Saila Qilavvaq

**Saila Qilavvaq** *(sigh-lah keel-ah-vak)* (Inuktitut: **ᓴᐃᓚ ᕿᓚᕝᕙᖅ**) is one of the seven Maplelea Girls released by Maplelea, and the second to be added to the lineup after the initial four. She was released in **2011.**

## Character and Personality

Saila is a ten-year-old girl living in Iqaluit, Nunavut, the capitol city of her province. Her family moved permanently to the town when she was seven so that her mother could study at Nunavut Arctic College; she now teaches at Aqsarniit Middle School, while Saila is in the fifth grade at Joamie Ilinniarvik School. Her father is a guide and expert on the land, and he is also noted to be "working on a carving" for somebody important and often drives the forklift to remove crates from the sealift. Saila has two younger sisters, Meeka and Malaya; Malaya is her biological cousin, but after her mother died, she was adopted into Saila's immediate family. Their older sister, Ceporah, is a student at Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottowa, learning about Inuit culture and issues as well as how to live in the big city and study for college, which she will be attending the following year in hopes of becoming a government worker.

The rest of her family still lives in Kimmirut, and Saila's family visits them every summer and winter. Another nearby relative is Saila's Aunt Quppa, who runs her own dog sled team and trains her dogs herself. Quppa is also an environmental activist and sometimes travels in order to present her findings on global warming. While she is gone, she leaves a litter of puppies with Saila's family in order to be socialized, and as a reward Saila is allowed to pick a puppy to keep. She chooses a mostly white dog that she has named Nanuq, hoping to one day train him to pull a "little qamutiik." She and her sisters enjoy carrying their puppies in the back of their amauti like babies.

Saila is very close to and appreciative of her Inuit culture. She spends a lot of time with her grandmother, Papatsi, who teaches her and her sisters many traditional things that she herself had to learn late due to having to "go away to go to school;" Saila is currently how to sew from her, and she and her sisters are learning about string games and making bannock. Her family also enjoys getting Inuit books and DVDs from the library. She loves to help her grandmother make and sell crafts, and Papatsi made her favorite kamiik and amauti. Saila also loves to help her mother by looking after her little sisters while her mother works and by preparing and cleaning fish for dinner. She also really enjoys camping and setting up for the activities.

Saila also loves the land she lives on, and many of her favorite things to do include observing her natural surroundings, such as watching the northern lights or "[walking] along the bay to hear the ice crack at high tide." One of her wishes is that everybody in Canada would come visit Nunavut and see how beautiful it is. She dreams about being a fashion designer or business owner, and being able to design and sell clothes and accessories with Inuit designs.

Her favorite classes are culture class and science, and likes best when the elders come to school to teach them traditional things, such as throat singing and drum dancing. She is a little athletic, and enjoys soccer, dogsledding, swimming, jigging, and playing Not-It with her friends at recess; she also participated in the kids' snowmobile race at the last Toonik Tyme festival. She also enjoys bug and ptarmigan/rabbit hunting, digging for clams, video-gaming, and goes to a music camp in the summer. Saila wishes that "a cool band would come to Iqaluit to play a rock concert for us kids." She has met "the Prime Minister and his family," and saw the Governor General once.

Saila was the second addition to the Maplelea girls following the original four; she joined after meeting Jenna McAllister at the Toonik Tyme festival. Jenna was visiting Nunavut as her father researched the Arctic char, and Saila invited her to join in the soccer game. The two spent a lot of time together and Saila is now online friends with her and the other Maplelea Girls.

## Family and Friends

### Family

* Eena Qilavvaq: Saila’s mother, a teacher.
* Pauloosie Qilavvaq: Saila’s father, a guide.
* Ceporah Qilavvaq: Saila's older sister.
* Meeka Qilavvaq: Saila's younger sister.
* Malaya Qilavvaq: Saila's younger sister; she is biologically her cousin but was adopted into their family after her mother died.
* Papatsi: Saila's maternal grandmother.
* Quppa: Saila's aunt, a dog trainer and environmental activist.

Saila also mentions that several unnamed aunts, uncles, cousins, and her paternal grandparents live in Kimmirut.

### Friends

* Saila names several friends from school: April, Bianca, Joan, Kasandra, Kyra, Lily, Qalaapik and Sara.
* Alexi: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives in Cabbagetown, Ontario.
* Brianne: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives in Sandy Lake, Manitoba.
* Charlsea: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.
* Jenna: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
* Leonie: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives in Quebec City, Quebec.
* Taryn: Saila's friend and fellow Maplelea Girl who lives in Banff, Alberta.

## Doll

*See: Saila Qilavvaq (doll)*

* Face Mould: Saila face mould
* Complexion: Medium
* Hair: Long black-brown
* Eyes: Brown

## See Also

* The Making of Saila - The Maplelea Girl From the Farthest North!

## Trivia

* Saila is the first *canonically* non-white Maplelea doll, and the first to be indigenous.
	+ It should be noted that Alexi and Taryn have no specific ethnicity.
* Saila's surname, *Qilavvaq,* was originally her grandfather's name. When the Inuit people started using more than one name, "he gave his to his family and chose a new one."
* She canonically speaks but Inuktitut and English; her journal is available also in French.
* She mentions celebrating Halloween and Christmas.
* Her favorite foods are "country foods like caribou, Arctic char, and muktaaq," pizza, and her grandmother's bannock and crowberry jam.
* She shares a room with her younger sisters, and sleeps on a top bunk above Meeka.

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Saila's Journal*

 **Léonie Bélanger-Leblanc**