Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam | |
|---|---|
| Member of theInatsisartut | |
| Assumed office March 2025 | |
| Member of the Folketing | |
| Assumed office 5 June 2019 | |
| Constituency | Greenland |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1996-10-17)17 October 1996 (age 29) Hillerød, Denmark |
| Citizenship | Denmark |
| Nationality | Greenlandic |
| Political party | Naleraq (since 2025) |
| Other political affiliations | Siumut (until 2025) |
| Alma mater | University of Copenhagen |
Aki-Matilda Tilia Ditte Høegh-Dam (born 17 October 1996) is aGreenlandicpro-independence politician who currently serves in theFolketing and concurrently in theInatsisartut. She was elected to the Folketing during the2019 Danish general election at the age of 22, becoming its youngest member.[1][2] Previously a member ofSiumut, she is now a member ofNaleraq.
Born on 17 October 1996 inHillerød, Aki-Matilda Tilia Ditte Høegh-Dam is the daughter of Kim Høegh-Dam, a fisherman and seaman, and Bitten Høegh-Dam, a schoolteacher.[1] The youngest child in the family, she has two brothers and two half-sisters on her father's side. She is half Danish and half Greenlandic with two Danish and two ethnically Greenlandic grandparents. She was brought up inSisimiut on Greenland's west coast.[3] When she was 15, as a volunteer in Nakuusa (UNICEF's project in support of Greenlandic children),[4] she went on a trip around Greenland's coast during which she discussed politics with a friend. As a result, she decided to joinSiumut, asocial democratic political party. After joining the party's youth organization, her interest in politics continued to grow.[5][6]
After graduating from high school, in 2014 she began studying political science at theUniversity of Copenhagen and graduated in 2019. In 2015, she participated in theMiss Denmark competition. Although she finished in sixth place, the event did much to draw attention to her in Greenland.[7][5]
In the Danish general election on 5 June 2019, Høegh-Dam was one of two Greenlanders who succeeded in becoming members of the Folketing. Expressing strong support forMette Frederiksen, head of the Social Democrats, she campaigned on the basis that Denmark should take more care of its responsibilities for Greenlanders. She also supports independence for Greenland.[8]
During a parliamentary debate on 3 October 2024, Høegh-Dam was asked to leave the podium by Folketing speakerSøren Gade after she broke Folketing protocol by delivering an eight-minute speech inGreenlandic, rather than Danish, explaining Siumut's political position on human rights abuses including thespiral scandal: although she had distributed written translations to other legislators beforehand, convention dictates that speeches must either be given in Danish or translated into Danish immediately afterwards.[9][10]
On 7 February 2025, Høegh-Dam announced that she was leaving Siumut, because of her view that the leadership of Siumut and chairpersonErik Jensen, did not insist enough on the issue of Greenlandic independence.[2] She subsequently joinedNaleraq on 10 February 2025 and announced she would be running for the party at the upcomingGreenlandic election.[11] She went on to receive the third-largest number of votes for a single candidate in the cycle, andwon a seat in theInatsisartut.[12]