Inuktitut fashion show wows

Event part of Inuktitut Language Month at Leo Ussak Elementary School

By Stewart Burnett

Adorned in the creations and gifts of family members and loved ones, students at Leo Ussak Elementary School showed off their cultural attire at a fashion show held Friday, April 21.

“You get to show what your family members had made, who made it, and it’s just to show pride,” said Inuktitut teacher Charmaine Okatsiak.

“It’s a physical, visual thing to show our Inuit culture.”

Students received cheers as they walked the gymnasium runway one at a time.

Okatsiak said she could tell the youth were proud while preparing to walk out, telling teachers, ‘Look who made this’ or ‘My grandma made that.’

“It shows pride in who they are as Inuit,” said Okatsiak. “And one student even told me, ‘This is my great-great-greatgreat-great-grandma’s.’”

Okatsiak, along with Appolina Makkigak and Mona Tadayon helping with the fashion show, held events all month for students, such as a day focused on Inuktitut names.

“They got to write their name in Inuktitut and Roman orthography,” said Okatsiak. “Within their class, they could talk about who they were named after. That’s really important.”

She was glad to see the pride in students’ faces.

“We need to communicate with our grandparents, our parents and everybody in our community,” said Okatsiak, asked about the importance of the language.

“When we speak Inuktitut, our community members are really happy. We need to keep it strong. When they learn it at school, they bring it home.”