Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Nov 06/98) - Gwich'in elder Liz Crawford Hansen has worked 33 years in the education field and now works as a consultant helping to keep traditional aboriginal culture alive.

"Change has come too fast for us," the 59-year-old says, after sipping a cup of coffee in the Alex-Moses Greenland building boardroom.

The change she mentions is the evolution for Gwich'in from a traditional lifestyle on the land to one more centred in towns like Inuvik.

That shift has lead to the gradual erosion of the Gwich'in language -- one she hopes will start to shift thanks to help from the GNWT and a work plan the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute is developing.

"I saw a show on TV on how some species of animals are endangered," she says.

"It takes a lot of money to save them. Languages are a lot like that."

Hansen says linguists are trying to help the Gwich'in people, but what would really help the Gwich'in language is to have more Gwich'in speak it at home.

And, as an optimist, she says not all change is bad.

The development of towns and hamlets has helped some Gwich'in utilize their skills to land good jobs and experience a progressively rising standard of living.

Today, she considers herself lucky because she has her language, culture and a good job where she can help others recognize their roots.

Hansen is in her second marriage, to Roy Hansen for the past seven years.

She has two sons, Curtis Crawford and John Crawford, and one daughter, Barb Crawford, who teaches in Aklavik. She also has six grandchildren.

Outside of her job and work with both the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit, she likes going for walks on area trails, particularly those around Boot Lake in the Jimmy Adams Peace Park.

Because her job demands much reading, outside of work she says to read too much hurts her eyes.

Hansen completed early schooling in Aklavik in the 1950s, but she was only able to complete up to Grade 9 in her home community.

Then she completed grades 10 through 12 at a residential school in Prince Albert, Sask.

She then furthered her own education with a teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan.

When she returned to the Delta, she found "A town carved out of the bush with all the Disneyland-type buildings all painted different colours and that."