What’s happening to Yellowknife Airport’s polar bear?

“They should put that polar bear in a box and give it a proper burial.”

That was the verdict of Chief Fred Sangris of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in 2022, asked about the polar bear that forms the central feature of Yellowknife Airport’s arrivals hall.

At the time, Chief Sangris said the First Nation had been asking for the bear to be removed for more than a decade.

He said it wasn’t a respectful way to treat the animal. Another key concern has been that the bear doesn’t represent anything relevant to the First Nation, whose members have lived in the area – where there are no polar bears – since time immemorial.

Two years on, is there a plan for the bear?

That was Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart’s question for airport officials at a briefing on Thursday. (Testart worked for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation prior to his election as an MLA last fall.)

“Has there been any effort to work with the chiefs to move that bear to a different part of the airport,” he asked, “and to have a more culturally appropriate Akaitcho, Chief Drygeese, YKDFN-based display when you first come into the airport, as they’ve requested?”

Yellowknife Airport is managed by the NWT government’s Department of Infrastructure.

“We have had those conversations. We’re well aware of the polar bear,” said the department’s deputy minister, Steve Loutitt, at Thursday’s briefing.

Loutitt said the bear – which stands in the middle of the airport’s main baggage reclaim belt, an unmissable location for tourists visiting the NWT – is “the most photographed thing in the Northwest Territories.”

“We don’t want to give that up,” Loutitt said.

“There are polar bears in certain parts of the Northwest Territories and, being a territorial airport, we recognize that.”

He added: “We do want to work to find something that is more culturally representative of this area as well.”

Regional airport manager Randy Straker said meetings with the First Nation and City of Yellowknife had taken place, looking at “possible options and solutions for a replacement.”

“A preliminary sketch and suggestion was put forth at the last meeting. They are now, as a group, looking at funding and a timeframe for that,” Straker told MLAs.

“The plan is to move ahead on some type of similar-type display but more representative, I guess, of the region.”

Testart acknowledged there was a role for the bear at the airport, but said its current position may not be the best.

“Don’t get rid of the bear. Keep the bear, just move it to a less prominent area and focus on the First Peoples who have called this land home since time immemorial,” he said.

“It’s a perspective that I think is shared by the city and the First Nation, and that should be enough evidence to move forward quickly on it.

“I know it’s been a stubborn conversation for some time, so I’m really pleased to hear it’s going forward.”