Major conferences about Arctic issues should not be held in southern Canada, says one of the 200 delegates who attended the 2030 North conference in Ottawa this week.

John Amagoalik, who was instrumental in negotiating Nunavut's land claim, said he is tired of hearing the same issues being raised at various gatherings discussing Canada's North over the past 20 years.

"I think the first thing we should do is to stop having these big conferences in southern Canada, talking about the North," Amagoalik told CBC News.

"Let's go up there and actually experience the North, experience the Arctic and … invite our people to be involved in these discussions."

'It's time for action'

The 2030 North conference, which wrapped up Thursday, brought together Northerners and experts to discuss the future of Canada's Arctic.

Amagoalik said he hopes concrete action will come out of this week's conference but added he's tired of hearing the same declarations being made about issues ranging from Arctic sovereignty, to land claims, to the need to get Northerners more involved in shaping Northern policy.

"It's time to do things," he said. "It's time for action. I'm getting a little tired of listening to the same thing all the time."

Amagoalik's concern was shared by Udloriak Hanson, a senior policy liaison with the Inuit land-claim organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The only way Northerners will be heard is from the North itself, Hanson told delegates during a presentation Wednesday.

"You can't hear them here in Ottawa, thousands of miles away. So, I guess my first suggestion is to host a conference on the North in the North," she said to applause.

Higher costs part of Northern life

Conference organizers told CBC News that desite a major effort to raise money, they could not raise enough to hold the event in a Northern community because of the higher costs associated with being north of 60.

"I understand that there's [a] cost prohibition and what have you. I mean, it's very, very expensive, but guess what? That's our life in the North, that's one of the things we have to deal with," Hanson said.

"You most certainly wouldn't be having a conference about Saskatchewan here in Ottawa. ... You wouldn't have a 2030 Newfoundland conference here in Ottawa. So, let's give the North the same respect."

Organizers say they're working hard to ensure concrete documents result from the past three days of discussions, and that those documents don't just sit on a shelf and collect dust.