In December, students got a chance to put harpoons they made during a week-long workshop in the fall to the test during a seal hunt.

"It got too cold, too cold for learning," said 78 year-old Buster Kailek, one of the elders.

The temperature stood at -25 C and the wind was up the day the classroom moved out onto the ice, about an hour by snowmachine from town. The cold did not penetrate Kailek's caribou skin clothing, but the students, dressed in modern parkas, had a rougher go of it.

"I like to teach the boys," said Kailek. "But we have to wait until it gets warmer. The next time we will take dogs to find the seal holes. Even when there's lots of snow they find seal holes right away."

Because they had no dogs along, the team relied on the next best thing, foxes.

When marking out their territory, foxes urinate on seal holes, since they are the only smell to cover up on ice.

Kitikmeot Heritage Society member Kim Crockatt said the organization is hoping to convince the department of education, culture and employment to provide additional funding that will allow the program to be extended to the spring.