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Small Change Fund had the honour of joining the Arctic Funders Group on their trip to Iqaluit in June 2009. We were accompanied by an embarrassment of riches – riches in intellectual capital and lived experience – through people like Tony Penicott, former Yukon government leader, Mary Simon, head of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Meeka Mike, hunter extraordinaire, and Silla Watt-Cloutier, ambassadress of the Arctic.

Given our traveling companions, I heard a lot about the Arctic – from the question of sovereignty with its ever-changing definitions to the flowering of new democratic institutions in the north to the overshadowing of climate change on all decisions. I was privy to conversations about the hunger for political discourse, how traditional knowledge gets translated, or not, into governance and policy, and the need for a mechanism to adjudicate between indigenous and international treaties, the former often being subordinate to the later. They talked about the implementation of land claims, Arctic accessibility as a fundamental geopolitical process, “Inuit internationalism,” and how environmental change is pushing change politically and not the other way around.

But above all, what I heard was the message of optimism, of bold, imaginative, hopeful northerners envisioning a new society, unlocking the Inuit success instinct, embracing adaptation, empowering the collective, and investing in ordinary people who are committed to doing extraordinary things with their time, skills, expertise, and networks.

I also heard about investments – investments in International Polar Year, military capacity, geospatial mapping, new fishing harbours, an Arctic Research Station, and six new Arctic water patrol ships. The soundness of each of these investments can be debated. But most would agree that investment in the North, as a principle is a good thing.

What puzzled me was how the songs of hope and messages on necessary investment harmonized. I was told that youth need projects that challenge their minds and help them discover their potential, that we all need to be sensitive to who’s driving agenda and not continue the colonial mentality, that we need to invest in people especially early in their careers and that projects are often in a continual pilot project mode because it’s so hard to secure on-going funding. Where are these investments? Where is the donation to help a young activist fly to Ottawa to represent her people in conversations on climate change? To help northerners advocate for an education system that is more reflective of the lived experience of Arctic peoples? To provide support for the collection of traditional “management” practices of Inuit elders? To help northerners connect to their global brothers and sisters on circumpolar issues?

To be sure some of my funding companions, like the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, are leading the way. Perhaps Small Change Fund can join the song of hope by bringing small, modest investments to the north to help Arctic people’s start something big.