Arctic Eider Society

The Arctic Eider Society (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᒥᑎᓕᒻᒥᐅ) is a registered Canadian charity based in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut which works with communities across Hudson Bay and Inuit Nunangat. Environmental and social justice issues in the Arctic are deeply interconnected and the best solutions are Indigenous-driven. We are best known for SIKU, The Indigenous Knowledge Social Network, a mobile app and web platform by and for Indigenous communities which provides tools and services for ice safety, language preservation and weather, at scale. Through SIKU, we strive to build capacity and facilitate self-determination in community-driven research, education & outreach and indigenous stewardship activities. Eiderdown is the warmest feather in the world – nature’s technology for storing heat, surviving cold Arctic winters and is a critical source of food and clothing for Inuit on the Belcher Islands of Nunavut. Fascination with the connections between new and old technology is a theme running through much of our work, including People of a Feather, the 16x award-winning film that catalyzed our charity. Eiderdown is the perfect reminder that new doesn’t always mean better when it comes to high-tech. For us, this means finding novel ways to link Indigenous knowledge and science, bridging quantitative and qualitative ways of knowing. Reminding us of our roots, eiderdown continues to be our inspiration for embracing Inuit ingenuity and knowledge with innovations led by northerners, for northerners.