Simon Oleekatalik, an Elder from Taloyoak, Nunavut. © Julia Langer / WWF

My name is Simon Oleekatalik. I am 72 years old and I live in a town called Taloyoak, in the Eastern Kitikmeot region on the Boothia Peninsula in Nunavut. Nunavut is the land of the Inuit people in north eastern Canada, formed in 1999 following a land claims agreement. The territory takes up some two million square kilometers and stretches all the way to the North Pole.

Around 1,000 people live in Taloyoak. We hunt and fish on the Gulf of Boothia, and the west side of the peninsula. We mainly hunt seals for subsistence and we can take one or two polar bears each year. The number is regulated by the government.

We have strong connections to the people in communities around the gulf, in Gjoa Haven and Kugaaruk too.

In May 2006 I helped two researchers from WWF on a trip through the communities of Eastern Kitikmeot region to record the elders' knowledge about the environment, the climate and the polar bears in the region. On the research trip Jerry Arqviq translated conversations between the scientist, Darren Keith and the elders who speak our native language of Inuktitut.

Many of us agreed that the weather conditions have changed from a long time ago. In the winter there are more clear sky days more often now. When days get longer it seems to always be cloudier. In the old days in the wintertime, in short daylight, there was more snow accumulation on the ground. Now it is not like that anymore.

Even the area around Taloyoak seems to have changed. It is cold then the next day it is warm and then warm the other day. In March and April when it is supposed to be warming up it seems to be really cold. It feels like the time of year with more daylight is colder than wintertime.

In winter, we have always known which way to go by looking at the snow drifts.

The snow conditions of the snow drifts on the snow are called qimugjuk. They used to be even in the older days. But now it is hard to tell how the qimugjuk is. They are not even on the snow anymore. They would be little spots of snow drifts hear and there. That is unusual nowadays.

Sudden wind and weather changes, and the old ice is melting
I know about the wind too in the summer time. The wind has changed from a long time ago. The summer season is too windy now. It is different now. In the old days it used to be calm in the summer right up until the fall. Right now in the summertime I can see the difference, it is always windy now. Sometimes it will be calm but most of the time it is windy.

They weren't really piqalujat [icebergs] around here just the flat hiqutuqait [pans of multiyear ice]. The big icebergs couldn't make it up here. It is too shallow. Last summer most of the old ice was gone. And it has been very smooth this winter. You would expect to have big pieces of old ice around in the summer.

I noticed also that the ice breaks up faster than a long time ago. I feel that maybe it is because of the warm weather that is coming up that is making the ice go faster in the lakes in spring time. In fishing lakes it used to be really thick. Even the fishing holes made by an auger nowadays. They seem to get smaller just in a day. That never used to happen.

It's hard to build an iglu
On long journeys we still build an iglu from snow for shelter. When I was younger travelling with my parents by dog team my parents used to know just by looking at the snow conditions they would know where the good snow is to build an iglu. Now they are trying to do the same because of our parents. We used to watch our parents how they read the snow to build an iglu. It is almost difficult to understand the snow nowadays, because even when you are trying to work with your snow knife you can't even cut through some of the snow. And the layers are not the same. Some of it is too soft and some of it is too hard.

The snow conditions are different from a long time ago to today. A long time ago when we built an iglu the first blocks used to have a good place to sit on. The blocks used to sit really good on the snow. Now when you put the first blocks on the snow they don't want to sit right because of the snow conditions.

Polar bears are going hungry
Long ago when we finally caught a bear they used to have healthy meat, healthy fat and healthy skin. But nowadays some bears that have been caught their fat seems kind of loose. It is not the usual fat on the polarbears.

We must continually be worried because the polar bears are always coming into town. Last fall two polar bears went to town. Because they are hungry they come close to town, and when they are hungry they are not scared of people or dogs. And they don't care if there are people's things around.

Adapting and learning for the future
Recently we have used secure cages for storing our food in wintertime. The bears don't get at our things that way. We cached some right out of the cage and everything cached outside the cage are taken by the bear and the ones inside the bear were never touched. They have been saved.

I feel that a lot of young people don't know Inuit stuff such as hunting or taking care of their own people. I am hoping in a way that these young guys are learning. They should learn Inuktitut ways of living too to do what we are able to do in the north. Maybe in the beginning they should learning one thing first such as Inuit culture and Inuit stuff. Once they get to learn more then they can start to learn English. I am hoping in the future to see that.

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