Aili Keskitalo is a Norwegian Sami

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

 politician representing Norwegian Sámi Association

Norwegian Sami Association

The Norwegian Sami Association , also known as NSR, is the largest Sámi organization in Norway. The association was founded in 1968.-Purpose:The NSR actively runs cultural, social, and informational work through local groups and Sami associations. In total 24 Sami associations are attached to the...

 (NSR). In 2005 she became president of the Sami Parliament of Norway

Sami Parliament of Norway

The Sami Parliament of Norway is the representative body for people of Sami heritage in Norway. It acts as an institution of cultural autonomy for the indigenous Sami people....

, the third in its history and the first female President of any Sámi Parliament.

Due to problems cooperating with the vice president Johan Mikkel Sara

Johan Mikkel Sara

Johan Mikkel Sara is a Sami politician. He represents Sami who are living in southern Norway at the Sami Parliament, where he was vice president from 2005 to 26 September 2007...

 she stepped down in September 2007. The collapse of her coalition made way for the first ever non-NSR presidency.

She has a Masters in Public Administration from Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School, also known as CBS, is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. With more than 17,000 students and 1,300 staff members, CBS is also one of the largest business schools in Europe. CBS offers a wide range of business-oriented university programmes and a research environment...

, in which she compared the school systems in Norway and Greenland

Keskitalo was the first Sámi President whose mother tongue was not Sámi but, Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

. However, she speaks Northern Sami

Northern Sami

Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland...

fluently.