In the Hudson Bay hamlet of Sanikiluaq a new wave economy is quickly taking shape. The community is discovering that with the proper training, a traditional polar bear hunt can profit the community more than it ever has in the past
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Sanikiluaq (Feb 19/01) - Sarah Qittusuk spent part of last week preparing a skull for a styrofoam head mould.
She also measured the tanned hide of a polar bear and applied a coloured felt trim around its flat surface.
Qittusuk was joined by 14 other elders, students, men and women at Nuiyak school to learn how to turn a polar bear hide into a decorative trophy for, largely, American buyers. Terry Ledoux and Paul Fayant, two taxidermists from McCreay, Man., came North Feb. 12 to teach residents how make as much as a $25,000 profit for a finished rug.
The hamlet paid the pair to put on the week-long workshop.
"We want to take (the workshop) because in the wintertime people have maybe 20 to 25 skins here but we have to send them out," Qittusuk explained.
Inuit in Sanikiluaq took the course to keep the profit possible from turning the hides into trophy rugs at home. Traditionally, the thick, bulky hides are used as sleeping mats or clothing.
They are also used by men who sit on the ice while hunting seal. The thick skin keeps their feet warm they wait for a seal to peek from its blow hole.
More money when mounted
Ledoux and Fayant, who run a taxidermy college, shared their combined 40 years of experience with residents so they could learn how to supply the zealous buyers.
"It will benefit them big time," assured Ledoux. "Polar bear hides are (worth) about three- to four-times more money when they are mounted."
The course is the first step in capturing the new wave of southern economy, while not letting the traditionally Northern base of polar bear hunting seep away.
"Hunters like to have animals processed where they hunt it because they don't like to travel with raw hides," Ledoux said.
"So, it helps more than one business; it helps guides, too."
While their hands are not unfamiliar to the feel and texture of polar bear skins, residents were intrigued as they watched their neighbours learn the craft from Ledoux and Fayant.
The pair brought two tanned but unfinished skins, a polar bear and a black bear, to teach the class. The black bear skin captivated students from Nuiyak school who dropped by the workshop for a look.
"These kids are really excited about the black bear skin and had lots of questions about it. They would not leave at recess," said teacher Jody Soehner.
"The classes are invited to come and Ledoux and Fayant take time out to explain to the kids what they are doing," he added.
The course created a buzz throughout the community the entire week, and especially the day the skins were finished.
It was one of the first real ways traditional knowledge and skill has been used to profit in a modern economy. Soehner said the community sees that as a good thing.
"I think it's going to create another level of independence," he said.
"Best of all, it's tied to the culture of polar bear hunting and living off the land and it will also help promote tourism."
