'We want to build a fashion industry and demand within Nunavut.'

Inuit women once sewed sealskin to guarantee the warmth and survival of their families.

Today, sewing is no longer a life-and-death activity, but many women want to sew to make ends meet and help put food on the table.

However, that's difficult for many younger women.

That's because they're caught between two worlds: they lack knowledge about the traditional preparation of skins, yet they don't know about modern production and marketing techniques.

A new Nunavut Arctic College program on sealskin fur production and design wants to help aspiring Nunavut sealskin seamstresses learn the skills they need to make and sell high-quality sealskin garments and products.

The 10-month program in Iqaluit, which starts next month, will be delivered in English and Inuktitut, with courses from two to six weeks long.

Courses will focus on traditional Inuit methods used to prepare sealskins as well as on modern design and sewing techniques. There will be a six-week workshop in the spring, where students will create an original work to be included in the 2008 Nunavut Inuit sealskin collection.

Wearing sealskin is often seen a statement of support for Nunavut sealers, said Cindy Cowan, director for academic studies, trades and community programs at Iqaluit's Nunatta campus.

But before more Nunavummiut spend money to buy a sealskin vest or parka, she said local sealskin products need to show higher quality and more fashion sense.

"We have to shift from an attitude that sealskin was once a disposable item that would be used up in one season," said Cowan.

Sealskin garments must be well made and sturdy because "if you're going to make a coat for someone for $2,000, you have to make sure it's not going to fall off their shoulders."

During the NAC program, business courses will assist students to become more successful at marketing their work.

"This is economic development within Nunavut," said Cowan. "We want to build a fashion industry and demand within Nunavut."

The program's curriculum came out of a lengthy needs assessment for a fur design and production program, prepared by consultant Diane Giroux in 2005.

Giroux, who met with seamstresses in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Rankin Inlet and Arviat, looked at their knowledge about furs, design, technical aspects and sales, finding:

• in Iqaluit, strong sewing traditions, but many seamstresses who set a selling price "without any criteria of quality, selling their products for the amount of money they need that day";
• in Pangnirtung, a "dynamic community of proud sewers," hampered by a lack of interest among the younger generation and little knowledge of contemporary sewing or marketing techniques;
• in Cambridge Bay, sewers working with variety of furs, but "like in other communities they too often pay the price for their lack of knowledge in marketing their works;"
• in Kugluktuk, a good level of skill, but a disappearing bank of knowledge about how to work with furs;
• in Rankin Inlet, sewers who "have the ideas but don't know how to achieve them in a three-dimension garment that will actually fit a person," coupled by a lack of a stable fur supply; and,
• in Arviat, keen but secretive sewers, who are eager to protect traditional designs, yet at the same time reluctant to share technical knowledge, so "their products do not reflect the intense work they have put into them."

Giroux found "few seamstresses can actually make garments with a high-quality standard."

The majority of sewers have poor marketing and business know-how, so potential consumers don't trust them. There's a need for training on many levels, she concluded.

NAC has run several training workshops at Arviat's Kiluk sewing centre, a Nunavut Development Corporation project, but sewers there do mainly piecework – that is, sewing from pre-cut and finished pieces, rather than from start to finish using original designs.

The NAC decided to hold the sealskin fur design and production course in Iqaluit because sealing is more common in Baffin Island communities. The Government of Nunavut, the federal government and Kakivak Association are giving money to help pay for the program, whose start-up and delivery will cost nearly $500,000.

Students will be accepted full time or part time. To register, they'll need to submit a letter of support from a skilled sewer.

Housing for single students will be provided, and Cowan said she's hoping that women from other communities outside Iqaluit will attend the program.