Lifelong moccasin maker Jeannine Jamieson says she hopes by hosting workshops to teach others how to make moccasins she's able to help carry on the teachings to the next generation.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Jamieson has hosted a variety of workshops including moccasin making and deer hide mitten making.

"In the very beginning of COVID-19, I really wasn't expecting my workshop to take off like it did. So I hosted one and within minutes it filled up; I had 20 people in the workshop," she said. "So I filled up the one workshop and there was still people asking and then I ended up filling another one of 20 more people within the span of two hours. It totally blew up, this is what people want to do and I found it wasn't really offered anywhere else."

The most recent workshop was hosted on May 29-30 and says she will be hosting another moccasin workshop on June 13-14 in conjunction with Chiefswood Park. Moccasin making has been something she's done her whole life and she strives to teach others the same way she was taught by her grandmother.

She said it was important to pass on cultural traditions like moccasin making and the joy she gets from providing these workshops to the community.

"You know how our people were sent off to residential schools, we lost our languages and lost our cultures there. So me being able to teach people how to make moccasins, we're carrying on that traditional so that we don't lose it," she said. " I want to be able to teach people to make them so we can carry it on. So they can maybe teach their kids and their grand kids how to do it, so we don't lose it."

Jamieson says she will be continuing to host the moccasin making workshops. You can follow her City Indian Crafts Facebook page for more details on how to register for the next workshop.

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