Kisiliginik Workshops

Province: Newfoundland and Labrador

Community: Hopedale, NL

Date: 2024 –  Present

The six-week sealskin cleaning workshops took place in Hopedale, Labrador, bringing together seven participants to learn how to clean sealskins for the first time. This included learning traditional Inuit knowledge about sealskin, whilst washing, framing, drying and softening and scraping off fats and grease to ready it for sewing. 

From Veronica: “Few community members know how to clean sealskins anymore, so seeing that folks were interested in practicing the skill was very exciting.”

Feedback from the participants gave them a chance to express what the workshop meant to them and how it made a difference in their lives. One participant brought her young daughter, so it allowed her to see and take part in the process first-hand. 

True North Aid is proud to support Indigenous-led initiatives year-long and make workshops like this possible. We’re grateful for community champions like Veronica and Nick who bring these workshops to life and make accessing cultural knowledge easier. 

“I am so thankful that I got to participate in the Kisiligik workshop! This was a skill that both my Anânsiak and my great-grandmother used throughout their lives, but sadly didn’t get to teach me. Now it’s something I can practice and teach my children.” -Cheryl W.