The Finnish government has released a Truth and Reconciliation report documenting historical harms to the Indigenous Sámi people, with climate change at its core. The findings highlight how warming temperatures and development threaten traditional livelihoods like reindeer herding. Recommendations urge greater Sámi authority over land to address these intertwined issues.
Earlier this month, Finland issued its Truth and Reconciliation report, outlining decades of mistreatment toward the Sámi, including forced cultural assimilation through boarding schools and loss of territory after World War II evacuations. Unlike Norway and Sweden, Finland never formally codified these integrations, yet they became standard practice, eroding the Sámi language and traditions.
The Sámi, numbering 75,000 to 100,000 globally with about 10,000 in Finland, have sustained a semi-nomadic lifestyle centered on reindeer herding and fishing across Nordic borders for millennia. Today, climate change exacerbates past injustices: warmer winters bring more rain, forming ice crusts over snow that prevent reindeer from accessing lichen and grass. This forces herders to buy expensive feed, increasing labor demands. Extended warm periods push the tree line higher, limiting access to foliage, while declining salmon stocks reduce food sources.
Encroaching mining, wind power projects, and military training in the Arctic further strain Sámi lands amid rising geopolitical tensions. The report, informed by Truth and Reconciliation models like South Africa's 1998 commission, includes nearly 70 recommendations. These emphasize Sámi involvement in land decisions, collaboration with the Sámi Climate Council on adaptation plans blending science and traditional knowledge, protection of old-growth forests, reparations from forestry to herders, and a Sámi Business and Climate Fund.
Aslak Holmberg, a Saami Council member and former Sámi Parliament representative, stressed the need for coordination, noting, “The Sámi are also sensing this tension in the security situation. So it’s not like Sámi are against the military activities, but a lot could be done to improve or avoid the negative impacts of military activities.”
Prime Minister's call for an apology has drawn caution. Holmberg remarked, “I think just giving an apology would be very performative at this point, if there are no commitments to actually change anything.” Commission chair Hannele Pokka views the report as a starting point: “We have only tried to describe the truth. And then we must continue speaking about reconciliation.”
