Skip to main content

Analysis

566 Articles

Churchill at a Crossroads: A traditional way of life clashes with 'last chance tourism'

The encounter between Mamgark and the tourists is where the real and practical world of the North confronts an idealized and romanticized Arctic. It’s an imaginary Arctic, part of an image sold for southerners’ consumption. That tension is underlined by an increasingly common phrase: “last chance tourism." This phrase refers to the threats posed by the rapid ebbs and flows of the Anthropocene. As for Churchill, the term could mean a tourist’s last opportunity to see the Arctic as it is now, before its iconic wildlife is gone, a relic of a colder era.

Churchill at a Crossroads: looking forward from the past

The prospective conservation area would stretch down the western edge of Hudson Bay on Manitoba’s Arctic coastline, producing an increase in resources, regulations and support to ensure a healthy coast in the sensitive low-arctic waters. Churchill, along with several First Nations, will decide the project's fate, government officials and environmental campaigners told Canada’s National Observer.