Gregory Thiemann, Vicki Sahanatien, Geoff York, Lyle Walton, Alysa McCall, Community Members, Joseph Northrup

Polar bears (Wabusk) in southern Hudson Bay and James Bay exist at the southern limit of their species’ range. When their seasonal sea-ice habitat melts each year, polar bears are forced to migrate to shore, where they have coexisted with Omushkego Cree for millennia. The Omushkego People have lived in the lands and waters beside Washaybeyoh (Hudson Bay) and Weeneebeg (James Bay) since time immemorial. However, they have often been marginalized or excluded from polar bear management and decision-making, ignoring the complex socio-ecological systems and the historical human-polar bear context in the region. Decolonizing conservation through an understanding of Omushkego knowledge will provide critical information for land management decisions, climate change adaptation strategies, and conflict mitigation with polar bears, thereby leading to more positive human-wildlife interactions. Working to support Omushkego Knowledge (Kiskaynadomowin), this study aims to promote a coexistence framework that recognizes the cultural and economic significance of polar bears to the coastal Cree communities of Fort Severn (Wasaho), Peawanuck (Weenusk), Attawapiskat, Moose Cree, Kashechewan, and Fort Albany. Our community-led participatory approach, using semi-structured interviews, walking interviews, and community mapping, documents this collaborative effort with academic, provincial, federal, and civil society partners to support coexistence planning in the region. Local reports suggest that encounters with polar bears are becoming more frequent as bears spend more time on land. Our results document the conflict, interactions and damages experienced by community members. As well as the protocols, deterrents, traditional ecological knowledge and cultural history of Wabusk in the region from an Omushkego perspective. Our findings aim to help fill a gap in environmental and conservation science on polar bear ecology from an Omushkego perspective.