Sharing the gift of seal mitt making techniques with others in Fort William First Nation

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION — Fort William First Nation’s Cathy Rodger enjoyed sharing the seal mitt making techniques she learned from Inuit women during a Seal Mitt Workshop on March 16-17 at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre.

“I lived in the high Arctic for four years when I first started teaching,” Rodger says. “[The Inuit women] made all their kids’ kamiks, mitts are called pualuuk, jackets, pants, everything was homemade, and that’s where I learned this pattern. They’re not my patterns, they’re patterns from women in a little hamlet called Igloolik, which means place of houses.”

Rodger says the seal mitts are more difficult to make than Ojibwe-style mitts, but they are much warmer and waterproof.

“When you go ice fishing or you’re working out on the land, the ice can just harden and then you can shake it off,” Rodger says. “We also keep the liner so that it’s removable, so at nighttime if you’re out at an outpost camp or you’re working, you can separate them so they can dry.”

Rodger says they make the liners first using a synthetic shearling fleece material and fox fur for the trim.

“We use seal for the mitt and then we use leather for the palm,” Rodger says, noting that Inuit mitts are short and curved. “When your hands are [curved] like this, you’ve got decreased surface area, so they stay warmer.”

Rodger says the seal mitt patterns were gifted to her by Inuit Elders.

“It was a gift that they taught me and it’s only a gift if I continue to give it to other people,” Rodger says. “I love that so many people signed up for this [workshop], and they actually have 20 people on the waiting list for the next one.”

Julie Harmer, who helped Rodger with the workshop and was previously a teacher with Fort William’s Niigaanaabda Project, says they usually deliver the workshop together.

“It’s a lot of one-on-one instruction,” Harmer says. “[Rodger] taught me how to sew with leather about seven or eight years ago, and I just fell in love with it.”

Harmer says they usually do the workshop a couple of times a year in Fort William.

“I also work for Seven Generations Education Institute and I go up to the women’s empowerment program in Sioux Lookout and in Rainy Lake as well as at our Thunder Bay campus, and we’ll do workshops with the women’s empowerment programs,” Harmer says. “Everybody seems to love it, there’s a big demand for it.”

Fort William’s Kylie Cornell says the seal mitt making process was different from making gauntlet mitts.

“It’s actually a really nice process because there’s different steps and you have to do each step,” Cornell says. “I do like sewing, it’s really mindful, it’s really calming. You’ve just got to take each little step [in the] process, but then it will curve it.”

Cornell says there was a good atmosphere during the workshop.

“The facilitators were really patient and you could tell they come from that teacher background,” Cornell says. “I’m just really grateful that Fort William puts on these workshops for their members and giving us an opportunity to learn different skills and be able to create something beautiful.”

Fort William’s Margie Bannon says the workshop was very relaxing.

“You have to stay in the moment and you have to focus on what you’re doing,” Bannon says. “I do have experience making moccasins, so it wasn’t much of a challenge, but still, you have to focus on what you’re doing. But it’s fun, it’s interesting and  it really forces you to slow down and get grounded to be able to slowly sew and focus on what you’re doing.”