Original subtitles

GORDON PINSENT: Last time on The Polar Sea...

The Northwest Passage has become the new Everest.

Seven million square kilometers of Arctic ice have melted,

but the passage is still blocked.

Amateur explorers assemble in Greenland.

RICHARD TEGNER: The channel is opening up.

PINSENT: Here the icebergs breaking off Greenland's glacier

are beautiful playthings.

But as the explorers sail from Greenland to Canada

they face a maze of ice where danger lurks behind dazzling beauty,

and tolerating each other is the key to survival.

RICHARD: It's sad when you look at old friends in a negative way.

PINSENT: Four days of sailing have brought Dax to Pond Inlet.

It's the last stop for repairs

before heading deep into the Northwest Passage,

and a chance for the crew to relieve tensions on the tiny ship.

Pond is an Inuit community of 1,300 people.

Sea mammals have fed them for over 2,500 years.

But the recent arrival of modern ways,

and a changing climate, is altering their diet...

...and their lives.

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

RICHARD: The topography, the landscape, looks quite different, I think.

You didn't see that much on Greenland,

I think I prefer this, yes.

(CHUCKLES)

I like this place.

The background here, it's like a Disney movie.

Or the logo of Paramount Pictures.

(METAL CLANKING)

MARTIN SIGGE: A little welding job brings me to shore.

Stanchions, that's the... The pillars that hold

the railing and ropes, and the fitting that holds the tiller has broken.

Also, we like to find someone to take a look at the outboard engine

because it's misfiring

and, uh, it's not in such very good shape, really, so...

I hope we can do that.

Um, we're going to talk to the boss of the co-op.

That's Louise.

She seems to be the one who runs this town.

When Martin wanted to do these things himself,

Bengt and I tried to contribute with the things,

but mostly Martin did a lot himself

and I think it was a bit too much for him,

so he didn't feel comfortable and relaxed at all.

He had to deal with the things all the time.

PINSENT: The sailors are anchored on the northern tip of Baffin Island.

Europeans have known this region, on and off, for 1,000 years.

First came Vikings, possibly trading with Inuit.

Then, in 1616, the British arrived.

Captain William Baffin charted the coast,

but he found no route to India.

The British Navy lost interest

and did not return to search for the Passage

until 1818.

Between then and the turn of the 21st century,

only a few dozen ships passed this way.

Then the great melt began.

Today, Pond Inlet has ships arriving all summer,

en route to the maze of waterways that form the passage.

(FOGHORN BLOWING)

PINSENT: The community views the sudden swell of visitors

as an opportunity and a challenge.

COLIN SAUNDERS: This is a good summer day.

It'll get actually a little bit hotter in town than this,

but this is... This is here, this is a decent summer day today.

Nice light breeze, radiant sunshine.

You feel the global warming, eh?

(CHUCKLES)

PINSENT: Colin Saunders is Pond Inlet's Economic Development Officer.

His job is to help people figure out how to make money off the tourists.

COLIN: I moved here in the early '80s as a child.

And back then, we might get one cruise ship in a year.

Since the mid-'90s, we've been getting a steady increase of the amount of cruise ships

that have been coming up now, and a slow increase

in the amount of guests that come in per ship.

We do what we can with what we have up here.

We try and give people the best visit as we can

with the limited amount of supplies or provisions

that we do have here to host the ships.

(INAUDIBLE)

WOMAN: The people are from all over.

MAN: Switzerland, Japan, China, South Africa,

uh, New Zealand, Australia, England, USA.

BOTH: And Canada. Yeah. (ALL LAUGH)

MAN: Well, I decided about couple months ago.

Knowing from the history of Amundsen.

So, I was interested in that.

Especially the Northwest Passage.

I read that until 2003,

only 100 ships made it through the Northwest Passage.

But due to global warming, I guess, it's becoming easier.

Everything has two sides.

On one hand, danger of pollution,

and on the other hand, bringing jobs to the people.

I don't know if it's positive. I'm not so sure.

PINSENT: That potential for tension is also drawing journalists.

Ulla Lohmann is a German photographer.

She and her husband, Basti, travel the world for magazines like National Geographic.

Global media interest in the warming Arctic

has given Ulla the opportunity to fulfill a childhood fantasy.

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

(SPEAKING GERMAN) (SHUTTER CLICKING)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

MAN: Who do you work for?

Sorry? Are you English?

No, I'm from Sweden.

Hi, I wonder if I can talk to Louise. Hi.

(KNOCKING)

(SOFTLY) Hi, I was wondering, is... Is this Louise?

I am looking for Louise.

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) Okay. I'll wait.

Hello, my name is Martin. Hi.

I came sailing from Sweden.

I'm Louise. Hi, Louise, pleased to meet you.

The guys at the police station said that you know everything about this town

and how to get around. (LAUGHS) Of course. They already told me that.

Okay, so you were informed,

you were warned. And you're still here. I was warned.

And I'm still here. (CHUCKLES) Okay.

This is a part on my boat which holds the... The poles to...

I don't know what it is in English, but like the fence around.

Okay. Yes, I got it. Okay. Broken.

We can probably do that in the garage.

You have your own garage here?

We have a heavy equipment division.

Okay, great.

What is the next one?

We have a little outboard engine

that hasn't been serviced for...

Actually it worked pretty well when we left Sweden,

but that was two or three months ago.

So, I wonder if there might... You know someone who could take a look at it

and just give it a little TLC.

They can do it.

But whether they have time, we'd have to check and ask.

Ah, maybe... Maybe they would know someone who could, uh...

Well, we have a Yamaha division.

Okay. This is an Evinrude, but okay. (LOUISE LAUGHS)

Well, if you want to go out and check with the operators,

I'll just call them and see if they're there for sure. Yeah.

I was wondering if you knew uh, where we could get a hold of some more fresh water.

We might need, like, 100 liters or so.

You might have to check with the hamlet.

Okay. Yeah, I saw the fire engine there,

they should have water.

And the water truck. 'Cause we have water trucked to all of us here.

Yeah. All right. So... We have a water tank.

Every house and every, uh, place has a water tank.

Okay. And the truck comes and delivers your water.

Yeah. Okay. Water delivery right to your door.

Right. And hopefully you get it on time.

And you don't have piping because that would freeze in the winter, I suppose.

Or you would have to dig it three meters down in the ground or even more?

Yes, yes, and that happens.

Do you have permafrost here in the winter?

Yes. Okay, right, right.

So, Mose is the fuel truck driver...

Okay. And he's connected with your man for fuel.

(WHIRRING)

So, we've got your welding, we've got your fuel.

Yeah, I'm just going to check with who takes care

of the payment and all that stuff.

(SPEAKS SWEDISH)

The co-op started in the North based on what they needed,

which would be trading fur for food and different things like that,

and it evolved to what was needed.

Once a year, this co-op has a sea-lift.

We order once a year for a full year ahead.

Anything that is heavy like furniture, snow machines, ATVs, comes on a ship.

Otherwise, we get seven planes, seven nights a week.

If you want to order 50 pounds of flour, you order that on your sea-lift.

You don't want it to come on a plane because of the freight rate.

It'd be much higher, so you try to keep the costs down for the members

as much as you can.

PINSENT: Grocery delivery by jet plane makes food more expensive here

than anywhere in Canada.

And 45% of people in Pond are on social assistance.

A Nunavut government report says half of youths aged 11 to 15

sometimes go to bed hungry.

(LAUGHING)

PINSENT: And lots of the food kids do get is not the best for them.

To get enough healthy food,

people here still need to hunt and fish.

ULLA: Do you know I would be real interested in seeing some people fishing.

Do you know where I can find them?

(MAN SPEAKING)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(MAN SPEAKING FRENCH)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(SHUTTER CLICKING)

(SHUTTER CLICKING)

(CAMERA BEEPING)

(BOTH LAUGH)

(INAUDIBLE)

ULLA: Can I see one more time the fish, please?

Can I grab it?

Oh, the water is really cold.

Yeah.

They are beautiful.

Do you fry them? (SPEAKING)

How do you make them?

You play with them?

So, you don't kill them?

I took pictures of you.

I would love to give them to you somehow.

Do you think I can get your address and give you the pictures?

That would be cool.

Let's go up to the road together and I get something to write.

(BOY SPEAKING)

You are getting belugas?

How cool! (SPEAKING)

PINSENT: Raw whale and seal meat are still common,

and a requirement any time the community gets together.

Eat. (INAUDIBLE)

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you!

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(BOY SPEAKING)

Just like that? (SPEAKS)

BOY: Eat the whole thing.

(LAUGHS)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

Yeah, I mean, it tastes a little bit like, you know, some sushi I know.

But, uh, I don't know.

I just have a little bit of problem, like, with the idea of eating a little seal.

But I guess it's your food, huh? It's what you eat all the time.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

ULLA: Have you ever been there when they caught a seal?

(SPEAKING)

You caught one? Yeah.

(SPEAKING) Wow.

How do you catch it?

(SPEAKING)

PINSENT: Using rifles and motorboats mean

that Inuit today need cash to hunt.

The hope here is that climate-change tourism will bring enough money

to help people maintain their traditional ways.

But they struggle to understand what the tourists want.

MAN: Is liquor sold here?

Um, they have to go through, uh, committee.

Could I buy a bottle right now?

You would be bootlegging

WOMAN 1: Weren't you at breakfast? WOMAN 2: Weren't you there?

No, no, I heard... I heard exactly what he said.

I heard exactly...

But he didn't say I couldn't buy a bottle in the co-op.

WOMAN: He just said it was controlled

and you didn't understand what "controlled" means.

No, I understand what "control" is,

that it's controlled for the people who live here,

but is it controlled for outsiders?

Yes. I mean you have to go through a committee.

I mean, if you wanted to live here, and go through the process

and put in your order and have it come and have it approved and come in shipped...

Is that correct? Yes.

It would take a long time.

And that is hunters.

WOMAN: Country food? Yes.

So you can get country food

through the Hunters and Trappers Association.

They participate in managing the hunt and establishing the quota

along with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board

and the federal government.

COLIN: The Inuit locally are proud of their community.

When they see people trying to come up and learn and understand,

it's those people that they love to help.

They are very willing to explain things and teach people things

as long as the people are willing to learn and understand.

This is a Peterhead boat, and this boat was utilized

in the mid-1900s for a lot of the work

that was done in the High North.

As you can see, this one hasn't moved in quite a while.

The St. Roch is sort of similarly built

but it's much larger... It's a larger version than this boat.

PINSENT: The St. Roch is a famous vessel in the Northwest Passage.

RCMP Officer Henry Larsen sailed her through the Passage in 1940.

History remembers him as the second man to make the journey.

What history forgets is that Colin's ancestors,

like the Sherpas on Everest, made the journey possible.

COLIN: Uh, what he did was he picked up my grandfather.

Joseph Panikpakuttuk and his wife Lydia,

and he took a number of their children with them on the journey.

So, in the first year, I believe they had to winter

over somewhere along the Northwest Passage

when they going from east to west.

Uh, my grandfather was providing a lot of foodstuff by catching animals

for the dog team and the crew when they needed it.

The next year, Henry Larsen picked up my grandfather and my grandmother

and their kids and put them back on the boat

and managed to do the Northwest Passage in one season that year.

My grandmother was the first woman in the world

to travel the Northwest Passage.

First both east to west and then west to east.

And the St. Roch is the first ship

to circumnavigate North America

through the Panama Canal and the Northwest Passage.

I am very proud of that fact,

that I am a descendant of some of the first people

that went though the Northwest Passage from Canada.

It's interesting that, you know, that there is always a lot of focus

or the spotlight is always on, you know, the captain or something,

but when you really look at it, they couldn't have done it without the support,

with the people who were with them,

including my grandfather and my grandmother.

Whoo!

PINSENT: Northwest Passage ships no longer need Inuit to provide food.

What cruise ships need is a community happy to welcome the passengers.

The ships court that good will with tours and free lunches.

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

Have some fun!

PINSENT: The irony is that the new tourism offers cash, perks and validation

that support a traditional lifestyle,

even as the warming atmosphere destroys it.

In every home, people report that hunting routes and animal patterns

are changing, making food insecurity worse.

ULLA: It must be really tough living out here all year long.

If you're not used to it, I guess maybe you could say that.

In July we'd still have snow,

but because the ice goes so fast now,

the hunters can't get to the spots where they usually go hunting.

This warming, it has not only affected the animals,

households struggle more now to get food

because really we relied on the food we had,

the country food.

And lack of employment, so a lot of households going hungry.

And... But... Yeah.

What's your favorite country food?

I see something behind here. What is it?

Ah, this is seal meat.

We'll cook that up.

This is the fat of the seal.

It's more tender with the fat.

You'll notice the difference after you have that one...

Mmm-hmm.

...compared to the one with the fat. It's more tasty and more tender.

Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. Yes?

Mmm-hmm? Mmm-hmm.

Okay. Mmm-hmm.

Here you use the entire animal.

You use the fat, you use the skin to keep warm.

We use the guts even. Really?

Yeah! For what do you use the guts?

We eat them! (CHUCKLES) We don't waste anything, really,

and we use this skin

to make the kamiks and the parkas.

So, nothing's wasted.

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

Look. Look at you!

You smiling when you work!

ANNIE: Ah!

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

(CAWING)

BENGT NORVIK: In Pond Inlet, I think they are more relaxed.

I think they are more satisfied with their way of living.

Maybe I can learn something about how to relax

and take it more easy.

RICHARD: It's terribly ugly in some spots.

There is junk everywhere and they... They don't bother about that.

I get the impression that Inuit people don't care about material values.

It's of non-importance for them.

They have the focus on something else.

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

This is our big tragedy in the Western society.

We are too focused on money and... And gadgets.

What matters is to be among the one you love,

and not having a big fancy car or whatever.

Though I can't say I'm free from that.

(CHUCKLES) I... I love to have a fancy car and, uh, nice things,

but I realize it's... It's not really a solution for your happiness.

MARTIN: I've been spending a lot of time on board fixing things

while Bengt and Richard could enjoy the places we came to...

(SIGHS) ...which I am happy for them.

Unfortunately, uh, we were not very prepared from the start.

There are many things on the boat

that should have been done already before we left Sweden

and they are getting done now, one by one,

but I don't have everything in place yet.

(FOGHORN BLOWING)

BOY: Ah!

(LAUGHING)

Do you like playing basketball? BOY: Yeah!

Okay, I'm lousy at it.

Hi, my name is PIK. I'm from Pond Inlet.

And my stage name, PIK, stands for "Pond Inlet Kid" when I rap.

Can you do some rapping for us, right now?

Would you feel comfortable with that?

Hit the beat.

"The beat"? Uh, what kind of beat?

Beatbox.

Beatbox.

(BEATBOXING)

Not worth it.

(BOTH LAUGH)

(BEATBOXING)

(BOTH BEATBOXING)

# No mercy, no, don't worry

# Don't be sorry

# And like I said I'm gonna hit this shit

# No, don't regret 'cause I dealt it

# 'Cause I want to be well-liked like me

# If you don't believe I won't feel relief

# Unless you believe #

(BEATBOXING CONTINUES)

(LAUGHS)

(BOY LAUGHING)

Come on!

I think I hear a dog somewhere.

(LAUGHS)

My beatbox was not up to his standards. (LAUGHING)

PINSENT: The highlight of every cruise-ship visit

is a community hall performance.

Visitors get a glimpse into the culture's

completely unique elements,

like sports devised for long nights in tiny igloos.

(ON MICROPHONE) When I say... (SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE)

That means, "One, two, three, go."

(COUNTING DOWN IN NATIVE TONGUE)

(SPEAKING IN NATIVE TONGUE)

(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

(ALL APPLAUDING)

WOMAN: The next event is called, "The one-foot high kick."

Also tests the athlete's power and flexibility

as well as his sense of balance.

(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS)

(CHUCKLES)

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

(CHEERING)

WOMAN: For their last game, they are going to play, um, "Mouth pull."

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

(GROANING)

PINSENT: Community members make money

from performing or by selling arts and crafts.

Art is an old business here.

Expensive.

PINSENT: Inuit always made it and they traded it with the first explorers.

And since the 1960s, Canada has promoted its export.

Tourism brings the market home again, and subtly alters the art's meaning.

Looty Pijamini is one of the Arctic's most successful carvers.

(LOOTY SPEAKING)

(SPEAKING)

(GRUNTS)

(SAW GRINDING)

PINSENT: Today, almost every Baffin community has a co-op

where members make art for tourists.

This is a paper that is called "artist paper."

It's... It's really good quality printmaking paper.

So, it won't move.

Then when you cut them out, wax paper.

They're regional, and then this one sits next one.

I start with blue color.

I just keep trying until I can put more inks on it.

Uh, it's kind of last-touch details.

I put it on same place where I cut them out.

See, I'm doing water now.

So, put it back, like a wave.

More do... More wave.

PINSENT: Inuit art traditionally depicts animals that they hunt.

It was a form of reverence and gratitude for their food.

Now the hunting is bad, but the art market is good.

To feed a family, the image is gaining more value than what it depicts.

It is another strange change that Inuit try to take in stride.

When Pauloossee Veevee was younger, the hills were covered in glaciers

and vast caribou herds.

(PAULOOSSEE SPEAKING NATIVE TONGUE)

MAN: Hmm.

(PAULOOSSEE SPEAKING NATIVE TONGUE)

For me, it's my very first time to come to the Arctic,

I have never ever seen the ice, you know?

I really want to go and see the ice today

because that is like the childhood dream of me to come to the Arctic once.

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

Oh, wow! What is... An iceberg!

(BASTI CHUCKLES) I'm kidding. Come on! Come on, look

at the massive iceberg.

No way!

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

The cruise ship Sea Adventurer prepares to depart.

She is sailing north, where the sea is still frozen.

WOMAN: We get faxed the ice charts every day.

There is a bottleneck in the Northwest Passage

where we have to go down the Boothia peninsula,

either the east or west side and they are jammed up with ice right now,

so we'll see.

Just like the explorers! Just like Franklin.

Something happened to the radar, it all just died.

It's still there?

(CHUCKLES)

PINSENT: Dax is also setting sail. (MOTOR WHIRRING)

Once again, the little ship has been repaired.

Now it's bound for Resolute Bay...

Standby.

...a village deep in the Northwest Passage.

Six-hundred kilometers and there is not a single human outpost on the way.