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IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
Twenty minutes outside of Cambridge Bay at the Gravel Pit last month, elders could be found busily making dyes from stones and sewing a set of waterproof seal skin boots.

Martha Akoluk, from left, watches Mary Kilaodluk tighten her drum before dancing as Mary Kaniak and Ella Panegyuk also look on. The four women participated in a land camp outside Cambridge Bay from July 20 to 30. - photo courtesy of Brendan Griebel

About 40 people travelled to the Gravel Pit to learn skills from seven elders. The purpose of the elders camp, an annual event, is to allow elders to go out on the land and the community to learn from them, said Brendan Griebel, a researcher with the Kitikmeot Heritage Society. This year, the camp was held from July 20 to 30.

During the camp, seals were harvested and their skins prepared and dried, then elders made a set of waterproof seal skin boots for wading in the water and fishing, he added. The elders also made traditional dyes – in dark red, yellow and green, for instance – from stones found at Starvation Cove, explained Griebel. The stones were ground and mixed with seal oil to make the dyes for caribou skins. He remarked the dark red dye is used often in copper Inuit clothing. The elders will eventually do a sewing project out of the dyed skins.

"It's things that were done on a daily basis for the Inuit traditionally ... There were just maybe two people who remembered how to do the dyes or who remembered seeing them and that knowledge is going to vanish otherwise," said Griebel.

"They really wanted to make sure that kept going. We are really trying to document traditional activities on the brink of disappearing right now and get them recorded."

Renee Krucas was one of the 40 people who visited the site. She returned five other times during its 10-day run. It was important to be with the elders, she said, and learn about the different skills they were demonstrating.

"It was really positive and it was just really really nice being out on the land with the elders. It's the perfect classroom," said Krucas, adding she learned about harvesting seal, fish and caribou.

"The elders demonstrated how to cut the animals, how to prepare the skins, dry the skins and then how to use traditional dyes on the skins."

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