All kinds of seasons: articulating Labrador Inuit governance through crafting a seasonal calendar

Inuit have always worked within seasonal patterns, using ecological observations to make predictions about weather, ocean and ice conditions, species presence, and environmental change. Monitoring, intergenerational knowledge sharing, and strong relationships have supported Inuit as they have responded to environmental conditions through generations. This has informed a unique understanding of seasonal change that is reflective of Inuit knowledge and relationships to land, water, and ice. Calendars across Inuit Nunangat are unique to the social–ecological regions in which they were developed. In this collaboration between Inuit and non-Inuit researchers, artists, and knowledge holders, we developed a seasonal calendar for Nunatsiavut that is representative not only of activities and species harvested throughout the year, but that also depicts a Labrador Inuit relationship to seasonality. This research is part of the Imappivut Knowledge Study, a participatory research process designed by the Nunatsiavut Government to inform spatial planning in the marine environment of northern Labrador. The resulting calendar expresses an Inuit experience of the seasons as they are inexorably linked to life and wellbeing in Nunatsiavut. The calendar can be used to reframe Federal and Provincial environmental management policies, such as harvest regulations for Atlantic salmon, to align with Nunatsiavut-based indicators of seasonal change.