Adventure Canada Announces Partnership with the Sedna Epic Expedition

Combining Indigenous and scientific knowledge to document climate change and empowering Inuit girls and young women in the Arctic

Adventure Canada is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with the Sedna Epic Expedition, an international team of women—ocean explorers, scientists, artists, educators and scuba diving professionals—whose mandate is to scout, document, and record disappearing sea ice in the Arctic. Team Sedna will mount a snorkel and dive expedition aboard Adventure Canada’s vessel, the Ocean Endeavour, from August 6-17, 2018 during the Arctic Safari expedition to Nunavut and western Greenland.

“We’re delighted to partner with Adventure Canada, a company that embraces Inuit culture and traditions, and has successfully operated in the Arctic for more than thirty years,” said Susan R. Eaton, the Calgary-based founder and leader of the Sedna Epic Expedition. “Sedna’s sea women, Inuit advisors, and young Inuit team members look forward to collaborating with Adventure Canada’s resource team, and to delivering our signature, hands-on ocean outreach program in Nunavut’s Inuit communities.”

According to Inuit legend, Sedna is the goddess of the ocean and the mother of all marine mammals. The experiential ocean outreach program for Inuit youth and Elders will take place in Qausuittuq (Resolute) and Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet) where Sedna’s sea women will showcase sea critters in mobile aquariums and lead underwater robot-building workshops and snorkel safaris, bringing the ocean to eye level for Inuit communities and Adventure Canada travelers. Advance planning will engage community members in Sedna’s ocean outreach and mentorship programs designed to empower Inuit girls and young women. Adventure Canada is pleased to sponsor the participation of Alexia Galloway-Alainga and Kristen Ungungai-Kownak, two mentees and Inuit throat singers who participated in Sedna’s 2016 expedition to Iqaluit, Nunavut.

The dive and snorkel operations will be managed by award-winning Ocean Quest Adventures, a Newfoundland-based partner of the Sedna Epic since 2014. For twenty years, Ocean Quest has been an industry leader in cold-water diving and snorkeling, offering scuba training, charters, and adventure expeditions, while sharing their passion for marine life, culture, heritage and adventure. Alongside the unique collaboration, expedition highlights include seeking belugas and narwhals in Lancaster Sound, a performance from the Tununiq Arsarniit Theatre Group of Mittimatalik, Zodiac cruises in search of polar bears, whales, birds and walrus in their Arctic feeding grounds, visiting the Franklin Expedition gravesites at Beechey Island, and crossing the Arctic Circle by sea—twice!