The animals present themselves

We've arrived back in Pang from a trip to the floe edge with our very knowledgeable guides Livie Kullualik, Noah and Alukie Metuq, and Leemorlie Arnakaq. It was a powerful experience on the land and a brilliant way to start the project.

We were fortunate to be in such great company. Livie, a 68-year-old elder, who almost ten years ago adopted me into the Kullualik family, was our "captain" for the trip. Noah and Alukie, also long time friends, have worked as local educators on the Pangnirtung summer school that I help facilitate, and so it was great to be working together again. It was my first time meeting Leemorlie and he fit perfectly with the group.

With Livie in the lead, we headed out into Cumberland Sound in a group of six sikitus (ski doos) and kamotiks (sleds), with a ridiculous amount of video and sound equipment. It was bright and sunny and the Arctic landscape radiated with energy and beauty. The blues of the sky and sea ice in combination with the yellow shimmer of the sun off the white snow was quintessentially Arctic. We cruised across the landscape, navigating sea ice obstacles and stopping for tea, and after about three hours finally arrived at a point over looking the interface between the sea ice and open ocean. Overlooking this point were five small cabins, which we moved into, and quickly warmed with Coleman stoves.

We awoke the next morning and discussed our plans for the day. Dexter and I went out with Leemorlie, to go out baby seal hunting, and Zach and the rest of the crew stayed back to interview Livie. Keep in mind, seal hunting is an important cultural activity in Inuit communities that provides healthy, sustainable and local food, and should not be conflated with the more controversial industrial sealing that happens on the east coast of Canada. It was another bright sunny day.

Leemorlie quickly spotted some baby seals sunning on the sea ice. We approached one on ski doo and upon getting within about 100 feet. Leemorlie dismounted and prepared his blind and rifle. The blind is a white fabric shield, which allows a hunter to get close to his prey, which is sitting close to their breathing hole and den. Leemorlie got close enough, steadied his gun, and killed the seal in a single shot. Supper had been procured for the camp and so had some great HD video. After tea, we continued to travel around the ice, and noticed many polar bear tracks. Shortly thereafter, Leemorlie spotted the great white bear - Nanuq - with his binoculars, and we got closer with the ski doo.

We set up, I got the camera on a tripod, and we waited for the majestic and powerful creature to approach. It was a massive yet skinny bear that sniffed the air and familiarized itself with our presence. It moved closer, stopping to yawn a couple times, and then it looked square into the camera and waited. Leemorlie said "maybe time to go now" and I pulled my eye away from the eyepiece of the camera to realize that we were only about 20 feet away from our powerful friend. Reading the bear, Leemorlie waited, and said that everything was fine as it continued to walk across the ice with the sun shining over head against the blue and purple sky back drop.

With Leemorlie as our guide, we had total trust and were absolutely comfortable being that close to the great bear, which allowed us to film this important and iconic animal so central to the climate change debate. In my mind I thanked the bear and made a wish for its future health. The land had been good to us and we headed back to camp to share in the harvest.

The next morning, I awoke to Noah and Alukie talking about Arviit (bowheads) at the floe edge, and I hopped out of bed and ran across camp to get the camera. Just as soon as things were ready, some one shouted out that another Nanuq had arrived, and out across the sea ice another great white bear was coming our way. It sniffed at the air, turned and ran in a rolling and elegant fashion, and then jumped into the ocean to swim with the bowhead whales. Zach and I filmed all the floe edge activity for a couple hours, with literally a dozen or more bowhead swimming by, thousands of ducks flying, and the great white bear off in the distance swimming away. It began to snow and stayed that way until our departure.

We spent another day out on the land and prepared a tasty Tuktu (caribou) feast for our camp in the evening. It was a great opportunity for everyone to gel together and find comfort with each other. We followed up the next morning and Zach interviewed the other guides, in Inuktitut, and we learned a lot about climate change in the region. Stories about new animals and insects migrating north and changes to the land, sun and sea ice were consistent across all the interviews. The knowledge and observations of our guides regarding climate change and its impacts on the land and animals is impressive.

Indeed, the animals had presented themselves on our trip to the floe edge, and allowed us to "shoot them" with HD video. In Inuit custom, it is believed that animals present themselves to respectful hunters, and allow themselves to be caught. We are humbled and thankful by their offering.