Dressed for the land
Women work on qarlik-making in Coral Harbour
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
CORAL HARBOUR
A number of hunters will be well dressed while heading out on the land, thanks to a qarlik (sealskin hunting pants) making program in Coral Harbour this month.
The program is being run by the Community Justice Outreach program with funding through Brighter Futures.
Group one participants Jenny Eetuk, left, Erica Angootealuk, Rosie TanuyakEll, Wendy Kolit, Ashley Netser and Kendra Nakoolak complete their sealskin qarlikmaking program in Coral Harbour earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Ruth Eetuk Pootoolik |
The program, instructed by elders Susie Angootealuk and Veronica Ell, was divided into two segments, with six participants in the first group and seven in the second.
The first group completed their program on Feb. 12, while the second group got underway this past week.
Outreach worker Ruth Eetuk Pootoolik said the idea for qarlik came up during the kamik-making program in December.
She said one of the kamik participants asked if funding could be applied for to host the qarlik-making program.
"I don't think anyone has ever run a program like this before in our community," said Pootoolik.
"It was suggested this program would be something a lot of women would be interested in and that turned out to be true.
"When we advertised for the program the list of names just kept growing, even more so than the sealskin kamik-making program.
"Unfortunately, that did mean we had a number of disappointed ladies who didn't get in."
Pootoolik said at first, they struggled trying to get enough skins for all the participants. She said they needed about three times the number of skins to make qarlik than they did for the kamik-making program.
"A lot of the women in the program had mid-level sewing skills to begin with but, for some of them, it was their first time making qarlik.
"But they did have some experience in sewing skins previous to the program, so they still knew what they were doing. "It's an easier job than the kamik-making program because you're doing all three stitch.
"This will be our final program until the end of the Nunavut government's fiscal year on March 31, but I have submitted more program proposals that we're keeping our fingers crossed will be approved later in the year."
