The higher seminar: Truth- and Reconciliation in the Nordic Countries

Inspired by the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation, the government of Greenland in 2014 established a Reconciliation Commission, which handed in its final report in December 2017. A year later, in 2018 the Norwegian Parliament established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 2020, The Swedish Government appointed the Truth andReconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset. October 2021, the Government of Finland established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Concerning the Sámi People. In the summer of 2022, members of the Truth Commission for the Sami People were appointed in Sweden, while the Greenlandic and Danish government agreed to fund a historical inquiry of the period 1945-today in order to take steps towards reconciliation. These Truth and/or Reconciliation efforts have more in common than a conjunction of mandate periods. They all deal with historical injustices committed against Arctic indigenous peoples and minorities by the Nordic welfare states in their making. They are all concerned with articulating a new critique of the slow, indirect violence and long-term effects of historical assimilation policies. In this talk, I will look at the ongoing Truth and/or Reconciliation processes in the Nordic context; How they differ from previous Truth and Reconciliation efforts around the world; what they have in common but also how they differ from each other.