Living in the wild North

"I've lived in Churchill for 16 years now and I have to say one of the best things about it is the community. They are a group of really resilient people and really kind-hearted and genuine people who live here in Churchill. It's really neat to be part of a group of people who lives in a remote place and really makes things happen and shares experiences and lives together. I also really enjoy the diversity of a life here. We always say there's never a dull moment. Just wait, it’ll change -  from summer, warm conditions, open water to winter, cold conditions, snow. It really is a spectacular landscape and a really awesome place to live. I think one of the huge challenges with a small place like this is that there is a limited availability of resources. It's challenging sometimes to get the things that you need. You can't just go somewhere and pick up widget or piece number A, it has to come in from outside. So a lot of times you end up having to make do with what you have around and that does become a challenge especially when we're trying to operate a facility like this or even do a very specific science project. It can mean the difference on how well things go in some cases. But because it is such a great community people are happy to share resources and share assistance when they when they can - but it is a big challenge."

"The cold actually is an interesting mix. The cold is so cold that it has an interesting dimension to it. I grew up in Minnesota. That's also a very cold place in the winter. But because of the lights, the Northern Lights or the Aurora Borealis and the quality of the cold - it is very dry. It's sort of a different experience. You don't want to be outside too long. Bu because of the extreme it's almost like you have your own relationship with it. It's something you have to negotiate psychologically with, physically with, emotionally with. For me, it almost becomes not something you're enduring but you're negotiating as it goes. I actually had a puppy over the winter as well. And so training him to go outside was also very interesting. So I had a different relationship with the cold, having to go out, figuring out the best times to go and how to dress warmly. I think the biggest thing is how long it stretches. So it's not the depth of the cold or the wind per se, it's that the winter just keeps going and going. I think we still had snow or ice right up until the last week of June. And so when people from elsewhere posting all these beautiful spring photos or of lush green, it's a bit psychologically jarring to be like we should be seeing something happening by now, but it's still cold and you’re still wearing layers. But it's also an interesting cycle because things actually progress so quickly here. It‘s like the experience of time - in some ways things are sort of steady or they don't seem to be changing but it is changing very quickly particularly with the sun. And just how you hit that peak at Solstice in the summer and then the lowest point in the winter and then very quickly the sun is coming back. And you notice things changing with the sea ice, with the lights, are the birds coming, how many birds, how fast… and in the summer time you have little wild flowers and some are there for a week and then some are there for a few weeks and then there's just all this color - and then it's gone. And then you get this beautiful week or two in the fall of colors and then that‘s gone, then the Bears are here and the tourists. Things move pretty quickly but because it's also that subarctic terrain with the trees and the tundra - nothing is very big so you don't get that enormous feel of change. But if you blink, you look, oh that flowers there yesterday, now it's not, oh here's another one - now it's not. So it's a different relationship to time for me here in the subarctic than in the South."

"Churchill is an interesting and exciting place. There's always a lot going on. It's different from other Northern communities that I've visited. We have a giant science center. We have a thriving eco tourism industry. We have visitors from all over the world to come all throughout the year which is different from other small isolated communities. So there's lots of excitement but it's also really easy to slow the pace of your life down. The views are spectacular, the wildlife is spectacular. If you like being outside, you can go hiking boating, fishing, hunting. There is no traffic. If you like those things then life is easy here. If you can set aside some of those extravagant trappings of city life. Like the ability to go to a cafe. The ability to grocery shop at 11 p.m. Like some of those things that people take for granted in larger centres. I come from the south so occasionally I have those frustrations. Sometimes I'm sitting on my couch at night at 8 p.m. and I wish I could go into the grocery store. But we live in a town where it closes at 8:00. So you're done. To arrange shipping or to think logistically for the things that you need and want in your life is a little more challenging here. But I feel that it pays off - the kind of the natural beauty and that sort of like relaxed lifestyle. It's a good trade."

"I often will tell people ‘look down’, in the summertime, ‘look down’. What grows is so small, but it's remarkable that it grows. And in just a couple of weeks you won't be able to walk across the tundra without squishing berries. There's food right there, all over. It's amazing - like I said - the growth is fast and furious and it happens and it's very lush but you need to look down. In the winter there's a beauty in the emptiness. And the only thing, the only companion you have on a walk is the wind and it's ever present. And the wind sculpts the snow, it alters the trees, it changes the way you walk. There's beauty in that and there's beauty in the fact that the trees can survive in that wind. And then all of a sudden a raven will fly overhead, and there's beauty in that and the ravens will do acrobatics when it's minus 50 and the wind is blowing so hard you're bent over double and you look up and you'll see ravens flying around. That's beauty. It's a harsh beauty. And not everybody sees that, I think. Honestly, I think that the people who live here see that."  

"There's good times there’s bad times with everything anywhere in the world. But here we just seem to have a lot of freedom. The small town freedom. You don't have roads going in and out of the area here. The only way you can arrive into Churchill is via aircraft or train. This is the end of the rail line. So if the train is running you can arrive in Churchill on the train or you can come here by a ship, too. So there are no roads. So our quaint little town tends to stay quaint. I do like that about it. “