The National Confederation of Swedish Sami has long wanted to break issues of reindeer husbandry out of the Sami Parliament and transfer them to a politically independent authority. SSR raised the issue with the Minister of Culture and Sami at a meeting in January.
On the Norwegian side, there is a similar solution in the form of Statens reindriftsforvaltning.
Divorced from politics
Now Guovssonástu proposes in a motion that “The Sámi Parliament urgently asks the government to quickly investigate how to separate the reindeer husbandry authority in the Sámi Parliament from the political popularly elected parliament, the Sámi Parliament.
Guovssonásti wants to see a reindeer husbandry authority that is completely independent from the popularly elected Sami Parliament. “In this way, the Sami Parliament’s political role can be clarified and the reindeer husbandry issues that are neglected today can be implemented,” writes the party.
In the motion, reference is made to the criticism directed from the State Office that the Sami Parliament’s organization may need to be reviewed.
The board requests rejection
The board of the Sámi Parliament, on the other hand, does not see the need and demands rejection of the motion.
“The board works to increase Sami self-determination as far as possible, that does not include reducing self-determination by transferring Sami issues to a Swedish authority,” the response says.
The motion will be considered during the plenary days in Gällivare and will probably lead to debate.
Does it need to be a separate authority? Is it not enough with a decision that reindeer herding issues should be handled by the Sami Parliament’s officials?
– What is written on the door matters less. Only we have watertight partitions between politics and the exercise of authority. That is the primary thing, says Matti Blind Berg.
In the clip, SSR chairman Matti Blind Berg explains what he thinks is lacking with the current management.