The small city of Churchill, Manitoba, is without doubt one of the hottest locations for polar bear viewing. Not solely is it the positioning of the world’s largest gathering of polar bears every year, however it’s additionally among the many few locations on Earth that’s accessible to see these kings of the Arctic. Nat Hab has been working conservation-focused polar bear tours on this northern outpost alongside the shores of Hudson Bay since 1989.
Between the months of July and November, polar bears outnumber the roughly 800 human residents of Churchill whereas they linger across the coastal areas and surrounding tundra, ready for the waters of Hudson Bay to freeze to allow them to hunt for seals on the ice. However this distant space additionally holds significance for a number of teams of Indigenous peoples who’ve lived right here for hundreds of years.
Manitoba sits on the homelands of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Denesuline, Dakota Oyate, Purple River Métis, Nehethowuk Nations and the Inuit within the northern areas. Visiting the province means touring via Treaties 1 via 5 Territories, and as of 2021, the province is home to more than 164,200 First Nations individuals, not together with Métis and the Inuit. Manitoba is the birthplace of the Métis—folks with Indigenous and Euro-American ancestry. It was additionally the house of their political chief, the late Louis Riel, who defended Métis rights and id and have become the founding father of Manitoba.
Manitoba’s capital metropolis of Winnipeg serves because the gateway to Churchill, and it holds the excellence of getting the largest Indigenous population of any metropolis in Canada. It boasts its personal sights that give guests perception into the unique inhabitants that proceed to name this place residence.
Beneath, you’ll discover eight methods to study Manitoba’s historical past and the Indigenous tradition that’s nonetheless alive and thriving in Churchill, Winnipeg and past.
Indigenous Experiences in Churchill
For such a tiny city, there’s loads to do in Churchill! As well as to looking for Arctic wildlife on the tundra from our customized Polar Rovers, we take time to study and expertise Indigenous tradition on all of our Nat Hab Churchill excursions, together with the actions beneath.
1. Churchill Northern Research Heart
Making an inukshuk © Lavanya Sunkara
As a part of our northern lights adventure, Nat Hab vacationers go to the Churchill Northern Studies Center, positioned throughout the Churchill Wildlife Administration Space. This non-profit, unbiased discipline analysis and schooling station was established in 1976 to review the Canadian subarctic area. Right this moment, the middle hosts scientists from around the globe to conduct analysis in regards to the space’s wildlife, ecology and the consequences of local weather change.
Throughout a tour of CNSC, visitors can study to make inukshuks out of snow blocks. An inukshuk is a landmark created within the form of a human from stacked stones. (The phrase actually means “within the likeness of a human,” which you’ll see within the characteristic picture above!) They’re typically utilized by the Inuit for directional functions. These buildings, giant and small, could be seen in and round Churchill, with a large stone inukshuk gracing the shores of Hudson Bay. Historically, the impressively balanced inukshuks signified locations of reverence and had been used as journey markers. They had been additionally used to mark meals provides and warn folks of any hazard.
After the inukshuk constructing exercise, vacationers can savor a scrumptious meal on the middle’s cafeteria and study in regards to the Rocket Greens program, which grows and delivers recent greens and herbs to the group. Vacationers may additionally get pleasure from wildlife watching from the out of doors platform or the heated indoor viewing dome.
2. Itsanitaq Museum
The Itsanitaq Museum, previously referred to as the Eskimo Museum, options a big, one-room exhibit in regards to the life and occasions of Arctic peoples via carvings and artifacts. These hail from a number of intervals in time, from round 1700 BC, when the semi-nomadic, pre-Dorset folks lived and hunted, via the Dorset period round 600 BC, when folks got here to be recognized for using small instruments and superbly crafted wooden and ivory figurines.
Round 1000 AD, Thule hunters, initially from the Russian Far East and coastal Alaska, displaced the Dorset. They’re the ancestors of as we speak’s Inuit. Their bows and arrows; dog sleds; and seal, walrus and whale looking prowess allowed them to overpower the Dorset and take over the realm. With the arrival of European explorers and fur merchants, Inuit tradition and lifestyle modified over the previous few centuries, however the Inuit as we speak proceed to keep up their traditions and cultural id.
Itsanitaq Museum © Lavanya Sunkara
Itsanitaq was based by Roman Catholic missionaries in 1944 to showcase the creativity of the Canadian Inuits. Canada is residence to roughly 60,000 Inuit. The museum’s new title means “issues from the previous,” acknowledging the archaeological artifacts and tales expressed via sculptures. Guests can stare upon carvings and collectible figurines created from ivory, stone and bone and browse tales of true accounts. The museum is open year-round, and the on-site present store sells Inuit stone artwork, postcards, books and berry preserves.
We go to the Itsanitaq Museum on most of our fall polar bear adventures and summer time belugas and bears tours, in addition to on our winter northern lights expedition.
3. Prince of Wales Fort
Arctic summer time in Churchill is prime time for watching polar bears and the realm’s different fashionable seasonal guests—beluga whales. Often called sea canaries for his or her melodious underwater vocalizations, these pleasant white whales fill the Churchill River within the hotter months. On our Belugas, Bears & Summer Wildlife of Churchill journey, along with getting eye degree with whales and recognizing polar bears alongside the shores, visitors go on a guided tour of the Prince of Wales Fort, which sits on the windswept coast the place the Churchill River meets the Hudson Bay, within the outskirts of the city of Churchill.
Prince of Wales Fort © TravelingOtter from Houston, Texas, USA, by way of Wikimedia Commons
This large, star-shaped stone fortress was erected 250 years in the past by the Hudson Bay Firm and is essentially the most northerly stone fort in Canada. Established in 1670 and named for Henry Hudson, the primary Englishman to discover Hudson Bay, the corporate is the oldest business company in North America and maybe essentially the most well-known in Canada. The fortress is known as to honor the Royal Household.
The fort’s major objective was to guard the Hudson Bay Firm’s belongings from invaders and function a hub for the fur commerce with the Dene, Cree and Inuit peoples. Proudly owning a beaver fur hat was a standing image; Europeans traded with the Indigenous folks for beaver pelts throughout this quickly evolving time interval within the 1600s and 1700s. The French attacked the fort in 1782 and gained management with out a shot ever being fired. The Hudson Bay Firm regained energy of the fortress the next 12 months, however with the fur commerce in decline, it not served a objective.
In 1920, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada acknowledged the constructing as a Nationwide Historic Website and commenced restoration. Prince of Wales Fort stays a preferred attraction and a reminder of the fur buying and selling historical past of the area.
4. Wapusk Adventures Canine Sledding
Canine sledding via the magical boreal forest, homeland as we speak of the Métis and the Cree, is one other thrilling exercise on all of our Churchill adventures. This implies of transportation, in keeping with archaeological finds, was broadly utilized by the Inuit and First Nations folks residing within the northern elements of Canada. Sturdy sled canines carried firewood, looking provides and different helpful objects between camps throughout the snowy tundra.
On the Indigenous-owned Wapusk Adventures, musher Dave Daley gathers everybody within the firm’s heat and comfortable cabin to share his love of canines and his pleasure in his Métis heritage. He begins with the story of the European explorers and the fur commerce that resulted within the Métis folks, who then developed their very own tradition and language.
> Read: Something to Bark About: Ethical Dog Sledding in the Arctic
Nat Hab vacationers canine sledding at Wapusk Adventures © Judy Wilson
He strikes on to the inspiring story of Louis Riel, a Manitoban who championed the rights of the Métis folks in the course of the Purple River Rise up of 1869 towards the Hudson Bay Firm’s sale of their homeland to the Canadian authorities. Riel led the Métis-formed provisional authorities and negotiated with the Parliament for the passage of the Manitoba Act in 1870 that made it Canada’s fifth province. In consequence, Manitoba was the primary province to hitch the nation underneath Indigenous management.
Because the sled canines outdoors start to bark eagerly, Daley shares the heartfelt story of the way it wasn’t superb to be Métis for a interval of a few hundred years, as the federal government denied them their rights and discouraged them from expressing their tradition. “Once I was rising up, I used to be French. It wasn’t as modern to be Métis as it’s as we speak,” he says whereas petting one of many canines.
Daley began his enterprise in 2001. His connection to the land as an Indigenous individual is deep via his canines.
“You’ll see canines that basically need to go and present you their stuff!” he says excitedly. Daley participates in sled canine racing, and the enjoyment it brings to him to proceed this custom and share it with others is palpable. After this introductory speech, visitors can expertise the enjoyment of zooming previous bushes on the “Ididamile”—an exciting, mile-long sled canine experience, warming up afterward in an genuine canine musher’s tipi (a favourite aurora-viewing spot on our Northern Lights & Arctic Exploration tour).
> Read: 15 Traditional Tales About the Northern Lights
Wyatt Daley speaks with a gaggle of Nat Hab vacationers at Wapusk Adventures © Valerie Gleaton
Indigenous Experiences in Winnipeg
There are not any roads connecting Churchill, which suggests guests should both take the practice or fly there from Winnipeg. Being host to the most important Indigenous inhabitants within the nation, Winnipeg has many Indigenous-focused experiences, from world-class museums to nature reserves. Earlier than venturing out to the north, contemplate spending a number of days within the metropolis studying extra in regards to the historical past and tradition of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit folks.
5. FortWhyte Alive
The plains bison is a vital animal for the Indigenous folks of North America. The continent’s largest land mammal holds a particular significance, because it offers sustenance, materials for clothes and shelter and horns and bones for instruments. Earlier than the arrival of Europeans, roughly 30–60 million of these hoofed animals roamed throughout the continent.
Indigenous folks hunted bison sustainably, however that modified with the arrival of Europeans. Overhunting and grazing competitors from horses and different animals within the space brought on the bison inhabitants to say no drastically, hurting Indigenous populations who relied on the animal.
At FortWhyte Alive, a 640-acre nature reserve with lakes and forests inside a brief drive from Downtown Winnipeg, vacationers on our Winnipeg extension can see herds of those lovely mammals and study their significance to Manitoba’s historical past and Indigenous folks. Because of conservation efforts, the plains bison has begun to make a sluggish comeback, and FortWhyte Alive is residence to the most important city bison herd on the earth. The reserve is open year-round, and guests can snowshoe, hike, bike, or just go for a nature or birdwatching stroll.
> Read: An Indigenous History of Climate Change in Canada
6. Nationwide Indigenous Residential Faculty Museum
Nationwide Indigenous Residential Faculty Museum © Lavanya Sunkara
An hour west of Winnipeg sits the city of Keeshkeemaquah on the land of the Lengthy Plain First Nation, web site of the National Indigenous Residential School Museum. Housed within the former Portage la Prairie Indian Residential Faculty, it conveys the historical past and lasting legacy of the Residential college period. Many Indigenous kids had been compelled to attend these colleges with the intention to “assimilate” into the Eurocentric Canadian tradition and shed connections to their identities, tradition, languages and households. The interval lasted from the 1870s to the Nineteen Nineties in Canada, with the final residential college closing in 1996.
By footage, artifacts and shows, the museum tells the tales of the youngsters who suffered via the brutal, government-sponsored and church-run college system. The museum’s purpose is to coach patrons about this darkish a part of Canadian historical past whereas serving to survivors of the residential college system via their therapeutic journeys. Though we don’t go to the museum on our Winnipeg extension, it’s an excellent day-trip choice for visitors arriving early or staying after their tour.
7. Quamajuq
Opened in March of 2021, the Quamajuq Museum, connected to Winnipeg Artwork Gallery (WAG), holds the most important assortment of latest Inuit artwork on the earth. This new museum is a surprising feat of structure, designed by Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan.
Paintings at WAG-Qaumajuq
The museum displays are the results of session between an Indigenous Advisory Circle and WAG, with the previous consisting of Inuit, First Nations and Métis elders, creators and educators. It hosts 14,000 everlasting items of Inuit artwork (together with drawings, prints, carvings and textiles) in a four-story, 36,000-square-foot facility.
True to its title, which in Inuktitut is pronounced “KOW-mah-yourk” and means, “it’s vivid, it’s lit,” the constructing is luminescent and incorporates a floor-to-ceiling, seen glass show of 5,000 stone carvings from varied creative communities on stacked cabinets three-stories tall. On the highest ground, the 8,000-square-foot gallery titled Qilak, which in Inuktitut means sky, patrons can see the Inuit exhibition Inua, that includes older and modern artworks.
If the stone carvings get you impressed, try Spence Custom Carving’s soapstone carving workshop to carve your very personal polar bear. Spence Customized Carving is run by Fredrick Lyle Spence (Thunder Bear), who was born and raised in Peguis First Nation.
8. Canadian Museum for Human Rights
No journey to Winnipeg is full with out paying a go to to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Canada’s fifth nationwide museum. This gorgeous construction, designed by American architect Antoine Predock, opened in 2014 and sits on the confluence of the Purple and Assiniboine Rivers close to The Forks assembly place. The mission of this multilevel museum is to boost the understanding of human rights violations and victories around the globe and to facilitate conversations round these subjects.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights © Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, by way of Wikimedia Commons
The $351 million undertaking is a results of the collaboration between the Canadian authorities, Manitoba, Winnipeg, The Forks Renewal Company, the Buddies of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and donors. Galleries on this modern construction characteristic displays on a variety of human rights subjects, together with Indigenous Views, Defending Rights in Canada and Analyzing the Holocaust, amongst others.
A spotlight is the multi-story, handmade ceramic hanging blanket by Ojibwa artist Rebecca Belmore. Titled Hint, it’s a collaborative work of many individuals round Winnipeg who squeezed small lumps of clay into hundreds of beads to honor the unique inhabitants of the land. Different displays educate patrons in regards to the residential college system, the relocation of the Inuit, Japanese internment throughout World Battle II, and the Holocaust and different genocides.
The museum continues human rights consciousness via educating initiatives and the nationwide pupil journey program that brings hundreds of scholars to the museum every year.
Bonus: Can’t get sufficient museums? To study much more in regards to the historical past of the realm, together with its Indigenous inhabitants, pay a go to to the award-winning Manitoba Museum, a part of our Day in Winnipeg extension.
