By David P. Ball

On Monday, Vancouver's transit system is set to begin requiring passengers to wear a face mask before boarding a bus or SkyTrain.

Although no one will at first be turned away without a face covering, as authorities say they'll focus on education not enforcement, one Coast Salish activist and elder is gearing up to produce hundreds of masks for the city's urban Indigenous community.

Kat Norris wearing a mask. Photo courtesy of Kat Norris.

And Kat Norris is finding ways to stitch together community — and sew in plenty of laughter at the same time.

"It's about learning a new skill, which in itself builds confidence, and you get to talking and we end up having a lot of fun," Norris, who serves as an elder at the Vancouver Aboriginal Health Society's clinic, told The Pulse on CFRO. "It all started because, of course a lot of us had the idea to learn to make masks, just to help out somewhere.

"I brought a client into the clinic who didn't have a mask … They apologized profusely that they didn't have any more; they were waiting for a shipment they'd ordered."

Norris had an extra mask she gave to her client, but then she realized many places might be experiencing mask shortages, and many people probably didn't have their own.

"I started thinking, I could learn how to make masks!" she said. "That's when I started watching all the Youtube videos and printing off patterns.

"I never do anything small — I always go big — so I put a call out, and we got two ladies helping with cutting and sewing, and now we have a young fellow who's going to come and help out."

In this interview, she explains some principles of finding the right mask for you — and how anyone interested can get involved in her project.