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NUNAVUT - Geetee Maniapik and Kawtysie Kakee developed their own language in order to communicate all the earth-shattering things girls need to while growing up.

And what was so important the Pangnirtung sisters had to communicate?

"The same stuff every kid does," Maniapik laughed.

"I was the bad one, but she would blame me for everything, even though she started it," joked Maniapik, kidding that Kakee could never keep a secret from her parents.

Kakee, presently an artist in Pangnirtung, is hearing impaired and was taught to lip-read by her parents.

Maniapik and Kakee, however, both became fluent in Inuit Sign Language (ISL).

"We created our own Inuktitut sign language," Maniapik said.

Although sharing some similarities, ISL is different from American Sign Language (ASL), which is more widely used around the world.

It wasn't until much later in life the sisters learned ASL.

On Tuesday, a CD-ROM and glossary were released in the great hall of the legislative assembly, documenting Inuit stories in ISL and threading together both ASL and ISL.

"This is a historic moment," said Dr. James MacDougall, who took the lead on the project.

MacDougall, who lives in Montreal, said he first encountered ISL in 1997.

He had travelled North to help a hearing-impaired man with some court services and was having trouble translating for him over many days.

He said the gentleman, Bobby Suwarak, was reluctant to communicate.

Frustrated on the last day of his trip, people told them to go out on the land and hunt.

MacDougall, Suwarak and others obliged and went out on a caribou hunt. It was -50 C, MacDougall said, and a Ski-Doo broke down, requiring the group to stay out overnight.

"All of a sudden, people started to sign," he said, and in a way he'd never seen before.

He has been working to document and develop ISL ever since.

"I congratulate (Nunavummiut) because here in Nunavut, deaf people are accepted by their family and their community," he said.

He showed Nunavut News/North a recording on his iPod showing Clayton Ungungai from Baker Lake, who sat with a hearing friend who had learned sign language in order to communicate with him.

"You never see that down south," said MacDougall.

MacDougall said for many years, deaf people went south and learned ASL. When they returned to Nunavut, they were unable to communicate in ISL.

Kakee's life has definitely been made easier since she learned ASL.

"We now can find all kinds of materials in ASL," said Maniapik, adding that resources are available on the Internet.

McDougall said it was difficult to estimate the number of deaf Nunavummiut, but said the national average was one in 1,000. He estimated the number was three times higher in the territory.

He said the next step was getting residents who are fluent in ISL access to equal services.

"What we need for the courts and other things is trained interpreters (in ISL)," said MacDougall.