100 Nunavut elders contribute to Siku ice atlas

Theo Ikummaq tests the thickness of the new ice near a polynya just outside Igloolik in Nov. 2004. According to the Siku atlas, a polynya is an area of water that never freezes which is surrounded by sea ice. (PHOTO BY GITA LAIDLER)

Atsiaq Alasuaq and Pootoogoo Elee on a sijja in Cape Dorset, ice that has formed around the edge of land. The local elders contributed their knowledge to the siku atlas, and extensive online site documenting Inuit knowledge of sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. (PHOTO BY GITA LAIDLER)

Most Nunavummiut live by the sea, and this means that in Nunavut, sea ice or “siku” plays a big role in travel, harvesting, recreation and culture.

This is particularly true for about 100 Nunavut elders, who, working with Canadian researchers, helped create the first Siku atlas, a new online resource that documents traditional Inuit knowledge of sea ice.

The Siku atlas launched March 17 in three Nunavut communities and at Ottawa’s Carleton University, the project’s southern base.

For the atlas, elders and researchers worked together over the course of nine years to gather stories, maps, terminology and lessons so people can explore and learn about sea ice through Inuit.

Inuit elders will tell you that the atlas is a way to pass their knowledge onto their grandchildren.

“I’ve been using [the sea ice] for the last 50 years,” says Igloolik elder David Irngaut, in a video posted on the Siku website. “The usage I’ve had for it and the uses I have today are pretty much the same in that I use it for harvesting marine mammals and then I still use it to get to places where I hunt which are non-marine.

“My little one[s], even though they are never going to be hunting there… probably, seeing as how they don’t use fat anymore, or dogs. They probably won’t have the need to go down, but having the knowledge will help them, if at some point they have to use the moving ice.”

Because youth no longer use the ice as much as their forebearers did, Nunavut elders said they want to be sure that young hunters have the survival and navigational skills needed if their snowmobiles break down, or their GPS runs out of batteries.

The atlas is already being incorporated into curriculum in some Nunavut high schools.

The mostly English-language website offers a general sea ice page and then individual pages for the three communities that participated the most in the project: Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset and Igloolik.

Each community page charts sea ice conditions and travel routes in that specific region.

The website offers a breakdown of the many different terms to describe sea ice forms, from sikuaq (young ice), the first dark, thin layer of ice in the winter to tuvaq, the solid, landfast ice that forms later in the season.

Siku is a general term for first-year sea ice that has been frozen over several weeks.

Gita Laidler, one of the project coordinators and assistant professor of geography and environmental studies at Carleton University, learned to master that terminology during years of research in Nunavut.

Laidler recalls one of her first experiences with siku, when she followed some Igloolik elders across the newly-formed ice. Her footprints sent ripples of waves underneath the shiny, thin ice.

“It’s nerve-wracking to think of being on a thin layer of ice on a large body of water,” she said. “But [the elders are] totally comfortable — they know what they’re doing.”

Laider said that it’s that practical experience that makes the website truly valuable.

“Unless you actually get out on the ice, any amount of online resources won’t help — you need to have practical knowledge,” she said. “But it’s a starting point.”

The atlas grew from graduate school research Laidler conducted in Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset and Igloolik in the early 2000s. There, she realized that many elders wanted their information preserved to benefit the community.

“There’s a wealth of knowledge but there hasn’t been a lot written down on sea ice,” she said. “They wanted the youth to understand the terminology.”

Safety was another of the elders’ concerns, Laidler said. A warming Arctic has had impacts on the sea ice which make it less predictable, she said, but Inuit knowledge still applies.

The Siku atlas is the result of the Inuit Sea Ice Use and Occupancy project, funded, in part, by International Polar Year money.

Laidler called the website a “living atlas,” meaning it should evolve. She hopes the site will eventually allow visitors to upload their own information online.

Visit the atlas here.