Daniel T'seleie
Northern News Services

Cape Dorset (June 13/05) - Literacy is not always learned on the pages of a book, Cape Dorset residents have shown.

Fourteen people completed a literacy course in April which focused on traditional sewing skills.

"There are a lot of ladies now that do not know how to make traditional parkas," said Tirak Parr, the instructor of the Literacy Project, put on by the Cape Dorset Learning Centre. She had help from Makitok Pingwartok, a community elder.

Concern in the community that traditional skills and oral history were being lost led to running the daily program, which began in January, as a venue to strengthen Inuktitut language skills.

Participants learned the traditional names of sewing techniques they were using.

The teaching style was very traditional, said Mary Mathewsie.

She did a lot of sewing before the workshop, but she still said, "I learned a lot."