Day 6 - Around Churchill & Polar Bear “Jail”
Wednesday, November 13
Today was our last day in Churchill and we spent the morning around town before our charter flight back to Winnipeg.
The Itsanitaq Museum has began when in the 1920’s priests would travel throughout the region visiting the indigenous people and would receive gifts from them. The priests would return to their home in Churchill and display them on shelves in the front porch. Over the years and decades the collection grew and people would stop by to see the artifacts and items.
In 1961 they built a building next to the mission house to display the treasures. It has since grown to include other indigenous pieces of art. It’s a wonderful collection and display of art and artifacts of the indigenous arctic way of life.
Itsanitaq means things from the past.
The “Flats” are an area right outside the town center where the Churchill River empties into Hudson’s Bay. Shacks and sheds thrown together with materials gleaned from a variety of sources make up this neighborhood.
Around town…
Polar Bear “Jail” is not really jail though they called it that in the early days. In 1969 a polar bear control program was launched to ensure the safety of the people living in Churchill. In 1981 it evolved to become the Polar Bear Alert Program with the goal of protecting both people and polar bears.
In 1982 the Polar Bear Holding Facility was established to contain polar bears that come into the town of Churchill. There are 28 cells in the facility (5 are air conditioned for bears that may be captured during the summer months). Bears are held in the facility and eventually relocated to the ice or in some cases airlifted to an area to the north.
When bears are sighted within a certain perimeter of the town, they bring these traps in with bait in them. The bears are then transported back to the facility just outside of town.
After lunch we flew back to Winnipeg and have an overnight here before an early flight home tomorrow (Thursday).
This has been a remarkable week. What seems a barren and desolate land, is quite beautiful and complex. The culture of the indigenous people is rich and ancient. All the reparations and apologies cannot undo what colonizers did to these people. The wildlife is wild. The powerful polar bears move slowly and with grace and curiosity as they approach the humans in their large vehicles. The arctic is a place for survivors of all kinds, and I feel privileged to have been granted a window into this beautiful world.
Signing off…. Adventure Awaits!
