Nome to host 2030 Inuit Circumpolar Council General Assembly

Nome will draw about 400 Inuit delegates, youth representatives, Elders and observers in 2030 for four days of debate and voting on the council's priorities, marking the first return of the Inuit Circumpolar Council General Assembly to the city since 1995. Kawerak, Inc., the tribal consortium for the Bering Strait region, and Bering Straits Native Corporation announced Thursday they will co-host the council's 16th General Assembly.

"This gathering will bring Inuit from across the Arctic together on our homelands to share knowledge and strengthen relationships," said Bering Straits Native Corporation president Cindy Towarak Massie.

The co-hosts say 72 delegates will represent the council's four member regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Chukotka in Russia, voting on priorities including food security, climate change, Arctic sovereignty and language protection. That figure differs from ICC's own count when the 15th General Assembly opened in Iqaluit, which put the number of delegates there at 66; the available material does not explain the discrepancy.

The hosting decision was recorded in the closing release from the 15th General Assembly, held July 22 to 25 in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Delegates there adopted the 2026 Iqaluit Declaration, which guides the council's work until 2030, and elected Aluki Kotierk, who also chairs the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as chair for the 2026 to 2030 term. The declaration states that Inuit "again find ourselves in an unstable geopolitical time" and calls on states to provide free and unrestricted movement for all Inuit across their homeland.

Chukotka sits directly across the Bering Strait from Nome. A 1989 bilateral agreement lets qualifying Indigenous residents travel without Russian visas to designated districts for visits of up to 90 days. ICC's account of that assembly records Inuit relatives from Chukotka among those welcomed in July.

"We are eager to unite with our fellow Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka to advance our collective sovereignty, protect our Arctic waters, and assert food security," said Frank Katchatag, co-chair of the Kawerak board.

"The BSNC Board is pleased to unanimously support efforts to co-host the ICC General Assembly in 2030," said Robert "Bobby" Evans, chair of the Bering Straits board, who attended his first assembly in July as a Bering Strait delegate.

The announcement comes from the two co-hosts alone. It does not name a venue, state hosting costs, or include comment from the City of Nome, Nome Eskimo Community, or ICC Chukotka.