Always in their hearts
Kugluktuk residents pay homage to missing and murdered indigenous women through tapestry
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Saturday, June 3, 2017
KUGLUKTUK
Barbara Adjun had her aunt in mind while fashioning a fabric heart in tribute to missing and murdered indigenous women.
Some residents in Kugluktuk combined efforts to create a heart-filled tapestry as a tribute to missing and murdered indigenous women. Front row, from left, Susie Evyagotailak, Roy Kokak, Gordon Kokak and Doris Kaniak. Back row, from left, Joanne Taptuna, Laura Kuhoktak, Elvera Elatiak, Doris Nancy Ivarluk, RCMP Cpl. J.L. Bedard, Barbara Adjun, Millie Kuliktana and Edna Elias. - photo courtesy of Barbara Adjun
|
Her aunt was killed at age 16 by a man in Kugluktuk in the 1980s, she said.
"She told me that he was threatening her. I tried to talk to her the best I could," Adjun recalled, but she couldn't prevent the tragedy. "My grandfather, that was his youngest daughter. He loved her a lot ... he really loved her."
Adjun was one of more than a dozen Kuglukturmiut who helped create a tapestry that will wind up in the hands of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Commission.
Edna Elias put out the call in February for local sewers to get involved with the initiative, known as the "beaded heart project".
Adjun, who is recovering from a stroke that she suffered last July, struggled in the early going, but she persevered.
"I wanted to try and do it, and it had to be by hand. I slowly sewed the heart together," she said. "I wanted to let everyone know that I'm thinking of my aunt. I thought, well why don't I do this, and it will be there forever."
The finished product features 16 fabric hearts.
"There were different coloured hearts and different coloured beads used to make them," Adjun said. "Each one meant something to that person."
Premier Peter Taptuna, MLA for Kugluktuk, made a statement in the legislative assembly last week in recognition of the collaboration by the people in his riding.
"For some of the volunteers it was very difficult to take part because of the memories and the trauma associated with the subject area," Taptuna said. "The tapestry was given to the RCMP officer who was posted in Kugluktuk and now is working for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Inquiry in Ottawa. The tapestry-makers believe that the officers will have this as a reminder of the people and their families who are looking for answers."
The Canadian government launched the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in September 2016. There are five commissioners who are travelling the country to "examine and report on the systemic causes of all forms of violence against indigenous women and girls in Canada by looking at patterns and underlying factors," according to the government.
