NWT - Residents of coastal communities in the Beaufort Delta have reported that erosion and melting ice could hinder the preservation of their traditional culture.

Brittany Green, Kourtney Ruben and Cheyenne Wolki were part of a group that took photos showing evidence of climate change around Paulatuk during workshop sessions held by Arctic North Consulting to work on a climate adaptation plan. - photo courtesy of Arctic North Consulting

The federal department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has commissioned a climate change consulting company to work in two of the Beaufort Delta's coastal communities to develop climate adaptation plans.

Representatives from Arctic North Consulting, an organization headed by scientists based in Guelph, Ont., visited Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok for three weeks until mid-February to discuss local impacts of climate change and how the community can deal with them. In Paulatuk, about eight community members showed up to each of the five workshop sessions, discussing topics including infrastructure and transportation, economy and business, culture and learning, and subsistence hunting and trapping and health and wellness.

Local businessman Herb Nakimayak, who attended the workshops, said because the community relies on the bounties of caribou harvesters and char fishers, the effects of climate change are not going unnoticed.

"Everybody notices the bank erosions, the melting ice. The conditions could be pretty unsafe," he said. "We need to be able to work together to ensure that everyone's safety is number one and also to continue harvesting the way we do, which means, at the end of the day, (we're) practising our culture."

He said the effects of climate change in Paulatuk extend far beyond melting ice – it connects to the well being of the community on many different levels.

"It's about every aspect that will affect our community, really - our cultural learning, health and well being, and subsistence harvesting is a big one and (a lack of ) that would lead to diabetes – we could go on forever," Nakimayak said. Other residents took photos around the community to document how climate change is affecting them.

Leaders of the studies in each community, Tristan Pearce and Amanda Caron, who could not be reached for comment last week, are due to submit their recommendations for adaptation plans, based on community feedback, to INAC by the end of the month.

These community consultation workshops were the first of their kind done in these communities, and Nakimayak said he thinks good things will come from it.

"It's good to identify the problems that we face here that otherwise may not get put forward. That's the main thing – from there we know we can take action," he said.