Churchill, Manitoba: Life in the North

Churchill, Manitoba in Canada is on the shores of Hudson Bay, and it can only be accessed by train, plane, or boat (during the open water season when there is no ice). Churchill is rich in the cultural heritage of the Indigenous people who inhabit this part of Canada. 

While often called the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” because of the annual gathering of polar bears as they wait for the return of the frozen sea ice in Hudson Bay, Churchill has a lot of other interesting sights to see besides polar bears.

Each fall, Hudson Bay freezes over with sea ice, and each summer the ice melts again. During that open water season, polar bears come onto land and often walk along the shore.

The Inuit meaning of inukshuk is “in the likeness of a human.” It stands as a marker of human presence in the vast North, home to Inuit and many other Indigenous peoples. 

Inukshuks can be used as navigational guides to direct people on their paths, signs of respect or memorials for loved ones, and indicators of migration routes or fishing areas.

The Port of Churchill is Canada’s only Arctic seaport, and it is active during the ice-free season. Large vessels enter Hudson Bay and transport grain, mining, and forest products in and out throughout the season. Many people who live in Churchill work at the port during the summer.

The small town of Churchill is home to just under 1,000 people, and the downtown area is very similar to other small towns in the Far North. 

The economy of Churchill relies on the Port of Churchill and its flourishing tourist business famous for polar bears, beluga whales, northern lights, and more. 

Churchill’s tourism supports multiple businesses, and it annually attracts about 11,000 visitors from all over the world.

This is the central park area of Churchill, where many town activities take place. In November of 2009, the Olympic Torch traveled through Churchill on its way to the 2010 Winter Olympics that was held in Vancouver, Canada, and the town celebration was held in this area.

The tourism boom in Churchill during polar bear season supports restaurants and hotels, including the Seaport Hotel where you can dine on great food, join the nightly festivities, and chat with Churchill residents and  visitors.

Shipping groceries to the northern regions of Canada can be difficult and expensive. Many northern communities only have one place to buy food, if they have any at all. The most common grocery store in the north is the Northern chain which sells food, supplies, toys, outdoor clothes, and more.

On a snowy day in Churchill, the Port of Churchill grain elevator is hidden in the snow at the end of the Kelsey Blvd., the main street of the town. Can you see it?

Parks Canada in Churchill has a beautiful visitor center and museum where they provide information about the parks and polar bear safety. Park rangers from Churchill monitor Cape Merry and Wapusk National Park, areas where polar bears migrate to Hudson Bay.

The Itsanitaq Museum is a bright museum that is filled with 3,500 years worth of history and art along with some Arctic animals.

The walls are lined with cases of intricately-carved ivory and soapstone pieces that tell the stories of the north along with artifacts from the Dorset and Thule cultures, ancestors of the modern Inuit.

One of the exhibits in the Itsanitaq Museum is a polar bear. You get a sense of the size of a polar bear’s teeth when you are this close to this one.

The walrus is a marine mammal that is found in the Arctic. Polar bears sometimes eat walrus, but their preferred prey are bearded seals and ringed seals.

The Arctic wolf has a variety of coloration, while this one is tan and brown, some are completely white. All of these wolves are covered in thick fur to protect them from the Arctic cold. 

This kind of wolf is found in several parts of the Arctic but it is more prevalent in Alaska. Its prey includes muskox, caribou, and Arctic hare. The Arctic wolf migrates in winter during periods of complete darkness. 

While the Arctic wolf is not officially endangered, its population has been at risk in some areas.

Can you find the Arctic fox in this scene? Its white fur provides excellent camouflage for the snowy tundra. The canoes in the foreground were handmade by the Indigenous people of this area.

Look around the museum and go on a virtual scavenger hunt for these exhibits: a polar bear cub, a seal, an Inukshuk banner, and ivory carvings. What else do you see?

The polar bear holding facility holds problem bears captured by the Polar Bear Alert team during polar bear season. The bears are released into the wild after several weeks, away from any human settlements. 

The number of polar bears captured in the program is related to weather, ice conditions in the fall, and the distribution of bears along the coast. The town of Churchill is recognized for its excellent Polar Bear Alert program, prioritizing community safety while also protecting the polar bears.

There are active polar bear patrols that drive around the community, alerting the residents if a polar bear has wandered into town. The members of the patrol often shoot cracker shells from guns (which are “blanks” that simply make a loud noise) in an effort to scare the bears away.

When bears are captured in areas close to or in the town of Churchill, they are brought to this air conditioned building, where they are held until they are relocated. Polar bears are given water and released as soon as possible.

The bears are sometimes airlifted by helicopter to other areas of the tundra, especially if they are known to be problematic bears that have entered the town area more than once.

Sometimes traps are placed around the perimeter of Churchill to capture polar bears, especially if there are several incidences of bears in the area. 

Dog sledding has been used for hunting and traveling in the Far North for over a thousand years. Dog sledding is also also an adventure, and dog sled racing is a popular sport.

Teepees (or tipis) are tent-like structures that were historically built by the Inuit and Métis people (and others) as a shelter. Many Indigenous peoples were semi-nomadic, and they needed housing structures that could be erected or taken down quickly. 

This building is where visitors warm up next to a stove as they drink hot chocolate and learn about dog sledding. Historically, a fur trapper in the Far North often had a trapper’s cabin that was used as a simple shelter that he used while he moved around his trapline territory. 

Trapper’s cabins are cultural icons in Canada and Alaska, and they are still erected and used by fur traders today.

Dogs that are part of a dog sled team are trained at a young age. The most popular kinds of dogs used for sled teams are Siberian Huskies, Canadian Eskimo Dogs, Alaskan Huskies, and Alaskan Malamutes, although short–haired hounds are sometimes used. 

The lead dog is a critical member of the dog sled team. There are different types of dog sleds or sleighs that are used for different purposes.

This dog sledding camp is on the edge of the boreal forest, the world’s largest land-based biome. The dogs are kept outside and fed diets high in fat and protein. Look carefully at this image, and see how many dogs you can find.

The Parks Canada Visitor Centre has exhibits on the human and natural history of the Churchill area. Information about nearby the park sites such as Wapusk National Park, Cape Merry Historic site, and Prince of Wales Fort, is also available.

Park rangers and staff also provide information about polar bears and polar bear safety.

With snowshoes in the foreground (used to help people walk on deep snow), a beautiful, white Arctic fox is in the background in this part of the museum. The Arctic fox is also known as a white fox, polar fox, or snow fox.

Its white coat provides excellent camouflage in the winter, blending in with the snow. In the summer, its coat turns brown or gray, providing cover among the tundra’s rocks and plants. Arctic foxes eat rodents, birds, fish, and sometimes the leftovers from a polar bear’s kill.

A canvas-covered teepee is on exhibit in the museum. You can look closely inside the teepee and see a small cooking area and a papoose for carrying a baby. On the left of the teepee are dolls dressed in traditional clothing.

Pregnant polar bears den in this area in fall after feasting in the early summer and swimming to land when the sea ice breaks up. They choose den sites in snowdrifts along coastal and river bluffs, in hills near sea ice, or in banks of snow on the frozen sea. 

Along southern and western Hudson Bay, mother bears dig into raised peat soils found in palsa formations or along lakeshores and rivers. To build her den, the female excavates a small snow cave, just large enough for her to turn around. She then waits for the snow to close the entrance tunnel.

Caribou, also known as reindeer, spend their summer on the tundra, feeding on grasses and plants. When fall comes, they migrate back south to more sheltered climates.

Cape Merry is located where the Hudson Bay and Churchill River meet. Around 1700, the Hudson’s Bay Company decided to build a fur trading post on the Churchill River. However, it burned to the ground the same year it was built.

Cape Merry is named after Captain John Merry, the Deputy Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1712–1718.

A cannon battery is a stone wall that protects a cannon from enemy fire. The Cape Merry cannon battery was originally built to protect the Churchill River and river mouth from enemies.

Cape Merry had cannons for providing crossfire to protect the Churchill River. However, the Hudson Bay’s Company representatives were dissatisfied with the cannons because they were located across from the Prince of Wales Fort and could actually have been used by enemies to fire upon the fort.

This cannon is one of the original 42 cannons from Prince of Wales Fort.

In the distance, across Churchill River from Cape Merry, is the Prince of Wales Fort which was built at Eskimo Point at the mouth of the Churchill River. It was built in the 1700s, and it took 40 years to build.

Prince of Wales Fort was built to protect the Hudson Bay’s Company’s cargo ships. Conditions inside the fort were extremely harsh with freezing cold temperatures in the winter, smoke from ongoing fires that provided limited warmth, and incessant bugs in the summer.