Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) hunting in Canada has a long history, spanning thousands of years. Harvest intensity increased significantly during the historic period, and populations were greatly reduced by the start of active conservation and management efforts in the mid-20th century. The scale of this exploitation has not been extensively documented, and this is a major gap in our understanding of historic population dynamics. Here, I provide a summary and overview of Canadian polar bear exploitation history by era and time period, hunt types, and data sources and access. Exploitation history can be divided into three broad eras: 1) Pre-historic, 2) Historic (start of written documentation), and 3) Modern (introduction of regulations and active management). Records can be divided into four broad harvest types: 1) Subsistence, 2) Trade, 3) Sport/trophy hunting, and 4) Defence of life and property. These types overlap to some degree, for example Inuit harvests for both subsistence and trade, and whaler harvests for trade and sport. Data on harvests are available for all of these eras and hunt types, to varying extents. Information types include zooarchaeological assemblage data, historic ethnographic and exploration accounts, whaling voyage logbooks, newspaper archives, fur trade accounts, trophy hunting records, and government statistics. These eras, hunt types, and data sources are summarized and prioritized for additional research based on factors such as data availability, scale of removals, and cost effectiveness.