Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 12/01) - Politicians - make way for one very ambitious and accomplished 22-year-old woman. Dianna Beck makes no bones about it, she wants to make a difference.
 Dianna Beck |
Grandpa's girl
She says informal training for her future career in the public eye began, when her grandfather, an English-born prospector, would debate current affairs with her.
"It didn't matter to him that I was only seven-years-old, we would have a debate, a real debate," said Beck in her soft-spoken manner.
"I learned a lot from him, maybe because he never treated me like a kid. To him it didn't matter if you were seven or 70."
With the fire inside her, Beck started attending meetings with her mom at the Native Women's Association.
Her attendance wasn't exactly voluntary, because single moms, as her mom was, were encouraged to bring their young children along.
"I was a very vocal child, even then I was letting people know what I thought," said Beck.
Affirmative action
But what really thrust the Metis girl from Ndilo into the spotlight was an idea she brought forward while attending a Native Women's Association annual general meeting in August 1999.
No longer a little girl, Beck proposed an aboriginal youth council for the NWT.
"I was tired of attending so many meetings and always hearing "youth are the future, youth are future" well, youth are the present and we need to do things now to make the future a brighter place," she said. Members took her seriously. The youth association held its first conference in November 1999.
"That experience was very fulfilling, to watch an idea go from just that, an idea, into reality. It gives me great satisfaction," said Beck.
As the NWYA continued into its second year, Beck helped organize the "Stop Racism Campaign" in the NWT, and the first annual International Youth Week in the NWT.
"It is nice to see the youth organization stand on its own after I'm gone from it.
"That's often the true test of a youth organization, when it can withstand the test of time."
Seemingly wise and patient beyond her 22-years, Beck was elected spokesperson for aboriginal youth across Canada last July.
She bears the weight of effectively representing youth's concerns to the best of her ability.
"It's mainly about listening -- a lot of listening. Youth are honest, they don't sugar coat things, they just tell you what their needs are," she said.
Beck said that youth across Canada share concerns about "the justice system and the number of aboriginal youth in jail."
Beck likes public life and its rewards.
"Sometimes I sit back and wonder how I got to where I am and I realize it's because I don't shut up, I tend to say what I'm thinking."
Beck attended an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Conference in Bangkok on international economics and e-commerce last July and will be in South Africa this summer for a United Nations conference on Xenophobia and racism.
Beck will be 23 this summer and says that her relative youth can be a barrier.
"A lot of times people can't look past my age.
"I run into a lot of barriers, but they are something you just have to work around."
