The 2025 Ice Watch has begun! Support ice safety and share knowledge in your community by making Ice Posts with SIKU - you could win Northern gift cards, a brand new snowmobile and more! Learn more at https://siku.org/icewatch.
Never approach dangerous conditions and get your community’s elders and ice experts involved!
It’s almost time for Ice Watch 2025! All posts made this ice season will be reviewed by a panel of Inuit ice experts and considered for grand prizes, including a brand new snowmobile! The challenge officially begins in March and prizes will be announced each week. In the meantime, all qualifying SIKU Ice Posts made from October to June are eligible for Grand Prizes.… Read more
Polar bears are elusive, even in open tundra landscapes. This video follows Solomon Awa and Jack Allakariallak from Iqaluit as they go out looking and tracking polar bears. They finds lots of tracks, and share their knowledge of what can be learned from these tracks and the environment around them.
Inuit receiving one of the two polar bear licenses in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, have seven days to hunt a polar bear before the license is passed to another hunter. This video shares an experience of tracking polar bears outside of Makkovik.
The millennia-old relationship between Inuit and polar bears is cinematically explored through a shared source of food: seals. Bear and human hunters both wait patiently by the tiny breathing holes seals have carved into the frozen icescape. Through bears, Inuit have learned to be still, waiting for the rare moment to strike to eat and survive.
This narrative shares the experience of Melva and her family's experience trying to hunt a polar bear outside of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut. As a female hunter, Melva shares the cultural value of the hunt, and how the fur is now used as an educational resource for youth so that their connection to polar bears can be sustained.
What do the changing ice conditions mean for polar bears? Knowledge holders in Makkovik share their views, and their experiences with changing bear behaviour. They also reflect on the importance of hunter education and connection to culture for sustained relationships with bears.
The co-creation process of Nanuk Narratives involved a collaborative effort between Inuit communities, wildlife co-management boards, local filmmakers, and interdisciplinary experts. This video celebrates some of the many people who were behind this work.
Ikimaliq Pikilak, an artist, filmmaker, and cultural knowledge holder based in Nuuk, Greenland, shares a unique perspective on the deep emotional connections between Inuit and polar bears. She describes a reciprocal connection, and how hunters have learnt much from bears over many generations.
In 2021, a bear broke into Tony Andersen's cabin outside of Makkovik, Nunatsiavut. Many people within Makkovik and other communities across the Davis Strait range have experienced similar issues, with bears causing damage to property.
