Sami assembly of 1917

The Sami assembly of 1917 was the first Sami national assembly. The Sami who took part in the assembly were from both Norway and Sweden. The meeting was held at the Methodist Church in Trondheim from 6 to 9 February 1917. The Sami National Day is celebrated on 6 February to commemorate the beginning of this assembly. Around 150 participants gathered at the assembly, of which the majority consisted of Southern Sami from Nordland, Trøndelag and Hedmark.

Elsa Laula Renberg (1877–1931) from Helgeland and the Sami Women's union at Brurskanken initiated the assembly. Renberg was the assembly's chairwoman and gave the opening speech at the meeting. The other great Sami leader at that time, Daniel Mortenson from Røros/Elgå, was also a chairman and gave a lecture at the assembly about reindeer farming and how it had become hampered by the Joint Sami Act ("Felleslappeloven") of 1883. The lecture sparked a debate that led to the forming of a separate committee concerning reindeer farming by the assembly. The committee later presented a proposal for a new reindeer farming act, which influenced the final shaping of the law in 1919. The other main issue at the assembly was the demand for a separate Sami school, where children were taught and allowed to write in the Sami language. 

In the years preceding the assembly, Sami people in both Norway and Sweden felt that their culture and livelihoods were threatened. Therefore, in the years 1904-1910, both Sami organisations and journals started to arise.

The Joint Sami Act of 1883 was the first major attempt by the authorities to "gain control of the Sami's reindeer herding". The law applied to both Norway and Sweden, and established territories for reindeer grazing. The law introduced the principle of collective liability for all shareholders in the reindeer grazing territories for damages inflicted by the reindeer on the local agriculture. In 1894, the boundaries for reindeer grazing were established, yet important grazing areas such as Trollheimen and Gauldalsvidda fell outside these boundaries. With the Supplementary Sami Act of 1897, landowners received the right to prohibit reindeer herding outside of the reindeer grazing territories. Prescriptive rights and common law were thus disregarded. However, the legal regulation of reindeer herding was in constant motion, and several commissions worked on the reindeer herding question up until the next reindeer herding act came in 1933.

...
Wikipedia