Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN
Cutting and replicating patterns, hand-sewing and braiding yarn are examples of what students attending a newly-offered culture and wilderness class at Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik in Gjoa Haven are learning.

Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik High School student Kenny Kigeak, left, learns how to trace a gun carrying case pattern onto canvas from elder Mary Aqilriaq. The Gjoa Haven school is offering a new culture and wilderness class. - photo courtesy of Trina Sallerina

Elder Mary Aqilriaq teaches students how to create patterns and copy those onto butcher paper for future use, how to sew tightly and evenly and how to braid yarn to be used as rope.

A bullet pouch, gun case and tent replicas are some of the assignments students have worked on so far.

Thirty high school students from grades 10 to 12, including Brandon Tarrajuk, Louie Uttaq and Ray Aaluk, are taking the class this semester. The Grade 10 trio said they find sewing difficult as it's their first time doing it.

Making a gun case was the course highlight so far for Tarrajuk. For Uttaq, making the bullet case was the best part of the class since he won't need to put things in his pockets anymore.

Aaluk said he might use everything he's learned in the course later in life.

"(The highlight is) the sewing because I'd never really sewn before. I would just like to sew a little bit better," he said. "It's so much fun."

Teacher Trina Sallerina said the course has been successful so far.

"It's been an extraordinary effort on the part of students and elders to meet and respect each other and to learn from each other," she said. "Students participate willingly and they jump in and all they want to do is learn."

For the bullet pouch, students had to cut their own pattern, hand-sew the pouch, braid a strap from yarn and sew it onto the pouch. For the gun case, made from canvas, students learned not to waste material and how to fold the material to create a double-sided pattern.The miniature tent and campsite replica is the third project the students are doing.

Future assignments include using a GPS, map-reading, pana- or knife-making and sewing caribou skins.

"The students are proud of their work and take home their finished projects," stated Sallerina via e-mail. "This class is providing students a chance to explore their Inuit culture while promoting their own knowledge and values with each other."

Sallerina was amazed by how much information elders were able to provide, and said she has an added challenge as she does not speak Inuktitut.

"They (elders) are so knowledgeable and there are so much information. I just never had an opportunity to access the information in a way this course has allowed me to do so," she said. "It made me learn more about the language than I ever thought was possible. I have been more receptive to learning Inuktitut."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.