Beaufort Sea Community Tour: Getting traditional in Ulukhaktok
WWF goes on the road to share the results of our oil spill modelling with those who would be most affected by a spill: the communities of the Beaufort Sea.
Ulukhatok is a community of 400 people on the western side of Victoria Island. It is a very traditional community where their traditional language, Innuinaqtun, is spoken by nearly everyone. Its name, “Ulukhaktok”, means “the place where ulu parts are found” (ulus are a curved hand-knife used by Inuit).
We arrived by plane in the late afternoon. Our summer student, Erin Goose, who is from Ulukhaktok, met us at the community hall. Erin had just completed part of the Clean Camps, Clean Coast project and cleaned up Jacks Bay near town, as the local Hunters and Trappers Committee used a grant from WWF to clean up Kuuk river camp and coastline.
When we arrived the weather was beautiful and the community was in great spirits, as the previous day they had harvested a beluga whale, an important traditional food source in all Inuvialuit communities. Our meeting began in the early evening. It was locally catered with traditional foods including char chowder, reindeer stew, and bannock. Of course, the coffee and tea flowed freely. Around 30 people attended our public meeting – an impressive turnout given the beautiful weather outside. In the corner of the community, the infamous polar hybrid grizzly stood in the corner watching over the meeting.
The community members emphasized the importance of the ocean for the survival of their community, both in the past and going forward. They also emphasized the important role that local and traditional knowledge in the community, gained over millennia of observation and close interaction with their environment and frequent monitoring of changes in the ocean and wildlife, would play to complement and verify WWF’s oil spill modelling work.
When our plane left, several people approached us to deliver char to the next communities we visited. The char in Ulukhaktok is known throughout the Arctic! And by keeping the oceans and coasts clean and free of oil and other garbage, the char, beluga, and other marine species will continue to provide for the community and maintain a healthy and productive Arctic ecosystem.
