Although the comments received on the Leningrad
The Founding Meeting
text were close to being accepted, full consensus
Prior to the Founding Meeting, there was a short
had not been reached, and so a hectic period of cor-
final meeting of the IASC Planning Group in Dorval,
respondence followed and another ‘final’ meeting
QC Canada to ensure that the draft Founding Arti-
was planned for 19-20 May 1989 in Helsinki.
cles developed earlier and finalized by correspondence were acceptable to all.
A slightly amended version of the Founding Articles (dated 20 May 1989) was drafted.13 It was
At the Founding Meeting, there was the signing
further agreed that if there still should be any dis-
ceremony, excursions, etc. However, there were also
agreement, a meeting of the ‘big three’ (Canada, the
important business discussions considering the
USA and the USSR) should be held later in the year
way forward, such as:
in Moscow. Canada did not find the Helsinki text
- Definitions and Criteria
acceptable (after a national consultation), so the
- Rules and Procedures (draft)
meeting of the big three was held in Moscow on 28-
- Actions needed to set IASC in motion
29 June 1989. The basic difficulty was that Canada
- Decisions and Recommendations
and Russia believed that the coordination of Arctic
research through an international committee should
The report from the Founding Meeting in Resolute16
be controlled by nations and not by a collection of
contains a comprehensive survey of planning and
academies of science. At ‘the big three’ meeting,
preparations for the implementation of IASC. The
it was agreed that the other participating nations
formal implementation had to be left to the first
should be convinced that a regional board, compris-
IASC Council meeting, so the appropriate nomina-
ing government representatives from the eight Arc-
tions could be made by the proposed national ad-
tic countries, should be established that would have
hering bodies. However, a solid foundation had been
a level of purview over the implementation of the
laid for calling the first regular meeting of the IASC
programs and activities of what is now known as
Council.
IASC (see report on a meeting of Canadian, Soviet
and American representatives14 and Chapter 1.2).
Further documentation on the operational activities of IASC can be found in the Council meeting
We were not 100% finished yet. However, from
reports and in the various initiatives and activities
that point forward, discussions on wording could be
mentioned in parts of t