DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - Fur connoisseurs in Montreal will be getting a taste of the North throughout September and into October, as the gift shop of the prestigious McCord Museum will be featuring the fashions of Dene Fur Clouds, which is based in Fort Providence.

"We get to have some window space and be featured so we should certainly be doing some better business," said Judy Magrum, manager of Dene Fur Clouds.

Nellie Norwegian stands with a shawl poncho that will be on display in the McCord Museum in Montreal in September and October. - photo courtesy of Nellie Norwegian

Not that the organization is struggling - it sells furs throughout the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

"We're going to have a shawl poncho (in the gift shop) and it will have a matching helmet hat and mitts. Then we're going to have our fashion vest, and then we will have a display of hats with matching mitts," said Magrum, adding there will also be a mannequin and a series of hats adorning Styrofoam heads in the store.

Nancy Bonnetrouge, Bertha Minoza, Janet Bonnetrouge and Nellie Norwegian are the women who make the clothing for Dene Fur Clouds, primarily using sheared beaver.

The opportunity to be featured in the McCord Museum gift shop came through a designer trading group called Akwe:kon - a Mohawk word meaning "together" - which is a group that partners with Northern designers to promote, market and sell their work.

Janette Fauque, a partner in Akwe:kon, speaks highly of Dene Fur Clouds.

"Their merchandise, you know, is beautiful - definitely world class," said Fauque from Montreal.

"They've actually been shown in Germany and France where they were very well received," she continued.

According to Fauque, the partnership with McCord Museum came about after a workshop many of Akwe:kon's designers were part of in Montreal in January that was visited by the buyer for the gift shop.

"(The buyer) really liked the ideas and the merchandise of quite a few of the designers, so she gave us the opportunity to have a window display for a year, where every six weeks we would feature something different. We also would have a mannequin in the store," said Fauque.

Now, from the beginning of September through to the middle of October, Dene Fur Clouds will be the featured designer.

"(It's) perfect timing for them. The cool weather is going to be here sooner, I'm sure, than we want it to be," said Fauque.

Fauque said Lorna Milne, the senator for Ontario, will add recognition to Dene Fur Clouds by sporting a vest, hat, and mitts in the senate this fall. Milne had ordered the vest custom made after acquiring the hat and mitts and being very impressed with them.