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What comes to mind when you think about bears?
Symbolic beings. Noble beasts. Dangerous nuisances. Big game animals. Cute, cuddly creatures. Clowns of the woods. No matter how you understand bears, these differing views reflect how we see ourselves within the natural world.
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Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Campsite cleanup poster, [ca. 1960s]
Archives of Ontario poster collection
C 233-1-1-0-2197
Archives of Ontario, I0048304
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Poster of General Idea Study for Ursa Major & Taurus: Pavilion Fragments from the Starry Vault, 1983
Produced by Toronto Stock Exchange
Government of Ontario Art Collection, AC800006-RP
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Black bear leaving garbage container,
Algonquin Park, July 14, 1963
Ministry of Natural Resources Photo Library collection,
RG 1-448-1,
Archives of Ontario, I0054223
This poster symbolizes how government policies reflect and respond to changing ways of understanding animals.
In 1961, the Department of Lands and Forests required residents to purchase a license to hunt black bears—a policy that defined the species as a big game animal. This contrasted with the previous two decades, when Ontarians had received a small bounty for an animal that many farmers and others saw as a pest or nuisance.
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Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Hunting Notice to Non-Resident Hunters, [ca. 1962]
Archives of Ontario poster collection
C 233-1-1-0-2204
Archives of Ontario, I0074002
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Ministry of Natural Resources, 1972-1973 Average Black Bear Catch Per Trapper, [ca. 1974]
Registered trapline and species harvest maps
RG 1-631
Archives of Ontario, I0054251
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W.A. Creighton, Fish and Wildlife Branch, Department of Lands and Forests, Spring Bear Hunt in Ontario, 1964-1966, 1966
Wildlife Branch Wildlife Program Files
RG 1-443
Archives of Ontario, I0073994
Along with the more common black bear, Ontario is also home to the polar bear—one of the largest mammals of the north. Our collections include many aerial photos created by Department of Lands and Forests staff as they calculated polar bear populations.
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Adult polar bear (probably male), East Pen Island, Hudson Bay, September 11, 1964
Ministry of Natural Resources Photo Library collection
RG 1-448-1
Archives of Ontario, I0054226
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Polar bear tracks, near Hudson Bay coast, 1955
John Macfie fonds
C 330-2-0-0-16
Archives of Ontario, I0000022
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Polar bear, Metro Toronto Zoo, February 11, 1976
Ministry of Natural Resources Photo Library collection
RG 1-448-1
Archives of Ontario, I0054225
Meet Bee Bee! This young cub of the Minesing animal compound was a big hit when it visited schools to teach students about conservation.
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Black bear cub being fed from bottle at Minesing Central School, Grade 3, April 22, 1970
Ministry of Natural Resources Photo Library collection
RG 1-448-1
Archives of Ontario, I0054250
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Moscow Bears on Ice, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, November 1970
Julien LeBourdais fonds
C 193-3
Archives of Ontario, I0048252
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Eaton’s, How Punkinhead Came to Toyland, 1953
T. Eaton Co. fonds
F 229-162-0-538
Archives of Ontario, I0073991
Teachings from the Six Nations of the Grand River
Bears play a central role in many narratives of the Six Nations of the Grand River, shaping Haudenosaunee spiritual beliefs and illustrating their deep-rooted connections to the natural world.
Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic is collecting these stories as a way of preserving and nurturing Indigenous knowledge and wisdom.
Learn about two stories passed on to us from the Centre: “The Seven Brothers” and “How Bear Lost His Tail.”
The Seven Brothers
How Bear Lost His Tail
English version
English version
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