70 Years of the Saami Council
Participants at the Saami Conference in Kárášjohka / Karasjok in 1956, in the meeting room. Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum / Unni Fürst. NF.05535-027
In August 2026, the Saami Council marks 70 years since its formal establishment in Kárášjohka in 1956. Seventy years is a long time in the life of an organization. In the enduring memory of a People, it is also a reminder that the work of building institutions, societies and bridges across borders is never finished; it must be renewed by every generation.
President of the Saami Council
Per Olof Nutti
This text is part of the State of Sápmi #1/2026. The issue can be read in full here:
The State of Sápmi #1/2026 – Sámiráđđi 70 Jagi / 70 Years of the Saami Council (SÁ/EN)
Per Olof Nutti, President of the Saami Council
Photo: Saami Council / Piera Heaika Muotka
The Saami Council was founded on a simple, but powerful idea: that we, the Sámi, are one People. We are one People across state borders, across languages, across livelihoods and across different political realities. Our lands and waters have been divided by states, laws and administrative systems. Yet, the real borders of Sápmi are seldom drawn on the maps of the World. Sápmi is carried in our languages, in the knowledge passed from generation to generation, in our families, in our ways of living, and in the responsibility we hold towards each other.
This is why the title of Katri Somby’s article, “Mii fertet fas deaivvadit” – we must meet again – speaks so strongly to the history of the Saami Council. The Saami conferences have always been places where our people gather to see beyond the borders that have been placed between us. They are places to discuss, disagree, organize, create and decide. They are places where Sámi civil society can unite under a shared political voice.
For 70 years, the Saami Council has worked to bring the Sámi People together. From the early Nordic cooperation around duodji and culture, to the establishment of national Sámi symbols, to the international work for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Saami Council has carried a responsibility that is both political and deeply human: to strengthen the Sámi people’s ability to speak, act and decide together.
Katri Somby’s article reminds us that this work did not happen by itself. It was built by people who travelled, wrote, negotiated and organized. It was built by those who protected our languages, those who demanded that Sámi perspectives must form the basis for research and policy, those who insisted that we be seen as one People across borders, and those who brought Sámi voices into the Global Indigenous Peoples’ movement. It was built by Sámi artists, activists, reindeer herders, fishers, hunters, farmers, cultural workers, language workers, elders, youth, organizations and communities.
The Saami Council has been an important independent voice for the Sámi civil society. This remains today one of our most important roles. The establishment of the Sámi parliaments has strengthened Sámi political representation in important ways. At the same time, there is still a need for an independent Sámi voice rooted in organizations, Sámi communities and the wider civil society of Sápmi. The future of Sápmi cannot be built by institutions alone. It must be built by the Sámi People.
Today, we live in uncertain times. Around us, there is war, conflict, climate change, pressure on lands and waters, and political forces that seek to weaken the rights of Indigenous Peoples. These realities affect Sápmi too. They also remind us why cross-border Sámi cooperation is not symbolic. It is necessary.
A particularly painful part of our present situation is that cooperation with our member organizations on the Russian side of Sápmi has been paused since April 2022 due to the current geopolitical situation. The Saami Council was made to gather the whole of Sápmi. When contact across parts of Sápmi becomes difficult, something essential is felt by all of us. We carry this feeling with care, and with hope that the years ahead may again open paths for meetings, dialogue and cooperation across the whole of our People.
At the same time, we do not look to the future with fear. We look to the future with responsibility and hope. The generations before us did not wait for perfect conditions. They met because they had to. They organized because no one else would do the work for them. They built common institutions because they understood that our strength would depend on Sámi unity.
As we mark 70 years of the Saami Council, we honour those who paved the path before us. We honour those who crossed borders to meet when the systems around them tried to keep them apart. We honour those who shaped the Saami conferences, built our organizations, defended our culture and languages, and strengthened the rights of the Sámi People and the rights of Indigenous Peoples internationally. With deep gratitude, we also remember those who carried this work at great personal cost, and those whose lives and efforts became part of the history of gathering, organizing and strengthening Sápmi.
But an anniversary is not only a look back. It is also a promise to the future.
Mii fertet fas deaivvadit.
We must continue to meet.
We must continue to organize.
We must continue to see beyond borders.
To see Sápmi.
And we must continue the work with the same spirit that has carried the Saami Council for 70 years: responsibility, courage, solidarity, and love for Sápmi