Security Dialogue 2016, Vol. 47(6) 461–480 © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0967010616665957 sdi.sagepub.com Arctic (in)security and Indigenous peoples: Comparing Inuit in Canada and Sámi in Norway Wilfrid Greaves University of Toronto, Canada Abstract While international relations has increasingly begun to recognize the political salience of Indigenous peoples, the related field of security studies has not significantly incorporated Indigenous peoples either theoretically or empirically. This article helps to address this gap by comparing two Arctic Indigenous peoples – Inuit in Canada and Sámi in Norway – as ‘securitizing actors’ within their respective states. It examines how organizations representing Inuit and Sámi each articulate the meaning of security in the circumpolar Arctic region. It finds that Inuit representatives have framed environmental and social challenges as security issues, identifying a conception of Arctic security that emphasizes environmental protection, preservation of cultural identity, and maintenance of Indigenous political autonomy. While there are some similarities between the two, Sámi generally do not employ securitizing language to discuss environmental and social issues, rarely characterizing them as existential issues threatening their survival or wellbeing. Drawing on securitization theory, this article proposes three factors to explain why Inuit have sought to construct serious challenges in the Arctic as security issues while Sámi have not: ecological differences between the Canadian and Norwegian Arctic regions, and resulting differences in experience of environmental change; the relative degree of social inclusion of Inuit and Sámi within their non-Indigenous majority societies; and geography, particularly the proximity of Norway to Russia, which results in a more robust conception of national security that restricts space for alternative, non-state security discourses. This article thus links recent developments in security studies and international relations with key trends in Indigenous politics, environmental change, and the geopolitics of the Arctic region. Keywords Arctic, environmental change, Indigenous, insecurity, securitization, security Introduction The ongoing ecological, political, and social transformation of the Arctic has, among many conse- quences, caused various reassessments of what security means for the region and its inhabitants. States have released new Arctic foreign and security policies emphasizing sovereign territoriality, Corresponding author: Wilfrid Greaves, University of Toronto, 315 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S0A7, Canada. Email: w.greaves@utoronto.ca 665957SDI 0 0 10.1177/0967010616665957Security DialogueGreaves research-article 2016 Article