Who we are
The creation of the Nanuk Narratives initiative was shaped by a diverse group of individuals from various life-experiences, worldviews, disciplines, and sectors
This initiative represents a unique collaboration among the Torngat Wildlife & Plants Co-Management Board, the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, as well as the Anguvigaq in Nunavik, and the Pangnirtung Hunter’s and Trappers Association. It also brings together filmmakers, researchers, hunters, Elders, curriculum experts, government workers, and a variety of other people with diverse perspectives. Below is a list of some of the core people who have contributed to this work.
.png)
.png)
Jamie is the Executive Director of the Torngat Wildlife Plants and Fisheries Secretariat, where he is responsible for implementing sections of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement that focus on wildlife and commercial fisheries co-management. In this capacity, Jamie has participated in many interdisciplinary, intergovernmental, and international forums and, under his leadership, the Secretariat has grown its research capacity to better serve the needs of Inuit in Nunatsiavut. Jamie completed a PhD Public Health at the University of Guelph, working with the Secretariat to understand and examine the ways in which fish and wildlife co-management impacts Inuit health and well-being.
Jamie Snook
Tommy Palliser is the Executive Director of the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board, with much first-hand knowledge and experience working in wildlife management with species liek polar bears and other marine mammals. Tommy was born in Moose Factory, Ontario in 1975. He grew up in the community of Inukjuak, previously known as Port Harrison. Tommy has acquired a Social Sciences Diploma at John Abbott College and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Concordia University. After returning from his studies in the south, Tommy worked in Economic Development at the Kativik Regional Government. There, he assisted many small business start-ups and other economic development projects in the region of Nunavik for 14 years from 2002 to 2016, including the creation of the Unaaq Men’s Association of Inukjuak, which he strongly believes in to support the cultural development of the youth in his community through various traditional skills training development. Tommy is a strong believer in the use of visual media for the preservation and dissemination of Inuit knowledge and cultural skillsets, and has played a pivotal role in leading the Nunavik portion of the Nanuk Narratives project.
Tommy Palliser
Jason Akearok is the Executive Director of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) based in Iqaluit, Nunavut since 2013. Jason completed his Masters of Biology from Carleton University while working for the Canadian Wildlife Service, and Jason has conducted both western science research and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit knowledge studies, as well as managed stewardship programming. Jason has led the development of the NWMB strategic plan that focuses on connecting and collaborating across Inuit Nunangat and amongst co-management collaborators. Jason has also played a key role in facilitating co-management discussions related to the policies and management plans of Nunavut’s many polar bears subpopulations. With Nanuk Narratives, Jason has played a critical role in guiding this docuseries from a conceptual level, and leading the Nunavut portion of this project.
Jason Akearok
David Borish is a social and health researcher and visual artist pushing the boundaries of using audio-visual methodologies to explore and understand relationships between humans and the environment. His work sits at the interface of documentary film, public health, cultural and social wellbeing, wildlife conservation, and audio-visual research methods. Through his PhD, Borish was the director of HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou, a research-based documentary film project about the connection between caribou and Inuit well-being in Labrador, Canada, which has been broadcasted on CBC and has been screened at more than 15 international film festivals. His particular expertise is blending documentary film with qualitative analysis for community-based research projects. Previously, he has worked as a visual educator for National Geographic Student Expeditions in Iceland and Alaska, and has led a variety of visual-based projects about environmental and social issues in Uganda, Peru, Nepal, Kenya, Malaysia, and other parts of the world.
.png)
David Borish
Monica is the Executive Director of the Torngat Wildlife Plants and Fisheries Secretariat. She is a social scientist specialized in the human dimensions of wildlife and natural resources management and conservation. With a biology background and a PhD in geography, she brings over a decade of experience working with communities, government agencies, NGOs, and academic institutions across North and South America, as well as Europe. Her expertise spans a wide range of issues related to wildlife conservation, fisheries management, and sustainable natural resource use.
Monica Engel
Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD, is the Provost and Vice-President Academic at Acadia University. She is recognized for her institution-building work in Northern higher education, and led the establishment and development of the Labrador Campus of Memorial University. She is a leading voice internationally on climate change and mental health, ecological grief, and intangible losses and damages that arise from climate change. She contributes regularly to move science into policy spheres nationally and internationally, including contributing to the IPCC AR6 Chapter 12: North America and Cross-Chapter Paper: Polar Regions, and a Lead Author on Chapters in the Natural Resources Canada and the Health Canada Climate Change Assessment Reports. She is also a regular media contributor, including being a main participant in the award-winning film “The Magnitude of All Things”. Creatively, Ashlee was the core producer on “HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou”, and also directed her own film called “Lament for the Land”, which explored Inuit voices on change, loss, and hope in the context of rapid climate change in the Nunatsiavut, Labrador.
Ashlee cunsolo
Solomon was born in a sod house nearby Igloolik on November 2, 1959. From a very young age, he has been curious about everything; he even disassembled his sister’s toy sewing machine -something his sister was very mad about. Solomon started sewing traditional items learning from his late mother Appia Awa. His late father, Mathias Awa, was an excellent carver, especially with ivory. Awa had many stories that he told to his children and Solomon now shares those same stories with others. Solomon loves to tell the stories that he learnt from his father. He tells lots of stories to school, adult education, he has also taught at arctic college about traditional knowledge. Solomon picked up these traditional skills from his parents. He started making traditional items at a very young age - sewing seal skins, making harpoon tips, making carvings, making drums and building igloos. Solomon has also spend a lot of time teaching others -the general public, day cares and schools- how to make all kind of traditional items. He also started singing at a young age with new modern style band with guitars and musical instruments. Solomon has written his own original songs and has also translated popular ‘pop’ songs into Inuktitut. He can play several instruments, by ear (without reading sheet music). He regularly plays the organ at St. Jude’s Anglican Church. Solomon currently lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut with his wife, Jodi, and their two teenage children. He also has 5 adult children, from his first marriage, along with several grandchildren and one great grandchild
Solomon awa
ADD
James May
Mikhaela is the Executive Director of the Anguvigaq (Nunavik Hunters and Trappers Organization), who is based in Tasiujaq. Neelin is a biologist, ecologist who graduated from the department of Natural Resource Science at McGill University in Montreal. She studied the impact of climate change on species, Arctic wildlife and how ecological changes impact indigenous people. Neelin has also researched the expansion of beavers into Nunavik, a subarctic region of Canada, and the beaver’s impact on Arctic char, a significant fish species and food source for the Inuit of Nunavik. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to exploring ecological relationships, seeking to grasp the big picture of ecological interactions by looking at the wildlife, the land and the people who inhabit it. Neelin’s research is rooted in the idea that Inuit traditional knowledge must be properly valued to achieve a more holistic view of environmental changes in the north.
Mikhaela Neelin
Derrick is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group, as well as a knowledge holder in several Nanuk Narrative videos. Derrick is a 65 year old Inuk, married with 2 children and 4 grandchildren. He lives a traditional lifestyle of hunting, trapping and gathering. Inuit traditional values are very important to him. He is a commercial fur harvester and commercial guide. Derrick has spent 45 years working on different boards and advisory groups with Nunatsiavut eg: Torngat Mountains National Park and Mealy Mountains National Park, and polar bear advisory boards working with Inuit across Canada. He is owner / operator of BearSafe Planning Inc. which certifies bear guards and educates clients regarding bear safety. For the past 20 years Derrick as been involved in different aspects of the study of global warming and how it is impacting all people in the North. He has also travelled to Nunavut, Nunavik, Inuvialuit and Greenland as an Inuit culturalist with Adventure Canada
Derrick Pottle
Douglas is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group. Douglas is an Associate Professor and Assistant Director, Academic, at the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, where he runs the Human-Wildlife Interactions Research Group. He was the School’s first full-time faculty member and held the Centennial Chair in Human Dimensions of Environment and Sustainability from 2009-2019. He is presently adjunct faculty at Queen's University and a Research Associate with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative. Doug has 29 years of northern research and environmental management experience, with eight years of that time spent living in Arctic and Sub-Arctic communities. During that time he worked for Parks Canada in six different national parks, including serving for three years as the first Chief Warden of Wapusk National Park, Manitoba. His interdisciplinary research program seeks to integrate environmental conservation with human dignity, with particular focus on polar bear-human interactions and northern wildlife co-management. In February 2021 he launched The Arctic Bears Project, a collaborative citizen-science research effort to non-invasively study the drivers of polar bear-human interactions that has involved over 5000 volunteers to date.
Douglas Clark
Dominique is a Research Scientist at the Wildlife Research Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada. Over the past 15 years, she has worked with Inuit communities and organizations, co-management boards, territorial and federal governments, and academics on collaborative research projects. Trained in social sciences, Dominique is dedicated to undertaking research that addresses Indigenous community priorities related to wildlife, climate change, co-management and cultural heritage. She currently leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on mobilizing Indigenous and Western knowledge systems on culturally significant species under federal jurisdiction (migratory birds, polar bear, species at risk) to support wildlife co-management and sustainable use, particularly in Arctic and northern Canada. Her research practice draws on community-engaged participatory approaches, and emphasizes youth engagement and knowledge co-production. Dominique is currently involved in a project documenting Nunavut Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on polar bears for the Davis Strait population and is a member of the Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Working Group under the Circumpolar Action Plan for polar bears. Her PhD thesis (2007-2012) explored the roles of Inuit knowledge in polar bear co-management in Nunavut. Dominique is French Canadian of French and Scottish settler descent. She grew up on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka and currently lives in Montréal/Tiohtiá:ke with her daughters.
Dominique Henri
Amy is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group, which help guide the Nanuk Narratives initiative. Amy is a public health nutritionist in Nunavut, where she has been involved with a range of initiatives related to Inuit country food sovereignty and food security, diabetes education, prenatal nutrition, and zoonotic disease prevention & food safety in the Arctic. Over the past 20 years, she has worked with - and learned from - community health representatives, Elders, hunters, families, researchers, healthcare workers and Inuit organizations across Nunavut. Amy is a registered dietitian, a certified diabetes educator, and holds a Master of Science in Human Nutrition and Metabolism (University of Aberdeen, Scotland). She is a PhD candidate in Public Health (University of Guelph) focusing on Inuit country food and nutrition in early human life. Amy lives in Iqaluit with her family.
.png)
Amy Caughey
Stephen is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group. Stephen is a wildlife biologist and veterinarian who’s spent more than 30 years studying polar bears. Formally a polar bear biologist with the Government of the Northwest Territories and subsequently the Government of Nunavut’s first Director of Wildlife Management, Stephen lived in Iqaluit for 9 years. He currently lives in Winnipeg where he works as a veterinarian and contracted wildlife biologist. Stephen has conducted field studies in 10 of Canada’s polar bear sub-populations including Davis Strait. These studies have included physical mark-recapture, biopsy darting and aerial survey-based methods. Recently, Stephen was involved in the 2018 biopsy darting in Davis Strait, an aerial survey of Western Hudson Bay in 2021 and a captured-based energetics study in Western Hudson also in 2021.
Stephen Atkinson
Pitsiula is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group. Pitsiula is the Community Health Representative (CHR) for the Department of Health in Pangnirtung (Health Centre), where she does local Community health promotion activities as the CHRs in her Community of Pangnirtung. She enjoys serving her community and leads many health promotion initiatives throughout the year. Pitsiula was born and raised in Kimmirut, Nunavut but has lived in Pangnirtung for many years. She is married and has four boys and four beautiful grandchildren. She is passionate about her Inuit culture as an Inuk woman and loves to promote & share her country food in any way possible and she enjoys ice fishing in the springtime. She has worked for the Department of Health since the early 1980’s, in both Iqaluit and Pangnirtung. Pitsiula took part in the Departments Health Preparation training as well as the Community Health Representative Certificate course and recently taken the seven module supervisory series training program. Pitsiula has many years of experience in different Territorial and Regional roles at Health, including Health Promotion officer, Regional Wellness Coordinator, Territorial CHR lead, and now back as the Community Health Representative
Pitsiula Kilabuk
ADD
Iola Metuq
Sari is one of the members of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation interdisciplinary working group. Sari is Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies and Associate Professor, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University. Dr. Graben’s teaching and research focuses on Indigenous peoples and development, with a special focus on environmental regulation, co-management, emergent property systems and risk. Her research and consulting experience with co-management systems in Northern and Eastern Canada has focused on the allocation and implementation of rights and impacts to sub-community groups. She is the co-editor (with Angela Cameron and Val Napoleon) of the upcoming book, Creating Indigenous Property: Power Rights, and Relationships (2020) and is published in leading journals on Indigenous rights. Her current work focuses on benefit agreements and gender in resource based economies.
Sari Graben
Ikimaliq Pikilak is one of the contributing filmmakers to the Nanuk Narratives initiative. Ikimaliq grew up in Narsaq, a small town in South Greenland, but is currently based in Nuuk where she lives with her two daughters. She has a strong relationship with her culture, which has inspired her through her artistic development as an artist, Tunniit practitioner (traditional Inuk tattooist), Author and filmmaker. Culture and knowledge preservation repeats itself in the purpose of her work. She has done multiple single and joint exhibitions with her artwork, published 2 children's books about Tunniit and a documentary about the possible open pit mine in her hometown Narsaq, and co-produced 1 feature film and 3 shortfilms. She is currently co-writing “Tunniit - The Art of Inuit Tattooing" and “Decolonization Anthology” while producing her second documentary.
Ikimaliq Pikilak
David Poisey is one of the contributing filmmakers to the Nanuk Narratives initiative. David is an accomplished videographer and printmaker from Kiviroo, NU who resides in Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), NU. Poisey grew up on the land and later on moved to Hamilton, ON to attend Mohawk College for Film & Television Technology. Poisey has worked on multiple film sets in numerous roles such as Director of Photography for Qimmit, A Clash of Two Truths (2010), Cinematographer for Exile (2009) and has also directed his own film Starting Fire with Gunpowder (1991). Poisey has won many awards and is recognized as a mentor of Inuit within the film industry and art world and is a proponent of Inuit telling their stories. His prints are a part of the 2018 Pangnirtung Print Collection. For Nanuk Narratives, Poisey is creating multiple short films about Inuit-polar bear relationships in Pangnirtung, NU. In particular, he is the main creative lead working with the Pangnirtung Hunters and Trappers Association, which is a key local partner on this docuseries.
David Poisey
Jessica Winters is one of the contributing filmmakers to the Nanuk Narratives initiative. Jessica is a painter, mixed media artist and curator from Makkovik, Nunatsiavut currently living in St. John's, Newfoundland. Academically trained as a biologist from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Winters committed to art full-time following a residency in Tilting, Fogo Island from Arts and Minds Canada in 2021. In 2022, she was named one of three Canadian recipients of the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists. Practicing primarily as a painter, her work focuses on translating seemingly regular experiences of Inuit into something provoking and nostalgic. Understanding that perspective changes the way we see our surroundings, Winters often uses the displacement of objects, people, and activities in her work to offer new interpretations of and appreciation for daily life. For the Nanuk Narratives Project, she is excited to be able to participate in filmmaking with more creative and direct input, and feels that video production and direction is a natural progression from her work as an artist and curator. As both an artist and trained scientist, she is looking forward to finding ways to tell stories of science and conservation through an artistic Inuit perspective.
Jess winters
Holly is one of the contributing filmmakers to the Nanuk Narratives initiative. As a photographer living in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, NL, she is surrounded by beautiful landscape, and the interesting stories that come with it. Holly believes it is important for the outside world to see how Inuit live, and to learn a little about how certain things affect us and our lifestyle. Holly has directed “Hebron Relocation”, a film with the National Film Board of Canada. Holly believes the Nanuk Narratives project will help Inuit and other people better understand polar bear populations, and what the ecological changes that have been experienced in the past 15 years or so. Holly says "we have been seeing a bit more of them in our area, which isn’t really normal for us. I think it’s important to document what has been happening, also, for future generations to see and learn from it."
Holly Andersen
Lucasi is one of the contributing filmmakers to the Nanuk Narratives initiative. Lucasi is from Kangiqsujuaq, Quebec. He is a photographer and videographer focusing on nature and his life as an Inuk. Having been surrounded by nature all his life, he has noticed the beauty that surrounded his community, which led him to pursue photography and filmmaking. Through these mediums, Lucasi wants to show the world the beauty of his land through his own eyes. Having been almost everywhere in the nearby lands either from hunting, camping or hiking, Lucasi has noticed he lives in a very unique environment surrounded by nature. This led to many oppurtunities to capture different animals, night occurences such as northern lights, many different ways of hunting throughout the years.
Lucasi Kiatainaq
ADD
Ola andersen
Spencer has eight years experience working in the camera department for film and television in Toronto, ON and St. John’s, NL. Now he lives in Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL working as a video and sound editor. He has co-produced, filmed and edited his first documentary, “Living with Polar Bears in the Great Northern Peninsula”, and is in pre-production for his second. Spencer was a key contributor to Nanuk Narratives by supporting with video editing and story development.
