Arctic Youth Conference: A Q&A with Wyatt Daley

The Arctic is changing very quickly, and no one has more at stake in the decisions being made at this moment than the generation who is set to inherit their impacts. The first Arctic Youth Conference—held in Tromsø, Norway in January of 2025—brought together young leaders from across the Arctic to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in their home communities.

Polar Bears International was honored to support the attendance of a young leader from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, Wyatt Daley. We caught up with Wyatt after he returned home to hear about his experience. Read his reflections below. 

Wyatt, you’re a good friend of Polar Bears International, but for those who don’t know you, will you please share a little about yourself? 

Yes, of course. My name is Wyatt Daley. I'm from Churchill, Manitoba, born and raised here. My family has been here for five generations, so we have a great presence here. This is our home. The North runs in my blood.

I co-own a dog sledding company up here in Churchill that I run with my mom and my dad. I've been running dogs my whole life. It's always been a part of who I am. Working with our sled dogs and the lifestyle that we have with them tells a lot of our story. We are Indigenous, and for me and my family, running dogs is very cultural. There's no greater connection to the land than through our dogs. Being out in the wilderness, just you and the dogs that you've raised—you trust them and you feel the trust that they have in you. It's a really special thing to be out there and to be connected to everything around you. 

I am also a huge advocate for Indigenous tourism as my family and I work in the tourism industry. My dad is the Director of Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), and he’s gotten me more into this work. I’ve participated in campaigns, spoken about Indigenous tourism at conferences, and I am now sitting on the board of directors for an organization working to grow Indigenous tourism in Riding Mountain National Park. This work is important because bringing our people into the industry really helps preserve culture. Because we're able to share and be who we are, and we can celebrate that—and a lot of people are interested in learning about our cultures when they come to Canada.

In January, you joined young people from across the Arctic in Tromsø, Norway for the first Arctic Youth Conference—put on by the Norwegian Chairship of the Arctic Council. How would you describe the atmosphere at this event? 

It was really cool, I loved it. I met people from all over the Arctic, and there was a lot of Indigenous representation—especially from Canada, Alaska, and Norway. There was a big focus on Arctic science and policy, which was a little out of my comfort zone given my focus on Indigenous tourism and Churchill. That was really good, though. I enjoyed soaking in new information and perspectives. For example, I heard a lot from the Sámi reindeer herders who are Indigenous to northern Scandinavia and Russia; I met people who are doing water sample research in Cambridge Bay; and I even found some small world connections with people who have spent time in my town, yet there we were meeting each other on the other side of the world. The organizers of the conference were really good at connecting people. I’m glad I got to be a part of it. 

While you were there, did you attend any presentations or talks that really caught your interest? 

A few talks really stuck with me. During a panel about youth involvement in the city of Tromsø, I learned that 50% of the city’s population of 74,000 is under 35 years old. And their deputy mayor is 23 years old! This whole conference was about youth leadership and involvement in decision making spaces, so it was really interesting to hear about a city with so much of that. 

In another presentation, an Indigenous woman from Alaska shared the story of her community navigating the collapse of salmon and fighting the state and federal government for their right to harvest salmon—which are vital to their cultural practices and food security. They’ve been banned from salmon harvest while huge seabed trollers are extracting tons of salmon from the Bering Sea, and the populations are becoming more and more threatened. Similarly, but from a different part of the world, I learned about the Sámi People and the impact that industrial development is having on reindeer. The Sámi traditionally practice reindeer herding which is important to their culture and economy and a critical source of subsistence. Roads and mines and other development are interrupting the reindeer’s migratory path, and the traditional practice of reindeer herding is dying. These stories were really emotional for me because, as Indigenous People, we are all connected. We all face the same things. To hear what these communities are going through was really eye opening and hard to digest. 

There was also a group of Indigenous youth from Yellowknife, Yukon who did a fire circle rather than a typical conference panel, which I really liked. They shared about their land-based programming for youth in their community which had me thinking about my home of Churchill and how we are doing some of that with the Junior Rangers program. It emphasized how important land-based programs are and I wondered where we could do more of that at home. 

For you personally, what was your most important takeaway from the conference? 

The highlight for me was listening to Dr. Haliehana Stepetin (Unangax̂, Qigiiĝun Tribe) speak. She grew up in Akutan, Alaska and has her PhD in Arctic security studies. She was on a panel, and they were talking about the journey of reconciliation. At one point, she asked to speak directly to the young Indigenous People in the room, and she shared how she is thinking about this moment as an Indigenous person. To summarize, she acknowledged the horrible atrocities our people have suffered; we’ve been victims, and rightfully in a victim mindset, for a long time. Our elders experienced many of these horrors. But for our generation, she proposed emerging into a different mindset—a mindset where we emphasize our pride in being Indigenous and our culture...a mindset where we put forth a positive and strong light, especially for those of us who are raising children. If our communities are going to move forward, if we want healthy and strong future generations, we have to embody that pride for them. We can acknowledge, and honor, the harms of our past while also embracing our pride, sharing our cultures, and advocating for a better and better future. I walked away from that talk just thinking that for me, for my mindset, for my future, for my family, for my son, for the things I’m involved in, I want to hold my head high and really work towards the positives in front of me right now rather than backwards. Looking around the audience, you could see that what she was saying really moved people. That was a standout moment for me. 

Based on what you saw and the conversations you had, what issues would you say are most important to the young Arctic leaders at this conference? 

We want decision makers to take young people seriously. Leaders around the world are always talking about how they care about the youth perspective, and they want youth involved because we are “the future”...but it’s one thing to say that and it’s another thing to give us a real seat at the table. You can listen to young people without hearing them, and that’s happening all the time. It can feel like engaging young people is just a box to tick on the way to doing whatever leaders were going to do anyways. We’ve all experienced decision makers running around our questions or applauding us for showing up but wanting us to stay in our ‘youth’ lane.  

You could really see the fight in young people at this conference, and you could hear it in their voices and experience it in the way they talk. We’re all dealing with common issues like climate change and industry hurting our lands—from salmon in Alaska to reindeer in Norway—and we have real lived experiences that leaders should be considering. It’s really important to have spaces like this conference where we can share our stories and priorities and grow more united. I walked away educated and connected, with thoughts in my head and feelings in my heart. 

Now that you are home, how are you thinking about this experience as it relates to your life and your community? 

I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of something like that, to listen to new perspectives and make new connections. Back at home, I have been sharing this experience a lot with people in town and visitors as they come through town. I keep thinking about Dr. Haliehana Stepetin’s talk, and I’m trying to hold my head even a little higher and just walk the path.