According to a recent media report, Norway’s Parliament, the Storting, issued an unreserved apology for its assimilation policies towards Sami, Kven and Forest Finn peoples.
- A century-long process of Norwegianisation of indigenous peoples saw the suppression of indigenous languages and traditional culture.
- Sami children were separated from their parents and sent to boarding schools all across the Sapmi — ‘the land of the Sami’ which corresponds with present-day northern Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Sami People
- The Sami are an Indigenous people spread across northern Europe, including Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia.
- This region has been called Lapland; however the terms Lapps/Laplanders are considered derogatory by some Sami.
- Only about 1,00,000 Sami remain. The largest Sami population is concentrated in Norway — considered the heart of Sapmi — in areas such as Finnmark county.
- The Sami have developed their own culture and unique way of life.
- Many are reindeer herders, and the Norwegian government has designated reindeer herding as an activity exclusive to the Sami, issuing herding licenses based on ancestral lands.
- Sami languages are any of three languages belonging to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family — North Sami, East Sami and South Sami.
