Fashion Show at Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation
Soaring Circle and the Sewcase are incredibly fortunate to partner with Janome Canada to bring sewing skills labs to remote communities across the country!
In May 2023, we had the honour to visit the community of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation on Treaty 6 Territory with. Under the leadership of Marcy Whitefish, Chief Ahtahkakoop School set up their Sewcase skills lab at the end of 2022. It’s been so inspiring to follow this journey and see what the students have achieved in such a short time!
The students from held a community fashion show during our visit. Our team all attended along with Michael and Alan from Janome Canada and Summer and Cricket Testawich from the Bones of Crows film crew. There was so much love and pride on the runway!
We had a tour of the culture and sewing room and Michael Smith from Janome offered a morning demo for students to get to know their sewing machines a little better. We also covered important details about how to take care of the machines to make sure they can keep working for many years to come.
When youth have access to quality sewing equipment and a fabulous teacher, magic can truly happen. The sewing lab at Ahtahkakoop was dedicated to the late Fred Sasakamoose who was so dedicated to bringing opportunities to Indigenous youth.
Thank you to Principal Shaun Sasakamoose for supporting this program and making space in your school. It’s easy to see how much talent there is in this community by all the beautiful garments created by the students. We look forward to seeing more work in the upcoming school year. Here are just some shots captured on the runway!
Big thanks to Alan Ranney from Janome, Damon Little (and one of his awesome media students!) from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation for the fabulous photos!
Our program is not possible without our amazing sponsors including: Janome Canada, PVH, American Eagle, Evolugen, Manitoulin Transport as well as many more individual supporters!
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