Jim, just answer the questions!

Last Monday Dave Rutherford was interviewing the right honourable Minister of the Enviroment Jim Prentice on CHED radio. This interview showed just how patient and professional Dave is when dealing with a guest who appears to skirt the issue. Prentice had just returned from hosting the first Canadian Federal Summit on the Environmental Plight of Polar Bears. Lets just call this the C.F.S.E.P.P.B. for short.

Mr. Rutherford was trying to get information from the Minister regarding any consensus that this group of scientists, wildlife officials and Inuit leaders may have come to regarding the endangered species we all know as the cuddly Polar Bear. In one sense Mr. Prentice conveyed that the Inuit leaders are under the impression that there are more Polar Bears than ever. He then qualified the Inuit’s observation as saying to Dave that there are 13 sub populations of Polar Bears including 3 in Greenland. This clearly painted in your mind that you could disregard the Inuit’s concern because it must be the 3 sub populations in Greenland that the C.F.S.E.P.P.B. should be addressing. With each question, Prentice squirmed about using highfalutin words and political posturing. The segment lasted about 20 minutes with the listener, me, thinking, “Jim, just answer the questions!” One thing for sure about radio programs like this is that it makes a person research. If Prentice was not going to pony up, I thought, “Someone out there has the answers.”

Greenpeace, the environmental watchdogs of the world, have cited that we need to reduce greenhouse gasses because global warming, which according to Greenpeace will evaporate all icecaps in 70 years, is killing the Polar Bears. In this respect, the Polar Bear is being used as a political icon for global climate change. The fact is that in Canada we have over 15,000 of these creatures, many have been found to be a nuisance to communities such as Churchill, Manitoba.

In 2004, 174 of these bears had to be airlifted out of the area because of them entering the small community of 1200. In that small town street signs are posted that say, “WARNING: Beware of Polar Bears on the Streets.”

This problem is more prevalent that one thinks. It fits well within the “on-the-ground” observation of the Inuit at the C.F.S.E.P.P.B. when they tell the scientists and politicians that there are more Polar Bears than ever. It is interesting as I read from one environmentally slanted writer’s take on these airlifts, “ Another somewhat ominous attraction has for some years been added to bear watching. Perhaps attributed to global warming, resource people have been finding air lifting of bears out to the ice necessary because freeze up is coming later and given the timing, bears are in danger of starvation.”

Many an enviromentalist may point out that it is because of the ‘shrinking’ ice caps that the polar bear are encroaching on the Inuit communities looking for food, but if this were true, would not the opposite be observed on the ground? Since Polar Bears hunt on the ice for pre-clubbed seals, would they not migrate further north following the ‘shrinking ice?’

It should be noted that the Polar Bears are extremely adaptable and persistent creatures. They have occupied the arctic for at least 120,000 years and have lived through ice ages and polar cap shrinkage without the help of man.

Another interesting observation I made was that it was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that first identified the Polar Bear as an endangered species. Canada followed suit, but unlike the Americans where hunting for Polar Bears in Alaska is strictly prohibited, hunting for them in Canada is controlled with limits with geography playing a role. One could say that us northerners have a more realistic understanding of the plight of the Polar Bear. Once again, Prentice could learn something from the “on-the-ground” observations of the Inuit people.

So is the Polar Bear really an endangered species? The Canadian perspective seems to differ from nations with less polar experience. The issue of the these northern beasts has become more of an emotional issue that tends to cause politicians to tether their tongues to specific groups, and organize meetings such as the C.F.S.E.P.P.B. designed to convey a predetermined message rather than being an actual fact finding mission. The truth seems to be the Inuit peoples dealing with the Polar Bear should be considered the experts regarding the Polar Bear.

Global warming, whether it is anthropomorphic or naturally cyclical, will likely not kill off the Polar Bear. They will endure as they have in the past. Perhaps our government should deal with the environment in a more constructive way rather than leave people wondering why they attended in the first place.