as cultural and lingual barriers do not stop a shared human experience. ”
Looking at traditional Sami handicrafts made by students, learning about language nests for young children to maintain endangered Sami languages, and listening to women leading Sami culture, mental health, and political programs, the fight for cultural survival became apparent.
Supporting practitioner healing as part of the collective
Hannah speaking with traditional Sami joik singer Wimme Saari in front of a 400-year-old Sami drum used in rituals (Photo: Antti Pentikäinen, Author’s Personal Collection)
While inspired by this perseverance, I became more acutely aware of the challenges the community is experiencing by bearing witness to pain between individuals and groups within the Sami community. It became evident unresolved trauma of external abuse, a second layer of harm, negatively affects relationships between Sami people and undermines reconciliation processes. Considering these concerns, there is a need for individuals involved in their own reconciliation processes (insiders) to work towards their own healing before participating in larger processes. Traumatic triggers within the commission contributed to its division and current crisis. Working to address this, the Sami Psychosocial Support Unit, originally designed to provide support for those providing testimony, is working to offer support for the commissioners working to salvage the process. This work serves as an example of the need for practitioners and insider reconcilers to heal and receive mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), so they can be effective instead of risky actors in peacebuilding processes. To provide more context on MHPSS in this context, the Sami Psychosocial Support Unit offers psychotherapy for individuals and families with Sami practitioners who speak each of the three main Sami languages. In this way, those seeking assistance can be best understood in their native language and cultural context. This group works alongside the commission to address needs during the reconciliation process and is working to become a permanent entity providing mental health care and resources for the Sami community.
Trust-building as essential to reconciliation
Furthermore, I realized the importance of evaluating and building trust within reconciliation processes. Reflecting on the existing trust issues between commissioners, evaluating levels of trust in the commission and within Sami could have been helpful before initiating the commission. Identifying areas lacking trust could play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of reconciliation processes. In this case, trust-building workshops between individuals and groups may have been able to prevent and/or mitigate the TRC crisis in May. Trust was also an essential component of our visits with members of the Sami community. As a Finnish person who championed the TRC while working for the government, Antti established working relationships and enough trust to operate in this context. Now working primarily outside of Finland, Antti has both the trust and critical distance needed from the context to effectively allow people to share their concerns in a safe space and offer guidance when needed. This “trusted outsider” or “distant insider” positionality is something I witnessed for the first time and have not read about thus far. Understandably, as an outsider, I was viewed with skepticism, and my presence was questioned. Those I interacted with were mostly open to me shadowing due to my connection with Antti. Then comfortable communication arose over the course of our meetings to varying degrees.
“In this light, trust is a prerequisite to connecting with communities, highlighting the need for community trust building and contextual knowledge before seeking to support conflict resolution processes.”
Freshwater stream sourced by a sacred Sami spring (Photo: Hannah Adamson, Author’s Personal Collection)
Indigenous people vital to an environmentally just future
This visit also helped me more deeply understand the intersectionality between Indigenous reconciliation and sustainability. Throughout the week, we traveled through Sami land, which was stunning: streams and waterfalls of snowmelt on the mountains, reindeer walking through brush, and lingonberries appearing after being covered by snow. We visited a few Sami sacred sites to see where they practice rituals and healing ceremonies. In meeting with community members and observing handicraft, the tight connection between Sami culture and the environment became apparent. From their use of every part of reindeer to calf-marking ceremonies (connecting children with the calves they will later herd), to knowing when and where to fish salmon, to knowing the right time to harvest birch trees to make skis, it was evident the environment was not only a resource but a component of identity that is important to maintain. Paradoxically, living in the arctic - which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world - means these environmental practices, and their cultural value, are in jeopardy by climate change (IPCC Report, 2018). This is another example of the layers of harm experienced by the Sami and Indigenous people globally. In reconciling the relationships of the Sami and Finland, perhaps Indigenous traditional knowledge and environmental stewardship can be more valued and included in climate change mitigation and fostering an environmentally just future. It would also be powerful if this partnering of Indigenous knowledge with western science and policy could be an avenue for reconciliation itself. Learn more about how the Sami are adapting to climate change here.
Personal reflections and concluding remarks
Personally reflecting on my visit to Finland, I realized my spark for peacebuilding and reconciliation work had been reignited. While working remotely has sometimes been hard to envision the tangible positive impacts our team works towards, this experience enabled me to feel connected to the work practitioners carry out on the ground and reaffirm every piece of this work - even the behind-the-scenes on a computer screen - is essential. This visit also informed my perspective as a researcher investigating insider reconcilers as I was able to listen to and observe insider reconcilers in practice. I am deeply grateful for this experience and would like to thank all those who welcomed me into their conversations and Antti for his mentorship. As I progress in my education and career, I am excited to dive further into both understanding Indigenous reconciliation processes and practitioner work engaging with communities.
Strangely, witnessing the painful legacies of injustice first-hand offered me a sense of hope and determination as an aspiring practitioner. As we met with individuals and listened to their experiences of injustice, their determination and perseverance became more powerful than harm. While mistrust and unresolved trauma contributed to the crisis in the commission, the fierceness of hope allows reconciliation processes to continue, even outside of formal mechanisms. Though the commission's future is still in question, the determination to pursue healing remains. On my last day in Finland, we visited the Siida Museum and Nature Center, which documents Sami history and culture. It was their grand re-opening, where they displayed a new exhibit incorporating artifacts returned from the National Museum of Finland. There was a diverse audience, from tourists learning about the Sami for the first time to Sami leaders wearing traditional dress. Throughout the day, even in the face of division over the commission, there was a palpable sense of celebration and resilience, which left me confident the Sami community will continue to overcome.
Light shining over Northern Finland as I left (Photo: Hannah Adamson, Author’s Personal Collection)
Summary: Key lessons to carry forward
· “Cultural and lingual barriers do not stop a shared human experience”
· “there is a need for individuals involved in their own reconciliation processes (insiders) to work towards their own healing before participating in larger processes”
· “trust is a prerequisite to connecting with communities, highlighting the need for community trust building and contextual knowledge before seeking to support conflict resolution processes”
· Indigenous people and Indigenous environmental knowledge are essential in achieving a sustainable and just future.
{1} Indigenous is capitalized to recognize this as a specific important category of people. Considering ongoing legacies of colonization and oppression of Indigenous people I feel it important to emphasize the importance of these communities through this capitalization and as a way to uplift Indigenous social justice movements.