TER70 - Arctic grizzly bear range expansion: multidisciplinary and community perspectives

Grizzly bears are expanding their range in northern Canada, particularly on islands in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region; the Kivalliq region, Nunavut; and northern Manitoba. Our project seeks to understand why this species is establishing in these areas and determine what it means for people and for the terrestrial and marine environments these bears use. We are attempting to answer these questions using a community-led combination of: 

1. traditional and local knowledge, 

2. camera trapping to better understand the distribution of grizzlies, and 

3. stable isotope and genomic analyses of harvest samples for diet and population structure.  

Presentations updating these analyses in progress will be contextualized by discussion of how our multidisciplinary collaboration came about because of community priorities and leadership, as well as investigation of how the increasing prevalence of grizzly bears poses an apparent threat to food security and Inuit cultural continuity. 

Co-Chairs: Douglas Clark, University of Saskatchewan 

Steeve Cote, Université Laval