Polar Bear Week launches to spotlight growing threats in warming Arctic

Alyssa McCall with Polar Bears International talks about why this is an important time for polar bears, how they are doing this year and what we can do to help.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of polar bears and Arctic sea ice has launched its annual awareness week to highlight the threats facing the species.

Polar Bears International (PBI), located in both Canada and the U.S., launched Polar Bear Week on Sunday. The event coincides with the annual gathering of polar bears near Churchill, as they wait for sea ice to form on the Hudson Bay to return to hunting seals, according to the organization.

“But until then, they’re kind of bored, and they’re hanging out, and they’re gathering right around us, and we’re live streaming the bears every day,” said Alysa McCall, PBI director of conservation outreach and staff scientist.

The awareness week is marked by live-streaming wild polar bears in Churchill as well as live webcasts with scientists, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and special guests.

This year’s theme behind Polar Bear Week is coexistence, which McCall said is due to polar bears spending more time on land. According to the organization, the summer ice-free period in the Hudson Bay region now lasts three to four weeks longer than in the 1980s.

“We want to support the people living with polar bears and keep polar bears in the wild,” said McCall, speaking from an EV Tundra Buddy near Churchill.

“So, coexistence is really about awareness of climate change. It’s about innovative strategies, community collaboration, and just securing a better future for polar bears and people.”

She said recent coexistence advancements involving PBI include an AI radar system that is being deployed in Eureka, Nunavut, which detects approaching polar bears—regardless of environmental conditions.

Other advancements include bear-safe infrastructure in Churchill, such as bear-resistant bins, electrical fencing, and improved waste management. McCall said the organization is also supporting research on new scent-based deterrents against polar bears.

“We’re really committed to some innovative ideas,” she said. “(Polar bears) really are such a critical part of the ecosystem and the world. We want to keep them around for a long time.”

More information on Polar Bear Week, including how to get involved, can be found online.

-With files from CTV Rachel Lagacé