Worker taking polar bear photos before he was killed in Nunavut

by Rob Drinkwater

Christopher Best told his family not to worry about the pictures of polar bears he was snapping and posting on social media as he worked at a radar site in Nunavut.

“Chris said, ‘Well, yeah, they’re not close to us,'” his mother, Shelly Cox, said he told his stepfather on a call shortly before he was killed by a bear on Aug. 8, 2024.

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“‘God, Dad,’ he said, ‘You know I know the difference, right?'”

A report into Best’s death by Nasittuq Corporation, the company that operates North Warning System’ sites stretching from Yukon to eastern Labrador, says the 34-year-old went outside with his camera at the remote installation on Brevoort Island.

He had been told a bear was nearby, says the report.

Best went out a door with a large sign warning of polar bears and rounded the corner of a building, thinking the animal was off in the distance.

Two bears in attack

But Best didn’t appear to know there was a second bear. The report says surveillance video shows that bear cut off a route for Best to run to a building for safety and charged. The first bear then joined the attack.

“I don’t think he would have went out if he would have known that second bear was there,” Cox said in an interview from her home in Goose Bay, N.L.

She said the tragedy could have been prevented and that changes are needed, such as fences and motion-sensor monitors with alarms, to make radar sites safer.

The report says there had previously been no known fatalities or injuries from a bear attack during operation of the North Warning System or its predecessor, the DEW Line, for seven decades.

Best grew up in Labrador, said Cox. He liked reading and photography, and had worked a variety of jobs, from cleaning barbecues in Toronto to working as an assistant on the reality TV show Alone.

He also had earlier stints as a custodian and a general labourer on North Warning System sites.

She said he was good with computers and was hired by the company again to do logistics work. Due to the sensitive nature of the radar sites, she said, he was waiting for security clearance before he could begin that job and agreed to something else in the interim — fuel tank cleaning.

Best and other members of a tank cleaning crew arrived at the site the day before the attack. The report says they spotted a bear and took photos from the safety of a vehicle, which Best posted online.

Best asked a wildlife monitor at the site to let him know when bears were around so he could take more pictures, says the report. That employee saw Best at the end of the work shift on Aug. 8 and told him a bear was outside.

Some radar sites are inland and rarely experience bears, the report says, including ones where Best previously worked. It also wasn’t uncommon for workers to take hikes after-hours at those sites.

Problem bear at Brevoort in 2023

The Brevoort site was different, however. A problem bear was killed there in 2023, after it repeatedly tried to enter buildings and couldn’t be deterred.

Due to the bear risk, workers at Brevoort were allowed to smoke inside the technical services building near an exhaust fan. One worker there looked out a garage door window and saw the bears attacking Best and yelled for a gun.

There wasn’t a gun, so he ran to the accommodations building and alerted the wildlife monitor, who went and fired a non-lethal bear-banger from a 12-guage shotgun.

The report says both bears ran but one turned back and charged, forcing the monitor to fatally shoot it. Another employee arrived with a weapon and kept watch while others loaded Best into a truck and brought his body inside.

An RCMP officer delivered the news to Cox at her home early the next morning.

“We were just in shock,” Cox said. “I stayed up all night, too, just waiting for someone to get up so I could tell my family.”

Proposals to improve safety

The report makes several proposals to improve its safety policies, including requiring any worker going outside after-hours to get permission from a manager or supervisor. It also says public address system announcements should be made when bears are known to be outside.

Best underwent training for polar bear awareness, the report says, but some documentation for course completion was missing.

It also proposes fencing be erected at some areas in the camp. The report notes a substance believed to be from a grease trap was found in snow near the attack but it probably had no more effect in attracting bears than smells from the facility’s kitchen.

Employment and Social Development Canada says its report on the death is not yet complete.

In an email, it says that under the Canada Labour Code, federally regulated employers must protect the health and safety of employees and fines can be imposed for infractions.

Nasittuq said in a statement it wasn’t able to comment since the federal government report isn’t finished.

“We care deeply for the safety and well-being of all our employees and feel for everyone who continues to be affected by this tragic incident,” it said.

Best’s camera, along with the SD card containing his photos, were eventually sent to his mother along with the rest of his belongings. Cox said she’s still trying to get all the details she can.

“I don’t care. I want to know everything. That’s just the person I am. I’m not letting it go.”

Read more:

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