Written by Denise Deby.
This month the Canadian Museum of Nature brings the Arctic to Ottawa, with events and exhibits on the region’s culture, nature, art, language and history.
You’ll want to check the Museum’s website for details on the numerous events, but here are a few highlights:
- Vanishing Point, an NFB documentary by Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs, on Thursday, April 11. It’s about the spiritual and other connections between two Inuit communities, one on Baffin Island and the other in northwest Greenland, undergoing social and environmental change. Filmmaker Stephen A. Smith will be on hand. The film is in Inuktun with English subtitles, with presentation in English. 7:30-9:30 p.m., $20.
- Richard Weber will speak on Friday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. on Living Climate Change: Tales from a North Pole Explorer. Weber will talk about his visits to the North and the impacts on trekking of environmental, climate and technological change.
- The Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories film series includes Thursday night films, family films and animated shorts. For example, Lords of the Arctic explores the effects of climate change on Arctic wildlife, while People of the Ice looks at climate change over several generations of Inuit. In Inuuvunga: I Am Inuk, I Am Alive, eight high school students document their lives, “painting a rich portrait of coming of age in an Inuit town and helping to dispel the myths of northern isolation and desolation.” Animated short The Bear Facts is a “charming and humorous re-imagining of first contact between Inuit and Europeans.”
The Extraordinary Arctic festival includes a photo exhibit on Arctic plant life as well as lots of family activities, such as Inuktitut language learning, Inuit musical traditions, games and stories. Check the website for schedules and any fees. (Museum admission is free on April 22, Earth Day.)
Green Living Ottawa 