So Nunavut is working on a new polar bear management plan. Our Nunavut Wildlife Management Board held hearings here in Iqaluit last week. Out there in the world at large there is a lot of confusion around what seem like basic facts, like how many polar bears there are, are the numbers going up or down, and how will they adapt to climate change. Or actually, there isn’t nearly as much confusion as there should be, which looks confusing from here. People seem to think they know the answers, when I don’t think they do.
Here’s what the world knows as The Infallible Truth About Polar Bears:
- They are skinny, hungry and dying.
- The populations are declining as they slowly die out from climate change.
- Inuit want to hunt more because they want to eat them. Now. All of them.
How do I know this is what the world thinks? Well, I’m allowed to have my own Infallible Truths, thank you very much.
More Bears? No Way…
The media coverage of the new polar bear management plan meetings last week focused on discussions of rising polar bear numbers, dangers of bears around towns, and the desire for higher quotas. I could hear readers of these articles all around the world squirming uncomfortably in their seats. I could. That’s a fact. Okay, okay. That’s factish.
I understand that there is a lot of mistrust for hunters in many places, and that is in many ways justified. Think of the NRA in the US. We connect the gun lobby and hunters together, and that’s not a positive association. Would you want them in charge of hunting rules? I can see them shooting pigeons in public squares and seagulls at playgrounds and beaches. If I’m being unfair to the NRA, go ahead and defend them. I’ll listen. I might squirm in my seat a little, but I’ll listen.
So is the squirming in the seats because the world at large doesn’t trust hunters here to manage polar bears? There is more to it than that. There is prejudice.
People simply don’t trust Inuit to manage polar bears well. Because they are Inuit. That’s prejudice. No one will admit that, of course. They will say something about conservation, science, and climate change. They will say that harvesters want to harvest, like fishers want to fish, and look how that worked out for many fish stocks. See also trappers and beavers a hundred years ago.
I’m not saying those points aren’t without any merit at all, but it would be different if it was the government of somewhere-other-than-Nunavut doing a polar bear plan. If the pictures of the meeting showed a white person with a white lab coat and a power point presentation with some pie charts saying numbers are up and danger bears around towns are a growing problem, people would be more likely to stop and listen.
Stewards and Hunters? No way…
Inuit have lived here for a long time. Yes, that was before climate change, and yes, there are more people and other stressors here now. But Inuit actually are aware of those facts. It isn’t hard to figure that out here. Inuit are harvesters, but they are more than harvesters. They are part of this environment, and still have a world-view of integration and stewardship of the environment. Also, there may well have been representatives at the meetings that were born on the land before our communities were even here. In Nunavut, traditional ways are not weak links long forgotten.
Here’s another infallible truth: Science and traditional knowledge are two approaches to understanding what is happening with polar bears. Traditional knowledge is what Inuit bring to the table about what they see happening with bears and bear populations. While traditional knowledge is highly localized and based on a depth of experience by hunters, science is objective and looking for the big picture.
No. Not a fact. What makes this infallible truth so disturbing is that even many people here seem to believe this one. These are not two separate things that need to be reconciled. Traditional Knowledge is science. Science is simply a process to understand the world. Some science is quantitative – like counting polar bears from an airplane; and some is qualitative– like observing animal behaviour and responses to various environmental conditions to predict future behaviour. So let’s stop with the science versus traditional knowledge garbage, and lets stop downplaying traditional knowledge like it is some lesser form of knowledge.
Whose Best?
Sitting here as I am writing this I’m also looking over my computer out the window at Frobisher Bay, named after a fool who came here along time ago thinking he knew it all. I’m not sure if he was the first, but he certainly wasn’t the last. He got what he deserved – a ship’s hold full of fool’s gold. Looking out, I am looking at land and water that is part of our home here. It is very similar to how it has always been, except for the mercury and other crap we can’t see that came up here from those very same cities and cultures that don’t trust us to manage our bears. Thanks.
Why? Why does the world think they know better? And why do some have the audacity to think they should be in any way involved at all in how Inuit will continue to manage bears, as they have always done? What does this have to do with anyone else, really, anyway?
Important point: killing bears does not cause climate change, so this isn’t going to affect everyone else. If something bad happens to polar bear populations it is Inuit who will suffer the most. Another important point: bear populations in southern subpopulations like northern Ontario and northern Manitoba may be challenged, but that doesn’t mean they all are. Third important point in the same paragraph (don’t tell my high school English teachers. Okay go ahead. They won’t be surprised): Climate change isn’t always warming. Southerners might forgive me for seeing a silver lining in climate change, living in a cold climate. But the predictions for this corner of Canada are for wetter summers, not warmer. Damn it, climate change! Come on! The silver lining might be there, though, for some species.
So the situation with polar bears is a little complicated. We’ll work through it here and do our best, and our best will be at least as good as anyone else’s best. We’ll keep the world at large posted, and in the meantime, they can go on with their business managing their corners of the world. We can all also keep working to manage global issues like climate change.
Did you hear what happened with the Dung Beetle? No, you didn’t.
The problem in the minds of the world out there is that polar bears are polar bears. If we were talking about the Great Northern Dung Beetle, I bet you would let us go about our business. It doesn’t really matter what colour polar bears are, or how furry they are, or how cute their little ears and noses are. They are animals that are the other top carnivore in this environment, and they are a serious piece of business for us up here.
I’m not saying you can’t care. You should care. Care. Please. I care about your environment too, but I don’t think I should have a vote on whether or not your government should have a program to break into your house and see if you have thrown any batteries or fluorescent light bulbs in the garbage instead of taking them to a household hazardous waste site.
Nunavut is going to manage its bears. Inuit are going to continue to be a big part of that. And if some subpopulations of bears are doing fine – I mean actually increasing – then the world is going to have to get its head around the possibility that there are too many bears in some places. Anyone out there whose kids have to do Halloween in a gym because of the ever-present danger of bears showing up, and who knows what it feels like when you haven’t heard from your family member who is overdue to come back from being out on the land, they can come on up and tell us what to do.
So here are some new infallible truths about polar bears:
1. Some polar bears aren’t doing well, and some are.
2. Climate change is a factor, but it is complicated and variable, and we will do our best to take that into consideration along with lots of other scientific information, like traditional knowledge.
3. Inuit will manage polar bears with stewardship and with a regard to human safety. Not because they are furry and have cute faces. Not because the world wants them to. They will manage them because that is what they have always done and want to be able to do long into the future.
If you are talking to the world at large, or some part of it, you can tell them the new infallible truths about polar bears. You can tell them we’re on it. You can tell them to sort their household hazardous waste: those fluorescent light bulbs have mercury in them, and it accumulates in polar bears.
