Chapter 4 - Churchill, Manitoba

What does it mean to be in Churchill, Manitoba? It is a city of 900 permanent residents on the shore of the Hudson Bay. Because of its unique location, at certain times of the year, Churchill becomes a hub of polar bear interaction. How many polar bears? Coincidentally, estimates are at about 900. This makes it the polar bear capital of the world and also gives the town a 1:1 polar bear to person ratio. In summer, seeing a polar bear is a bit of a spotty affair. The bears are there, but they’re not congregating in any place in particular as they do in the fall.

Inuktuk

A brief history of Churchill I have gleaned from tour guides and locals- A person came to the Churchill bay looking for the Northwest Passage. Through a series of poor decisions they ended up staying there through the winter. Spoiler alert- they pretty much all died. Then they got a street named after them. Repeat 3-4 times. Eventually it became the (most important/biggest/best? NTS- evaluate this claim) sea port in the Canadian north, shipping huge amounts of grain to Africa, Europe, and Asia. It also has pretty much the only hospital in the northern provinces (Nunavut, The Yukon).

The granary

First ship of the season at port

The Churchill River

It is still unarguably a small town. When I got there the first ship of the year had just come into port and the town was all abuzz with talk about it. I live a few miles from the port of Oakland, one of the largest ports on the west coast, and I never even stop to think about the vast quantity of ships coming in and out. If you consider it for a moment, each one is a little bit amazing all on its own. People have come across the sea from a strange foreign place, bringing with them goods, money, and stories. Maybe you are friends with some of the men, maybe the snow machine you ordered is on this ship, maybe you are just excited that the ice in the bay has finally broken (in early July).

T

This is a half-built (realistically, quite a bit less than half) hotel that was begun 30 years ago by a master mason. Apparently he is still working on it. Very, very slowly.

Summer brings multitudinous Beluga Whales into Churchill (2-3 thousand). The bay and river positively teem with them as they feed on local fish and breed. You really can’t look out over any local body of water without spotting a dozen within minutes. Other attractions in Churchill include great birding (!) and the presence of the Aurora Borealis, another long time interest of mine. So, as you can see, the reasons I might want to come to Churchill are readily apparent. But the reasons why those special 900 might choose to live here are much more interesting to me.

Bearded Seal!

The whales were very curious about all human things. They seemed to especially like the motor.

I also went kayaking with them and they'd bump into the boat the investigate it.

So what does it mean to be a resident of Churchill, Manitoba? It means enduring winters so harsh and long that you only get around 4 hours of light a day and that trees only grow branches on their south side because the north winds are too harsh. It means living shoulder-to-shoulder with creatures that are one of the few in the natural world that will willingly eat people. It means being a 20 hour train ride from the nearest, for example, Tim Hortons. It must be strange to watch television advertisements in Churchill. All of the ads are for things you have no realistic access to. No one is traveling to the nearest Quiznos to try their new seafood sub (aside- really?) Impulse buys are literally impossible. It is advertising into the void.

This is a place where polar bears who are feeling down can come and just get held.

Just kidding, it's a jail! But it's not so bad, the bears are only put here if they become dangerous in the town (and they are, actually, really dangerous animals) and are let out back onto the ice when winter comes.

Paintings on the walls of the Northern, Churchill's only grocery store. Honestly it was kind of an everything store.

Churchill is also a tourist town. When a guest asked what was more important to the town, the port or tourism, the guide answered without hesitation. So things can get kinda chintzy. My hotel has made a valiant effort to construct every possible thing out of logs. The logs walls and log tables are obviously nice rustic touches, and the log lamps and chandeliers are cute and well put together. The log chairs in particular have a kind of sloppily put together, attached to your parents’ refrigerator kind of charm to them.  I do kind of wish, thought, that the log bed were a little bit more comfortable. And when I turned on the tap a bunch of twigs (little logs?) just spilled out of it. Perhaps a little too dedicated to the theme?

Churchill is also a dog sledding center

Those are some strong dogs

A trading post that has been around since Churchill's old days.

 The tour guide today said that a small patch of lichen on a rock takes a thousand years to grow to that size. Pretty profound stuff, especially considering what it implies about the agelessness of some of these totally mossy ones. However, one very sharp woman quickly inquired about how this could be possible, considering that a nearby monument was covered in the stuff. The monument was no more than 30 years old. Our guide kinda brushed it off in a half-annoyed, half apathetic kinda way. 

A crashed plane called 'miss piggy' just outside of town

You could climb all over it. The only thing the guides were concerned about was that there weren't any bears around.

I don't think this kinda thing would fly (/pun) in the states, there'd be fences and warning signs and probably they just would've removed the whole thing.

Most of the people providing tourist services were temporary residents, living here for the Whale and Bear seasons (not Summer and Fall, mind you). They live here for 5 months, then go someplace else and do the same job there, whether it’s waitressing or tour guiding or bar tending. It’s the kind of lifestyle engaged in by young people for a few years before they decide to settle down. The town has a very international feel to it because of all these seasonal workers. Working at my hotel alone there was an American man who prayed over his mountainous plate of breakfast meats every morning, a perfect Australian couple with perfect hair and perfect teeth, a Japanese girl who got attacked by seagulls, and a French woman who had one of those accents so dizzyingly charming that you think it must be at least a little bit fake.

foreground- whales
background- prince of wales (fort)

Living in Churhill probably gives a valuable sense of perspective about what it is important, what is real. On my last night in town, the power went out for the entire town. The attitude of everyone in town was a soft ‘eh, what’re you gonna do?’ and ‘don’t expect it to come back any time soon’. Nobody was stressing themselves out about it, nor about anything else as far as I could tell. One young man who worked at the train station told me that he was born and raised in Churchill, but he had since gone away to the big city for college. And although he appreciated it in some ways, it wasn’t really for him, he reported, too many people, too many things.

It won't be long now til I'm back in California, but there's still a lot of Canada to cover. Expect at least 3 or 4 more updates before travelblog goes back into retirement. Next time- Toronto!