Some students rekindle old teachings, others discover new skill at Yellowknife hide camp

Scraping a hide this week brought back happy memories for 10-year-old Ori Black. 

Years ago, when she was "little", her grandmother introduced her to the process of cutting, scraping and soaking a hide. 

"I really liked it when we laughed together," said Black. "What I did best is scrape it off."

Ori and dozens of other Grade 6 students learned how to transform hides last week at the Yellowknife Education District No. 1's (YK1) first community hide camp. The hide camp ran until Thursday and was open to community members.

The school yard at Mildred Hall School was filled with the smell of wet fur, sounds of scraping and lots of laughter. 

Andrea Harding is YK1's regional Indigenous language and education co-ordinator. 

"This is a really important skill and if we don't continue to teach it, it's one that can be lost very, very easily," she said. 

"A lot of our students have actually done it before. So we had some students … that were actually giving us some feedback and instructing us. So it's a really great opportunity for them to teach us."

Others, like first-time tanner Vanessa Grey, 10, found a new skill. 

"It's one of those things that I'm shockingly good at," she said, referring to scraping the hide. "It felt very nice knowing that I was able to accomplish things like this." 

The camp also offered a brief biology lesson. 

"Moose can get bugs in it that, like, infects it and they're similar to pimples, kind of only inside your skin," said Grey. 

Another student, Malika Mandeville, said she used to live in Fort Resolution but never had the chance to work on a hide. 

She appreciates the opportunity of participating in the camp.