Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has said that Finland should issue a formal state apology to the Sámi people, after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission published a landmark report on decades of forced assimilation, discrimination and loss of land in the Sámi homeland.
A truth and reconciliation process years in the making
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sámi Issues was established in 2021 under the government of Sanna Marin, in cooperation with the Sámi Parliament and the Skolt Sámi Siida Council. Its mandate was to document the historical and ongoing injustices experienced by the Sámi, Finland’s only Indigenous people.
The Sámi population in Finland is estimated at around 10,500 people, while the wider Sámi population across Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia is thought to range between 75,000 and 100,000. Despite this relatively small number, the Commission stresses that the Sámi are recognised as the only Indigenous people in Europe, with a homeland that predates modern state borders.
Over four years, the Commission collected testimonies from around 400 Sámi individuals and commissioned expert studies on language, culture, livelihoods and governance. The final report, handed to the government and Sámi institutions in early December, describes a long history of assimilation policies, from boarding schools to administrative practices that sidelined Sámi voices.
Commission chair Hannele Pokka stressed that boarding schools functioned as a central tool of assimilation. Children were separated from their families, punished for speaking Sámi languages and taught only Finnish values. Many lost their mother tongue and grew up disconnected from their cultural identity. According to the report, these intergenerational traumas continue to shape Sámi communities today.
Pokka noted that in Finland, forced assimilation was not codified in a single law in the way it was in Norway or Sweden, but that “the result has been the same”. The report concludes that the state must assume responsibility for the injustices and recognise that the country was built on lands shared by two peoples, the Sámi and the Finns.
What the report says about language, land and livelihoods
The report links state policies to the erosion of Sámi languages, noting that entire generations were discouraged or prevented from speaking Northern, Inari or Skolt Sámi. This has weakened the transmission of language within families and increased pressure on already fragile language communities.
Beyond education, the Commission highlights how logging, mining, tourism and military exercises have steadily encroached on traditional Sámi territories. These pressures affect key livelihoods such as reindeer herding and river fishing, which are central to Sámi culture and self-understanding. Many Sámi communities still maintain a traditional way of life centred on reindeer herding, fishing, gathering and craftwork.
A specific concern is the decline of salmon stocks in the River Teno (Tana), where restrictive fishing rules and environmental change threaten the survival of salmon-based traditions. For communities along the river, the loss of salmon is not only an economic issue but also a direct blow to cultural continuity.
The report also examines the role of churches and revivalist movements in reinforcing assimilation, documenting how religious institutions often supported or justified policies that undermined Sámi spiritual practices and forms of knowledge.
In addition, the Commission points to climate change and growing interest in exploiting Arctic lands and resources as new drivers of pressure on the Sámi homeland, compounding the effects of historical injustices.
The report also examines the role of churches and revivalist movements in reinforcing assimilation, documenting how religious institutions often supported or justified policies that undermined Sámi spiritual practices and forms of knowledge.
From recognition to policy: 68 proposals for change
The Commission’s findings are accompanied by 68 recommendations for repairing the harm. Among them are proposals to:
- establish a dedicated Sámi affairs unit in the Prime Minister’s Office, headed by a Sámi state secretary;
- ratify the International Labour Organization Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (ILO Convention 169), which Finland has not yet incorporated into national law;
- create new legislation to safeguard reindeer herding and fishing rights in Sámi areas;
- strengthen the implementation of existing international and Nordic Indigenous rights instruments;
- ensure that Sámi representatives are systematically consulted in decisions affecting their land, waters and livelihoods.
The Commission also recommends that the government present a regular report on Sámi rights once per electoral term, creating a more structured follow-up on policy commitments.
These proposals build on recent reforms, including the updated Sámi Parliament Act, adopted earlier this year, which strengthens self-governance in matters that directly affect Sámi communities.
Orpo’s apology pledge – and Sámi concerns
Following the report’s publication on 4 December, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stated that the state should apologise, saying that “it seems evident that the time has come” for Finland to do so. He emphasised that any apology must be “broad and dignified” and command wide political support. A parliamentary group, chaired by former prime minister Antti Rinne, has been tasked with shaping the follow-up process and examining the Commission’s recommendations.
Finland has never before issued a formal state apology to the Sámi people. Sámi representatives have therefore welcomed Orpo’s remarks as an important signal, while insisting that the apology must be accompanied by concrete measures.
At the same time, Sámi representatives have raised questions about how the parliamentary group was formed. Skolt Sámi spokesperson Veikko Feodoroff criticised the lack of prior consultation with Sámi institutions when the group was established. Orpo has responded that Sámi voices will be involved in broader cooperation structures, but details on this participation remain unclear.
The Commission’s report underlines that a credible reconciliation process requires continuous dialogue with Sámi institutions, including the Sámi Parliament and Skolt Sámi bodies, and that ad hoc consultations are unlikely to be sufficient.
NATO, security policy and Sámi consultation
One chapter of the report focuses on foreign and security policy, criticising the state for failing to consult Sámi representatives during Finland’s accession to NATO and the negotiation of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the United States.
According to the Commission, military exercises and infrastructure plans in the Sámi homeland can have significant impacts on reindeer migration routes, grazing lands and fragile ecosystems. For many Sámi, being excluded from decisions in these areas has reinforced perceptions that security and defence priorities override Indigenous rights.
The report calls for systematic consultation of Sámi institutions in all security-related decisions affecting their territories, aligning Finland’s practice with international standards on the rights of Indigenous peoples.
A Nordic and European context of Indigenous apologies
Orpo’s pledge comes as the Nordic region is increasingly confronted with the legacy of assimilation policies. In Norway, a national truth and reconciliation commission completed its work in 2023, leading to a parliamentary apology in 2024 for injustices against the Sámi, Kven/Norwegian Finns and Forest Finns. Sweden has also initiated its own truth commission focusing on abuses against Sámi communities.
For Finland, a state apology would place the country within a wider Nordic trend of official recognition of Indigenous rights, but the Commission insists that symbolic gestures must be accompanied by concrete structural changes.
At the European level, the report stresses that Sámi rights are intertwined with broader debates on human rights, environmental protection and Arctic governance. The Sámi homeland spans Finland, Norway, Sweden and parts of Russia, and cross-border cooperation is essential for protecting languages, livelihoods and ecosystems.
What a state apology to the Sámi people could mean
The debate now centres on what a state apology to the Sámi people should look like in practice. Sámi organisations have welcomed Orpo’s recognition of past wrongs, but they point out that an apology without clear timelines and resources for implementing the Commission’s proposals risks becoming largely symbolic.
Key questions include how land use conflicts will be addressed, whether Sámi participation in security and climate policy will be strengthened, and how language revitalisation will be funded over the long term.
For many Sámi, a meaningful apology would acknowledge that modern Finland was built on lands shared between Sámi and Finns, recognise the specific harms caused by assimilation, and commit the state to long-term, co-designed reforms.
As the parliamentary group begins its work, the outcome will be closely watched elsewhere in the Nordic region and in the European Union, where debates on Indigenous rights, transitional justice and green transition policies in the Arctic are gaining visibility.
The next months will show whether Finland’s promise of reconciliation can translate into policies that repair trust, protect Sámi cultures and languages, and redefine the relationship between the state and its only Indigenous people.
