by Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 12/98) - It's about time somebody bragged about Northern women. And Alex Borowiecka is trying to make sure people keep the chatter up over the next two years.

She's the co-ordinator of the two-year daily planner slated to roll off the press in time for International Women's Day on March 8, 1998.

"It's been a wonderful experience talking to people all over the North and getting to know them," says Boroweicka.

The calendar, called "Honouring Our Women of the NWT," has a budget of $20,000 and will highlight the accomplishments and contributions of approximately 45 women.

Boroweicka says it was important to include women from as many communities as possible.

"We tried to represent all the different regions and we estimate that there are women from approximately 30 different communities."

It was no easy task choosing who would make the final cut.

Addena Sumter-Freitag, the community worker for the council, says "we just kept going down the list and some of the women had been used in other things and you see them lots and we're trying to honor women who have never been honored before."

Rosemary Cairns, the executive director of the NWT Status of Women Council, agrees. "The council has wanted for a long time to do this. So many women are nominated in each community for the Wise Woman Award and the list of what they're doing is so impressive."

A brief write-up will accompany the photographs of the women who made the final cut.

"They were asked to submit quotes of what they feel synthesizes their work. Where there are collages, there will be a general description of the impact of their profession," says Boroweicka.

The blurbs will be translated into the women's own languages during months where an individual is portrayed and into English and Inuktitut for the collages.

Borowiecka has spent the last three months scrambling around town, finishing the last details. "Basically I'm just trying to pull it all together. I'm getting photos, quotes, getting the quotes translated and designs. I'm also responsible for looking for additional funding and doing a final report and the distribution of the calendar," says Boroweicka, a long-time Northerner herself.