Honour for Deline's sewing circle
Elder Camilla Tutcho wins Culture and Heritage Circle award
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 10, 2014
DELINE/FORT FRANKLIN
For nearly 20 years, Camilla Tutcho has volunteered her time making sure women in her community learn the art of sewing.
Deline elder Camilla Tutcho was awarded with a Culture and Heritage Circle award on Oct. 29. Tutcho was recognized for preserving arts and culture in her community. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo |
The sewing group has taken many forms over the years, but the basic structure remains: give girls a place to gather and teach them how to sew for their families.
"We start at seven to nine or 10 in the evening, cutting out the patterns and putting things together with the young ladies," Tutcho said. We've been doing that for so long and we just enjoy it. That's how everybody is learning how to sew really good now, even the young girls."
The group, led by Tutcho and two other volunteers, gathers Tuesday and Thursday nights at the Aurora College Community Learning Centre.
"We don't just go there for sewing," Tutcho said. "We get together, we have tea, coffee and snacks. We just joke around with one another."
Elders often drop in to share stories and spend time with the group.
"It's not just sewing, but we're always telling them stories about the old days," Tutcho said.
On Oct. 29, Tutcho received a Culture and Heritage Circle award from Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty recognizing her as an elder dedicated to preserving art and culture.
"As Northerners, our cultures and heritage wrap around everything we do," Lafferty stated in a press release. "Hunting and trapping, artwork and craftsmanship, and traditional values and languages are all part of who we are as individuals and as a territory and it is important that we promote, preserve and celebrate them."
For Tutcho, that means making sure women not only know the basics of sewing, but how to master the craft.
"If they made mistakes, we make them undo the whole thing. They might have to do it about three or four times," she said. "But I'm patient with them. You always have to make mistakes the first time."
This is the way girls were taught how to sew in the old days, Tutcho said.
When she returned home from residential school, Tutcho said her great-grandmother began teaching her not only how to sew, but how to speak her language.
"When I came back from residential school when I was 14 years old in 1957, I didn't know nothing," she said. "I lost my culture and language when I came back."
Though she was blind, Tutcho's great-grandmother still performed many of her own chores, such as making dry fish and dry meat - skills she passed on to Tutcho.
When her great-grandmother passed away, Tutcho said she started learning sewing skills from an older sister.
She started by taking mitts apart to see how the pieces fit together.
"It took me about two weeks to put one mitt together at that time, and finally when I finished it, I took it to her house and I asked, 'Did I do this right?'," Tutcho said. "She just gave me a big hug and said, 'Now you don't need anybody to teach you'."
Since starting the sewing group, Tutcho estimates there are now more than 20 young women in the community who are now passing their skills on to others.
Learning to sew is vital to keeping culture alive, Tutcho added.
"It's really important because when the elders are gone, who is going to teach them how to carry on the traditions?" she said. "While there is still some elders around, we thought it would be good to teach them."
