New app helps Inuit adapt to changing climate: ‘It’s time for the harpoon and computer to work together’

Mick Appaqaq has been going out onto the rugged, isolated land around the Hudson Bay since he was little.

Appaqaq lives in the town of Sanikiluaq, on Flaherty Island, one of the thousands of small islands that make up Canada’s northernmost territory of Nunavut — which stretches deep into the Arctic.

“My father would always take me geese hunting in the spring and berry picking in the summer, ever since I was a young kid,” he said. “So, yeah, it’s in my blood.”

For much of the year, Nunavut’s coastline and islands are interlaced with sea ice that must be traversed to get to fishing and hunting grounds. Priority number one is not falling through, Appaqaq says.

To make sure it can hold the weight of a snowmobile, hunters often use a harpoon to punch through ice — a traditional method used by the Inuit for countless generations. But now there’s another step.