Canada's Climate Daily

Churchill at a Crossroads: A traditional way of life clashes with 'last chance tourism'

The encounter between Mamgark and the tourists is where the real and practical world of the North confronts an idealized and romanticized Arctic. It’s an imaginary Arctic, part of an image sold for southerners’ consumption.

That tension is underlined by an increasingly common phrase: “last chance tourism." This phrase refers to the threats posed by the rapid ebbs and flows of the Anthropocene. As for Churchill, the term could mean a tourist’s last opportunity to see the Arctic as it is now, before its iconic wildlife is gone, a relic of a colder era.