Inuit Knowledge & Climate Change: Papak Malliki

Papak Malliki of Igloolik speaks about climate change.

My uncle used to say: "our climate is cooling and when I was a child it was hot". I think he thought it was hot because they had previously used caribou clothing, but when they switched to modern fabrics and canvas tents, he felt a lot colder. Before, it was warm, then it cooled down, and now they say our climate is warming. It seems the hot period is coming back again. That's what I think sometimes.

When I was a child, dogs would be moaning due to heat, and some would be in the water cooling off. Mosquitoes would be out. I remember that. Now a days, in the past two years, there's are hardly any mosquitoes. They say our environment is warming and maybe the mosquitoes are drying up because of this.

It's different now. When the sun returns, it used to rise in that direction, we we lived in Kupivik. Now a days, it rises way to the right. I noticed this. It seems to me everything has shifted a bit.

At the beginning of my memory, we used to have north wind, but it isn't where it used to be. I've noticed this. Now, we mainly have south east wind, when it really should be coming from the north.

I've noticed there used to be snow patches, but they're all gone. There used to actually be a snow patch where we are camping right now. It's gone. How could that be? There's a glacier near here, it's melting, and now we can see just a little bit. I've noticed the snow patches and glaciers are disappearing.

When I was a young girl, I used to get burned a lot, and my skin would peel. Now, I'm an old women and that doesn't happen anymore. They say it's a lot warmer. But I don't notice that.