Voices from the Margins: The Muskekowuck Athinuwick/Cree People of Northern Ontario and the Management of Wabusk/Polar Bear

VARIOUS STUDIES ON POLAR BEARS (Wabusk in Cree)indicate that the health and distribution of thisanimal and its habitat (i.e., dens, staging areas) are being affected by climate change (Scott et al., 2002; Obbard et al., 2006, 2007). Of special concern to the Muskekowuck Athinuwick/Cree People of northern On-tario are the Western Hudson Bay and the Southern Hud-son Bay polar bear populations (the two located in Wînipekw, or Hudson and James bays), which the Cree co-manage along with other stakeholders (i.e., Manitoba, Nunavut, Quebec, and other indigenous people with abo-riginal and treaty rights). The co-management discussions among indigenous people with aboriginal and treaty rights and other stakeholders are complicated by proposed legis-lation that would change the polar bear’s status in the United States and Canada (Lunn et al., 2006); by Inuit criticism of these proposed changes, which will affec