Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 25/02) - It was two years ago that students in Jean Marie River fashioned four squares as part of a national quilting project.

Last week they finally got to see the finished product. The millennium quilt, a project co-ordinated in Toronto, made its way to Louie Norwegian school, the only institution in the NWT to participate.

Vanessa Sanguez, James Simon and Hillary Norwegian crafted a tepee, water, the moon and Northern lights on their square.

"It represents the Canadian flag," Sanguez said of the giant quilt.

Myra Sanguez, Tyrone Sanguez and teacher Donna Dahm each made their own squares. Myra Sanguez, in Grade 7 at the time, designed a drum with a flowing river and trees in the background.

"It's cool. It makes a maple leaf," she said.

Nineteen schools from across the country contributed 128 squares to the quilt, which measures approximately eight metres by four metres.

"It's huge," said Dahm, who taught at Louie Norwegian school in 2000, but is now principal in Kakisa, where the quilt is stationed this week. "We're going to spread it out on the floor and have a really good look at it."

Dahm had heard of the project on the radio and phoned in for a kit a few years ago.

"They wanted to give students something to identify themselves with everyone else across the country ... they asked for squares that represent our unique regions of Canada," she explained. "It would be a legacy for future generations to come."

The quilt is bound for Cape Dorset, Nunavut next. From there it will return to Downsview Park in Toronto where it will be exhibited permanently.

"I think it's an excellent project," said Dahm. "Their squares look wonderful. It's so nice to see their work displayed."