1. Canada's Arctic Council Chairmanship Sustainable Development Working Group Circumpolar Mental Wellness Susan Harper, Canada’s Senior Arctic Official Circumpolar Mental Wellness Symposium 25 March 2015

2. The Arctic Council

3. Canada’s Arctic Council Chairmanship
Canada’s Chairmanship has been rooted in our Northern Strategy and Arctic Foreign Policy
Overarching theme: Development for the People of the North, with three subthemes:
Responsible Arctic Resource Development
Safe Arctic Shipping
Sustainable Circumpolar Communities
11 Canadian Priority Initiatives, plus a large body of ongoing work from the last ministerial meeting in Kiruna (2013)

4. Canada’s Arctic Council Chairmanship
Key Canadian Initiatives included
Establishing the Arctic Economic Council
Recommending ways to integrate traditional and local knowledge into the Council’s work
Creating a Framework for Action to enhance reductions of black carbon and methane emissions
Creating an oil pollution prevention Action Plan; and of course
Examining better strategies to address issues of mental wellness in order to build healthy, sustainable communities

5. The Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)
The SDWG is unique as its work provide a better understanding of the human dimension in the Arctic
This requires cooperation in the other working groups
The other Arctic Council Working Groups activities are based in the physical sciences such as Emergency Preparedness, Pollution Projects
The SDWG is informed by two expert groups that assist in the delivery of the mandate:
Arctic Human Health Expert Group (AHHEG); and
Social, Economic and Cultural Expert Group (SECEG)

6. The Mental Wellness Project
Formal Title: The Evidence-Base for Promoting Mental Wellness and Resilience to Address Suicide in Circumpolar Communities
The project builds on:
Workshop on Best Practices in Suicide Prevention and  the Evaluation of Suicide Prevention Programs in the Arctic held in Iqaluit, Nunavut (2003)
The Hope and Resilience Seminar held in Nuuk (2009)

7. THANK YOU QUJANAMIIK MERCI