Study: Canada's Rising Temperatures Pose Extreme Danger
Pastor Dale Morgan
Jul 24, 4:15 PM EDT
*Study: Canada's Rising Temperatures Pose Extreme Danger*
TORONTO (AP) -- Rising temperatures in eastern Canada are making it more
dangerous for the native Inuit population in the province of Quebec to
travel and hunt by snowmobile, and a new study recommends that they
return to using the traditional dogsled.
A recent report on climate change in Quebec's Arctic region stresses
that warming temperatures are forcing the Inuit to rethink how they get
around, which is mainly by Skidoo snowmobile.
"For the last 10 years or so we've had winters that are more mild, so
ice forms later in autumn and winter," Martin Tremblay, a geographic
researcher who led the study, said Tuesday.
"One of the most effective means of transport is the Skidoo, and the
period when it can be used is shorter than before. It causes security
problems, because the ice is thinner and more unstable."
Tremblay's report was prepared for the Kativik regional government and
offers several recommendations to deal with climate change, among the
most striking being a return to Inuit's traditional means of transport -
dog sleds.
Tremblay points out that dogsleds are a fair bit lighter than Skidoos
and well-trained dogs can sense precarious patches of ice.
His recommendation is being embraced by many for reasons that extend
beyond safety.
Organizers of Ivakkak, Nunavik's annual dogsled race, say encouraging
dogsled use and breeding pure Huskies will do much to preserve an Inuit
tradition under threat.
"The dogs were part of their nomadic life and it was taken from them,"
said Ivakkak coordinator Isabelle Dubois, referring to allegations that
tens of thousands of sled dogs were slaughtered during the 1950s and '60s.
"It's a way of life that has disappeared and the dogs are at the base of
that way of life."
For Dubois, it is important to show younger generations of Inuit that
the knowledge of their elders can provide answers to modern problems.
Indeed, many of Tremblay's findings are based on interviews with
experienced Inuit hunters and elders, which complement the study's more
scientific findings.
"All the experienced hunters have learned how to recognize
meteorological conditions," he said in a phone interview from Kuujjuaq,
some 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) north of the city of Montreal.
"What they've noticed is that the weather is becoming more and more
unpredictable."
Tremblay said his research team plans to compile the knowledge it
gathered from elders on a CD-ROM, and make it available to younger Inuit.