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[00:00.67] “We’re…used to bears so (when you see one) you don’t start to tremble,” Mayor Mike Spence said.

[00:09.18] “It’s their area too. It’s important how the community coexists with bears and wildlife in general to really get along.

[00:20.33] We’re all connected.”

[00:22.98] Churchill residents show polar bear pride in a way that mixes terror and fun.

[00:30.69] “You know we're the polar bear capital of the world, right?

[00:35.47] We have the product, it's just about getting out there to see the bears safely,” said Dave Daley, who owns a gift shop, runs dog sleds and promotes the city.

[00:49.29] He also is a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, an office that supports business activity.

[00:59.11] The former military base had a rocket launch area.

[01:05.22] It seemed to keep bears away.

[01:08.67] When it closed, the bears started entering the town more often, longtime residents said.

[01:17.44] So, Churchill and province officials “put together a polar bear alert program to make sure the community members were looked after, [and] protected,” said Spence who has been Churchill's mayor since 1995.

[01:37.62] The town's old curfew siren sounds nightly, warning people that it is time to go inside to be safe from bears.

[01:48.79] Georgina Berg recalls growing up in the 1970s near Churchill, where many First Nations people lived.

[01:58.61] “First Nations” is used in Canada to identify native people.

[02:05.25] She remembers how differently her father and mother would react to seeing a bear in the past.

[02:16.67] She said her father would not pay attention to them.

[02:18.00] “He said, ‘If you don’t bother them, then they won’t bother you,’" she recalled.

[02:25.44] When a bear came near in later years, after her father had died, her mom was frightened.

[02:32.87] “Everybody was yelling, and all the kids had to come in and everybody had to go home.

[02:41.11] And then we stayed silent in the house for a long time until we knew for sure that bear was gone,” Berg recalled.

[02:51.47] For Van Nest, the provincial officer, the recent meeting with a group of bear watchers was different.

[02:59.44] The group was about 100 meters away from the bear.

[03:03.95] He said the bear was “putting on a bit of a show” for the tourists.

[03:09.53] “This is a great situation to be in," he said.

[03:13.52] “The tourists are a safe distance away and the bear’s doing his natural thing and not being harassed by anybody.”