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Interdisciplinary Working Group

Thinking across cultures and disciplines

As part of the larger Nanuk Knowledge and Dialogue Project, an independent Interdisciplinary Working Group has been organized to think about new and innovative ways of managing the Davis Strait Polar Bear Subpopulation, and to make recommendations to the three wildlife co-management boards in the Eastern Arctic. The core focus of this working group is to explore how collective Inuit Knowledge can be more accessible, influential, and implemented for sustainable Inuit harvesting of polar bears. This working group includes members from diverse backgrounds and experiences, including Inuit Knowledge, wildlife biology, social sciences, public health, law and co-management policy, and various other perspectives. For the Nanuk Narratives project, this working group has acted as an advisory team, guiding messaging and identifying areas for greatest impact.

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Since winter 2022, the Interdisciplinary Working Group has been meeting online over zoom calls to discuss the management of Davis Strait polar bears. We've heard from a variety of different groups and organizations about what they see as the current challenges relating to the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation, including the Davis Strait 2017-18 Survey team, the Polar Bear Advisory Committee and Polar Bear Technical Committee, the Nunatsiavut Government, Makkivik Corporation, and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

The working group aimed to hone in on a strategic focus based on previous discussions and reflections from guest speakers. Participatory activities were used to collectively discuss and brainstorm the various challenges, including issues around a lack of coordination across different Inuit regions, Inuit community voices and knowledge are not recognized and used at all levels, and Inuit still being forced to work within colonial systems that complicate jurisdictional relationships and limit self-determination.

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Working group members came together in person for the first time at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting in Toronto in the fall of 2022, where we collectively decided what the strategic focus would be for this working group, and brainstormed specific outputs that could contribute to addressing the strategic focus. 

Strategic Focus for this Working Group:

Collective Inuit Knowledge needs to be accessible, influential, and implemented for sustainable Inuit relationships with Nanuk.  

To support this focus, an emerging priority from this working group has been to co-produce videos that present Inuit Knowledge and experiences with polar bears in accessible and culturally appropriate ways. The first Letter of Recommendation to the wildlife co-management boards was to explore the use of documentary film and visual media for sharing Inuit voices - leading to the Nanuk Narratives project!

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