The Inuit peoples living in the Canadian Far North have many myths about the night sky in which humans and animals played central roles. One such legend from the Inuit of Canada’s Eastern Arctic is the story about the three stars in Orion’s belt. Four men were hunting a polar bear. The bear escaped by climbing into the sky and the hunters decided to follow it. As they climbed higher and higher, one of the Inuit lost a mitten and decided to return to Earth to fetch it. The other hunters continued their hunt in the sky and we can still see them today climbing after the bear in single file.

This wonderful legend gives way to today’s reality in the North. Producer Karine Gerest travels to Sentry Island in Nunavut and Churchill, MB where she learns from Inuit elders and researchers how man and polar bears must learn to co-exist and respect one another. For the Inuit, these animals mean life. They have to live in balance with their prey or it compromises their own lives.

French narration / English subtitles.