page_title: Sámi Assembly of 1917
section_title: The question of reindeer herding
hierarchical_section_title: Sámi Assembly of 1917 / Lectures and discussions at the assembly / The question of reindeer herding
caption_attribution_description: English: Sami woman "Marie Finskog" painted by Astri Aasen (1875-1935) during the first Sami congress in Trondheim 1917
context_page_description: The Sámi Assembly of 1917 was the first Sámi National Assembly. The Sámi who took part in the assembly were from both Norway and Sweden. The meeting was held at the Methodist Church in Trondheim from 6 to 9 February 1917. The Sámi National Day is celebrated on 6 February to commemorate the beginning of this assembly. Around 150 participants gathered at the assembly, of which the majority consisted of Southern Sámi from Nordland, Trøndelag and Hedmark.
  Elsa Laula Renberg from Helgeland and the Sámi Women's union at Brurskanken initiated the assembly. Renberg was the assembly's chairwoman and gave the opening speech at the meeting. The other major Sámi leader at that time, Daniel Mortenson from Røros/Elgå, was also a chairman and gave a lecture at the assembly about reindeer farming and how it had become hampered by the Joint Sámi Act of 1883. The lecture sparked a debate that led to the forming of a separate committee concerning reindeer farming by the assembly. The committee later presented a proposal for a new reindeer farming act, which influenced the final shaping of the law in 1919.
context_section_description: Mortenson held the lecture on reindeer herding. The topic was discussed in relation to the "domestic relationships" and the "international (Norway/Sweden) relationships". The discussion on domestic relationships concerned first and foremost the loss of grazing land as a result of the farming of new land and other expansions in agriculture. Furthermore, grazing damages and compensation procedures for this were discussed, in addition to the distrust between the Sámi and the farmers/villagers. Mortenson argued for a more business-orientated meat production in reindeer herding, with larger herds of reindeer. Renberg disagreed; she "maintained that the key condition is rational herding, whether it is about milking or producing meat". "Allow those Sami who want to produce meat to do so, but also allow us with herds of approx. 100 reindeer the right to live according to the old Sami way of life". Mortenson was also concerned about a recent Supreme Court ruling on grazing rights and compensation in Røros that had gone against the Sámi there.
  The international relationships concerned the question of grazing across the border between Sweden and Norway.
  The assembly agreed to a resolution where it was requested that the common law of free grazing would be maintained, and that the State had to buy or expropriate new grazing land to substitute grazing land that was now built upon. Changes in the rules concerning compensation for grazing damages caused by reindeer were demanded. They also wanted to changes to the rules regarding the sale of unmarked reindeer; such that the profits from this in the future could go to common Sámi causes.
  Lawyer Ole Tobias Olsen jr.  from Mosjøen also attended the assembly and was active in the discussions about herding laws, in addition to that, he was one of the keynote speakers on the topic "legislation". Olsen had worked together with Renberg earlier, and was chosen as legal consultant to the committee that would work on the question of reindeer herding further. The others on the committee were Thomas Renberg (Elsa Laula Renberg's husband) and Nils Kappfjeld from Helgeland, Nils Andersen Nursfjeld and Per Larsen Jomafjeld from Nord-Trøndelag, and Johan Barrok and Mortenson from Sør-Trøndelag. This committee met again in Mosjøen a few weeks after the national assembly, and delivered in 1919, a separate proposal for a new reindeer herding law.
caption: Marie Finnskog from Røros was emissary and took part in the assemblies of both 1917 and 1921. During the discussion on the Joint Sámi Act, she gave a longer contribution where she said that "the right to own land and grazing territories belonged to the Sámi, who were in fact the country's first settlers". Painting by Astri Aasen.
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