Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

PELLY BAY (July 19/99) - People in Pelly Bay are anxiously awaiting the return of marionette string puppets made with seal skin that were seized at the U.S. border.

Elders were working with youth passing down legends through the dolls.

"What's happening now is the young people don't understand the older people's Inuktitut any more," said hamlet senior administrative officer Marla Limousine.

"So what they felt is if they could show it graphically or visually somehow then the kids would still be able to enjoy the legends while learning Inuktitut."

Elders made nine ornate marionettes from whale bone and added clothing from seal skin and caribou.

Limousine said the project evolved to include American Dan Butterworth, an internationally-renowned puppeteer and artist who has worked with Inuit in Alaska.

She says Butterworth was going to "fine tune" the dolls and then bring them back to the community in late August so people in the community could videotape the production.

Unfortunately, all but one of the puppets were stopped at the border.

Security dogs likely sniffed the packages, noted a strange scent and border workers discovered the seal skin -- something that contradicts the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The dolls are still in Alaska and Limousine says the community really wants them back because elders worked so hard and took such pride in their creations.

Limousine said she is working with the federal Department of Foreign Affairs to try to resolve the dispute.