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KIMMIRUT/LAKE HARBOUR
Women in Kimmirut are picking up needles and thread, sewing mittens and snowpants while learning the effects of drinking while pregnant.

Until March, women in Kimmirut are creating mitts and snow pants while learning about the effects of alcohol on unborn children. The participants are, front, from left, Pits Padluq, Mary Sagiaktuk, Mary Kolola and daughter Sylvia. Back, from left, elder instructors Jeannie Padluq, Peepeelee Arlooktoo, and Annie Ikkidluak (Itee Temela was absent), and participants Ooleepeeka Sagiaktuk, Rosemary Kolola, Ooloosie Lyta, and Jenny Lyta. - photo courtesy of Hanna Wolff

"This program gets women involved in traditional activities in a comfortable, safe and non-judgemental environment," territorial fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) co-ordinator Margaret Piercey said of the women's healing and sharing circle program that started in January and runs to the end of March. "This is where meaningful discussions can take place about healthy pregnancy and healthy communities in general."

Nunavut Arctic College adult educator Hanna Wolff runs the Kimmirut program using funds from the Department of Health and Social Services FASD budget. On any given day, women can come to the portable beside the college and learn how to make sealskin mitts or fabric snowpants with one or two of the four elders – Jeannie Padluq, Peepeelee Arlooktoo, Annie Ikkidluak, and Itee Temela – hired to teach the program.

"People are certainly making mitts, which is in and of itself a positive thing," Wolff said, "but what's really great is there is a space for people to come, speak with elders, where elders can share their teachings about not using alcohol or other substances."

"It's a chance for younger women to learn from their elders the traditional activity of sewing and build trusting relationships," Piercey said. "All these things increase the chances of women not using alcohol while they're pregnant."

Sometimes called an "invisible disability," Piercey said, FASD happens without visible symptoms and rarely leads to hospital visits. However, alcohol consumed during pregnancy causes fetal brain damage, premature births, and low birth weight, and children are irritable, have difficulties in school, look younger than they are, and have difficulties understanding the consequences of their actions.

About one in 100 children in Canada is born with FASD, and although the Kimmirut program is Inuit-driven, Piercey said the disorder's prevalence in Inuit and aboriginal communities is the same as communities around the world.

"There is no cure for FASD," she said, "and the secondary disabilities can amount to an incredible amount of frustration and suffering. It's a major concern."

Preventing the illness requires a relational approach, Piercey said, focusing on equality, empowerment and respect.

"Approaching women from a strength-based perspective demonstrates a belief in their ability and enhances the chances of women staying away from alcohol."

The program aims to involve the community in the process as much as possible. The skins, tools, and patterns are all sourced from Kimmirut, and the program provides work for hunters, carvers, and elders in Kimmirut. The homegrown approach seems to be working.

"The first person who finished her mittens got really excited about it and came every night for a week and one full day," Wolff said. "That's about 20 hours of work and a significant amount of care and attention to detail. But her mittens were wonderful and you could tell she was incredibly proud of what she had made."

That describes the experience for Rosemary Kolola.

"I am very proud of myself for sewing mitts out of seal skins," the first-timer said. "It was good to sew around people. I learned to sew mitts."

One participant, who asked to remain anonymous, liked that the workshop gave her access to someone who can give answers, and a safe environment where the women can spend time "sewing and talking in a group and learning so much about daily life, traditional values, traditional ways."

"It's always exciting to go sewing with the ladies," said fellow participant Pits Padluq, "It's nice to get advice from elders, because it's not just about sewing. They also teach you about life."

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