More than 100 eager sewers showed up at Kiilinik Ilihakvik for a Canada Goose fabric giveaway in Cambridge Bay during the evening of June 4.
"It made a lot of community members really happy," said Mayor Pamela Gross, who's also executive director of the Kitikmeot Heritage Society. "There's a lot of sewers (here). It's a great resource because we can use those modern materials in making parkas or whatever people want."
Cambridge Bay became the eighth community supported through the Canada Goose Resource Centre Program. The seven others are Pond Inlet, Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset, Iglulik and Kuujjuaq, Que.
Canada Goose stated that the program's inception came in 2007 when Pond Inlet sewers Meeka Atagootak and Rebecca Killiktee visited the company's factory in Toronto to demonstrate their traditional Inuit sewing methods. They asked if they could bring home some scraps of fabric to fashion parkas for family and friends.
Since that time close to two million metres of fabric have been donated, according to Canada Goose.
Gross said she'd like to see the company's representatives return to the community again someday.
"The partnership is there and we hope there can be more events happening in the future, different kinds of events, possibly," she said. "We'll see what's in store, but we're hopeful."
