Yurt base at sunset.

Having stood in St. James Park as part of Occupy Toronto, travelled by transport truck, train and over an ice road, the Mongolian yurt is ready to be assembled in Attawapiskat.

After meetings with the community, the location for the yurt was decided upon, and we set upon the assembly of the yurt.

By the end of the first day of building, we had set up the base.

Gord with pick

With the freezing temperatures, short days and the rush to set up the yurt, we called it “extreme yurt-building.”

The walls are six sections of flexible lattice work. Sinew is used instead of nails.

Gord Longhi bracing the wall from the wind.

In Mongolia, the door faces the south. The door is facing east in keeping with the First Nation culture.

toono

The centre piece of the yurt is called a toono.

The toono raising.

The toono is up!

The shell is done. Next step is two layers of sheep-felt insulation and the outer canvas.