Framing Sámi experiences: narrative construction of discrimination in truth and reconciliation commission in Finland
Anna Katila was awarded a BISA Early Career Small Research Grant (ECSRG). The grant allowed Anna to research the Finnish truth and reconciliation commission and its effectiveness in identifying and evaluating the Indigenous Sámi people. Here she discusses the research and her conclusions.
In 2021, the Finnish government established a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) to identify and evaluate the Indigenous Sámi people’s past and present experiences of discrimination. My research aimed to begin to assess the work and effectiveness of the TRC that published its final report in December 2025. Archival research, media monitoring, observation and semi-structured interviews led to new knowledge about the implementation and perceptions of the TRC, expanding on few existing outputs on the TRC mandate. A small number of interviews became a crucial source of information as the commission worked behind closed doors. Most interviewees considered the selection of the commissioners problematic and viewed truth-seeking efforts as partial. Nevertheless, all interviewees agreed about the need for truth-sharing and reconciliation. The findings of my project help ask more precise questions about silences and exclusions in the work of the TRC.
After four years in operation, the TRC handed its 700-page final report to the Finnish Government, Sámi Parliament and Skolt Sámi Village Assembly in December 2025. Being awarded the BISA ECSRG offered me a unique opportunity to examine the TRC and perceptions about its work at the time when the TRC was preparing the final report. This allowed my research project to focus on the truth-telling process without the retrospective meaning making that often occurs to explain the findings and recommendations of the TRCs, in particular, if the report disappoints its audiences. The ongoing work of the TRC during my research created uncertainty that became a productive and integral part of my project, shaping the process and findings.
My research on the Sámi TRC in Finland stemmed from the scarcity of knowledge and scholarship about this TRC. With the TRC still in operation, existing literature heavily focused on the TRC mandate (Kortekangas et al 2024; Kuokkanen 2020). I was interested in evaluating the work and effectiveness of the TRC, considering the practices of implementation. The TRC in Finland – alongside similar work in Norway and Sweden – invite revisiting the theoretical frames and approaches applied to the TRCs in the field of transitional justice. The TRCs in stable societies without a wider transition to peace or a different system of governance draw attention to the limits and opportunities of TRCs to induce change, posing a question about the in/applicability of existing knowledge about the TRCs. New case studies on the TRCs addressing the violations of Indigenous rights in settler colonial states extend the insights stemming from the Canadian TRC which examined violence against Indigenous children in residential schools (Stanton 2011; James 2012; Gettler 2017; MacDonald 2021).
To understand the work of the TRC in Finland in its social, political and legal context, my research included interviews and ethnographic observation, media monitoring, as well as archival and library visits in Helsinki, Oulu, Rovaniemi and Inari. The preliminary findings, to which I refer here, are based on the analysis of 13 interviews, some of which had two participants or an additional family member present. The interviewees self-identified as Sámi or living as part of the Sámi community and through the location of their family or ancestral land.
The lack of visibility of the TRC in Finland shaped my research about it. The work of the TRC took place behind closed doors. The TRC visited all major cities in Finland as well as smaller villages in the Sápmi, formally recognised Sámi homeland. Although information sessions by the TRC were held publicly with a schedule published online, all hearings were conducted privately, including in small groups if requested by participants. The TRC did not speak to the media about its work during the years of operation, which resulted in minimal public discussion with the exception of the resignations of two commissioners and the head of the secretariat in spring 2022. The only public sources of information on the progress of the work of the TRC consisted of staggered publication of the TRC-commissioned special reports. The lack of visibility of the day-to-day work meant that interviews became central to my research.
The interviewees highlighted uncertainties and silences in the work of the TRC. They found the selection of the commissioners problematic. Members of the Anarâš Sámi community observed that when the Sámi Parliament nominated two commissioners, the selected candidates did not include a commissioner that all members of this Sámi community preferred or found approachable and reliable. The interviewees also raised concerns that the head of the TRC was not impartial but had well-known opinions on controversial issues, such as who counts as a Sámi. The interviewees expressed uncertainty about whether they could trust in the work and procedures of the TRC due to its composition and perceived political goals. The interviewees expected truth-telling to be selective and partial. The lack of visibility and transparency of the work of the TRC contributed to these concerns.
Despite the critiques of the TRC, all interviewees agreed about the need for truth-sharing and reconciliation. Some wished to prioritise intra-Sámi relationships over those with the Finnish state in the first instance. Many interviewees expressed appreciation that speaking to the commission might be helpful and valuable to some Sámi on a personal level.
Although the findings of this small-scale research project cannot be used to generalise about the views of the Sámi in Finland, these findings help reveal the diversity of perspectives. This research can lead to more precise questions about silences and exclusions that emerged in the work of the TRC. The meaning of the uncertainties and absences revealed by my interviewees require further reflection. To date I have only completed preliminary analysis and begun to understand first tentative findings. I will continue to develop outputs over the coming months and years and plan next steps. I am extremely grateful to have been awarded the ECSRG to initiate my work on the Nordic TRCs.
"The only public sources of information on the progress of the work of the TRC consisted of staggered publication of the TRC-commissioned special reports. The lack of visibility of the day-to-day work meant that interviews became central to my research."
Photo: The reading of sections of the final report at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission closing event on 4 December 2025 in the National Theatre of Finland. Taken by Anna Katila.
