Ice. Igloos. Polar Bears. These are just a few of the things that come to mind when people think about the Arctic.
The Canadian Museum of Nature hopes to challenge such superficial perceptions with the Arctic Voices exhibit opening Dec. 5. Arctic Voices is a travelling exhibit that’s scheduled to be open at the CMN until April.
The exhibit is the first collaboration between Sudbury’s Science North and the CMN.
According to Caroline Lanthier, a project manager at the Centretown museum, the content for the exhibit was developed by both organizations, which created a balanced partnership.
Arctic Voices will transport visitors to Canada’s great white North with its interactive elements, videos, photos and testimonials in hopes of changing visitors’ misconceptions.
Visitors will be able to crawl through polar bear dens and hop like Arctic hares as they learn about Arctic animals and their adaptations to such a harsh environment.
They can also travel with scientists as they observe the gentle giants of the Arctic in the Whales of the Arctic Theatre.
“Very few Canadians will ever have the opportunity to travel to the Arctic so this is an opportunity to do that and bring people there virtually with the experience we have developed with the exhibit,” says Science North CEO Guy Labine.
Says Geoff Green, founder of the educational excursion program Students On Ice:
“There is still just a general lack of knowledge and understanding about the Arctic, not only in Canada but globally. The Arctic is a huge part of our past, our present and our future.”
Climate change, a huge issue that is already having impact on Arctic shorelines and ice cover, is a main focus within the exhibit.
“We are trying to present climate change in a way where people are not going to feel doomed walking out of the exhibition,” says Lanthier.
There are many sections throughout the exhibit that allow visitors to reflect on what can be done to help to slow climate change.
The Arctic coast is Canada’s largest coastline, with 40 per cent of the country’s landmass being in the Arctic.
Green explains that climate change in the North is something that will affect everyone, no matter where they live.
Green says many have misconceptions about the Arctic and that “part of the problem is that we don’t really learn about the Arctic in mainstream education as we grow up in Canada. It’s not a big part of our education and it should be.”
He adds: “I think it is the fastest changing place in the world, on every level. Climate change and the diminishment of sea ice is bringing with it change on political levels, cultural levels, economic development, science, social sciences; its changing remarkably quickly – literally from igloos to Internet in one generation.”
Lynda Brown, director of youth programs at Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre, has travelled across Canada as a performer and says the effects of climate change can be seen far and wide.
Brown says she once heard an elder talk about passing on the knowledge she learned from her parents about predicting weather.
“It isn’t useful to her children, as what she knows is no longer valid, the weather is not predictable anymore,” the elder went on to say.
Green says he looks forward to the exhibit opening in December. He says it represents the notion that people should strive to be “better stewards of clean air, clean water, and clean earth – the three things that are the most important for our very survival.”