Look left, right, and up. These words never meant anything to Roberta Gaundroue, other than their familiarity to road-crossing procedures, until she spent a month in a research building outside of Churchill, Man., where polar bears routinely clambered up onto the roof and tumbled off. 

Gaundroue, 21, spent a month at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC), about a half an hour outside of Churchill from Oct. 15 to Nov. 13. Working as a volunteer in the kitchen, she washed dishes and helped with the kitchen staff’s prep work six hours out of the day.

While it seems there are plenty of dishes to be done here in Jasper, Gaundroue took the opportunity in northern Manitoba to learn from researchers on location in the research building, which acts as a base for many different types of ecological and environmental studies. 

Churchill is unique in that it is close to three very lively biomes – boreal forest, marine and tundra. Many different animals frequent each area, making it the perfect base for research. There are no roads leading to Churchill, which has 923 citizens. The only way to get to the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” is by airplane or train. 

“I’ve always wanted to visit Churchill,” Gaundroue said. “I thought being in that science environment would be a great opportunity.”

During the remaining 18 hours of the day, Gaundroue read, napped, ate three big meals, chatted with her fellow residents and took in lectures from renowned scientists on polar bears and other four-legged bruins. During her stay in the height of polar bear migration, Gaundroue got the chance to take two tours out on the tundra where she saw a plethora of arctic life, from funny little birds called snow buntings that predict the snow as they race to escape it, arctic hare and fox, ptarmigan and of course, polar bears. 

“They try to beat the snow,” Gaundroue said of the buntings, who are a spot-on prediction of when snow or a storm will be blowing into an area. 

Gaundroue was surprised to find that it was warmer than she expected in the north, although it was always very windy. 

The bear season is the busiest time for Churchill and the CNSC. Many tour groups on “learning vacations” stop in to take in lectures and go out into Canada’s most accessible arctic region on a specially made Tundra Buggy. There are other popular tours that leave from the CNSC, including bird and beluga whale watching and Northern Lights viewing.

“There’s a lot to see there,” Gaundroue said. 

The Northern Lights are most active in February, and a large group of people travel to Churchill, which boasts 300 days of aurora borealis activity each year – and makes it one of the best spots to see the mysterious multi-coloured lights in the sky. 

On one Tundra Buggy tour, Gaundroue got to walk around the tundra. The vehicle got within five feet of the bears at times, she said. 

“Sometimes they would come right up to the buggy.”

This was one of the only times she was able to see the bears. They often wandered through the CNSC yard, but Gaundroue only had one sighting. A mother bear and her cub climbed up on the roof one morning during her turn at the breakfast shift. She could hear their paws scratching on the roof, and watched as they playfully tumbled off the building. 

“They’re really curious and intelligent,” Gaundroue said. 

Because the bears enjoyed playing on the roof, a sign on the door said “Look left, right, and up,” to warn those heading outside. 

Gaundroue sat in on bear conservation lectures and learned about the fluffy white bears that are the subject of climate change debate. She learned about the harsh climate polar bears experience, and what they go through to survive. 

“The arctic’s a really tough place to live,” Gaundroue said. 

The Churchill polar bears are the only type of polar bear that live off the ice during warmer months.

They survive by eating as much as they can before the melt, and usually do not eat again until the ice freezes up and they can reach the seal hunting grounds. They will occasionally snatch up an easy meal, but mostly rely on fat stores. They do not hibernate like other bears. 

“It’s sort of like a walking hibernation,” Gaundroue said. 

There are more than just polar bear researchers that use the CNSC, and during her time in Churchill, Gaundroue said there were about five researchers there. A pair of scientists were working on remote sensing with an aircraft to determine the thickness of ice without having to physically test it. One young university student was testing gas emissions off  a remote pond every day.

Gaundroue said she enjoyed talking to one bear specialist after she was done her turn in the kitchen. Often the volunteers would hang out with the researchers and other people at the building and get to know each other. Through Elder Hostel, a group that operates learning vacations,  Gaundroue met people from Australia, the U.K., China and more. She said many of the researchers were happy to have a facility that was so close to the tundra. Some said it was rare to have a place to return to after a day of research. Sometimes they stayed in tents in remote areas. 

Churchill’s uniqueness does not go unnoticed by the rest of the world. While Gaundroue was there, she was shocked to spot Canadian TV personality George Stroumboulopoulos dining at the popular Gypsy’s Bakery.

“I though it was weird,”  Gaundroue said. 

Stroumboulopoulos wasn’t the only celebrity that visited during the month. American domestic know-all, Martha Stewart, was in Churchill as well. She was expected to stop at CNSC for dinner one evening, but didn’t have time. 

Gaundroue asked the kitchen staff if they were going to be pulling out all the stops for Stewart. 

“I asked the cooks and they said they weren’t going to do anything different,” Gaundroue said. 

It’s not unusual for celebrity guests to take trips to Churchill to film TV shows. 

“During bear season they get a lot more attention paid to them,” Gaundroue said. 

Volunteering for CNSC is not for the faint of heart. Gaundroue said she had to apply and wait to hear about whether she would be accepted or not. Once the applications are selected, each volunteer goes through a phone interview. During that interview, it is stressed that the position is largely an indoor-only occupation, meaning that much of the time is spent inside the safety of the CNSC building because of the risk of polar bears wandering through the yard. Only when escorted or in the Tundra Buggy, can volunteers go outside. 

“They really want to make sure you know what you’re getting into,” Gaundroue said. 

Gaundroue heard about the CNSC through a friend, and decided to apply. It’s only been a month since she returned to Jasper, but she is already thinking about going back to Churchill. The last trip cost a little over $600, and Gaundroue’s room, board and food were all supplied in exchange for six hours of work each day. 

“The kitchen environment was really nice and friendly,” she said. “It was easy.”

As her time at the CNSC came to an end, Gaundroue got to sample local delicacies like arctic char and bannock. She got the full Churchill experience that independent tourists would never get. While she is unsure whether she would like to pursue a career in conservation, she is thinking about it. 

Now it’s just time to figure out where to go to school – and when she can sneak back to Churchill to visit with the bears again. 

More information on the CNSC can be found online at www.churchillscience.ca