Time to listen and engage with the final report of the Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission

I published this text as a column in Finnish in the Inarilainen newspaper this week. There is a sigh in the air when someone says it: the final report of the Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission has just been published, in December 2025. It is a valuable and weighty document. I think that with something this important, there is no need to rush. You don’t have to understand the report all at once. I give myself permission to read it slowly. I allow the observations – and the overall picture based on them – to gradually take shape.

The report contains poignant and moving texts. They recount experiences that have affected people’s lives and choices. I remind myself that not everything can fit between two covers. Most of what is valuable remains untold, because there is no need to make amends for good deeds. This report opens up long-silenced perspectives by theme – not the whole picture of Sámi history.

I have only lived in Sápmi for a short time, so I read the report with caution. My attention is drawn to recurring experiences of discrimination. My mind is filled with questions that many others are surely pondering as well.

The report is complete, public, and available for download online. How will it be used? I hope that we will never stop listening carefully to people’s own memories and experiences just because we now have a report to read. It greatly increases understanding, but it cannot explain everything. We deserve to be heard without preconceived notions.

Being heard is also important because being a victim does not improve a persons condition. Facing difficult issues in a safe environment is refreshing and empowering. Sometimes, our gaze can become fixed on problems, and this can be a way of protecting ourselves. If we focus on just one aspect, our understanding can become narrow.

I don’t see problems as the whole story. The history of the Sámi people is also one of continuity, beauty, living culture, and strong vitality. They have passed from generation to generation in the rhythm of the seasons. But these cannot flourish fully and vigorously unless difficult issues are also faced and heard.

With these thoughts in mind, I have progressed in reading the report. I am small in the face of the big picture. It is not about performance, but about the journey.

I wish peace of mind to all of us who have the report under our reading lamps.