LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT - A Lutsel K'e teacher says the passion and love she once felt for her community has been replaced by fear and mistrust.

Jennifer Pott, a Grade 7 to 12 teacher at Lutsel K'e Dene School, was shot in the face and in the leg with a pellet gun-like weapon on Nov. 11 while out skiing with her dogs on Fourth Street in Lutsel K'e. As of yet, police have not identified any suspects. - photo courtesy of Jennifer Pott

Jennifer Pott, 28, a second-year Grade 7 to 12 English, art and foods teacher at Lutsel K'e Dene School, was shot in the face and leg on Remembrance Day by either a pellet or BB gun.

She was listening to her iPod while cross-country skiing with her two mixed Labrador retrievers at around 4:30 p.m. in an isolated area near Fourth Street.

"I went along my route that I always do and all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my brow. At the time I heard like a 'pop,' even with my earphones in, and saw stars," Pott recalled, recovering at home on Nov. 18.

"When I came to, both my dogs were on either side of me and I felt a pain in my leg," she said, adding her dogs would usually bark if they sensed a stranger, but in this case they didn't react.

"I touched my brow and saw blood all over my hands and realized that I'd just been shot. I panicked. I screamed for probably a good five minutes, really loudly. I couldn't control my voice. I was just screaming and screaming and no one came. I was frantically looking around trying to see if someone was there but no one was there that I could see," she continued.

"I realized that someone had essentially hunted me, because no one came."

After collecting herself, Pott skied about two minutes back into town, went home and called the police, who took her to the health centre, where she was treated for two minor wounds - one of them only a centimetre away from her right eye.

RCMP Const. Ian Campbell is investigating the case and is asking the public for help.

"At this point we don't have any suspects and we're requesting the public's assistance," he said on Nov. 17.

Campbell said if found, the person responsible would likely be charged with assault with a weapon, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.

Pott, who is from Northern Ontario, said she feels fine physically but she's trying to work through the trauma and fear the incident caused her.

"I have been tirelessly working and passionately dedicated to what I've been doing in this community. I was in the process of looking for a house to settle more permanently, but what scares me the most is that I don't know who did this," she said. "Because of the nature of the crime, it's likely that it was a young person, and that's really affected the passion that I once did feel. I think to be a good teacher and to be a good role model you have to really put your heart and soul into something and you have to feel a sense of trust in order to gain a sense of trust from your students. The issue I feel like I'm dealing with now is, that passion I once felt has been replaced by a sense of emptiness and mistrust."

David Reid, president of the NWT Teachers' Association, said the association supports Pott and is calling on the person responsible to come forward.

"I'd really like the community to step forward and find out who this individual is and bring the person forward to face the consequences. It's a very small community. Certainly it shouldn't be that difficult, if the community worked hard at it, to figure out who this person was," Reid said. "It's a heinous incident."

Reid added that although violence against teachers in the North is rare, it shouldn't happen at all.

"Teachers face different kinds of abuse in the classroom on a daily basis... it's not rampant by any means, but it goes with the job and it shouldn't have to," he said.

"I would venture to guess that the majority of teachers say they enjoy working in the North and it's this sort of thing that casts a real pall over education and teaching in the Northwest Territories and it's not a good reflection of what's going on in a lot of our communities."

Lutsel K'e is rallying behind Pott.

Members of the District Education Authority met with Pott on Nov. 12, and that evening more than 80 residents gathered to show their support for the teacher and to brainstorm ways to teach students about gun safety.

Curtis Brown, superintendent of the South Slave Divisional Education Council, said he was "quite disturbed" by the incident, but added he was very impressed by the community's response.

"That initial response we were quite impressed with," said Brown, who was out of town at the time of the meeting. "However, quite frankly, we are dismayed that someone has not come forward. Someone must know in the community who it was and we're dismayed that the perpetrator hasn't been caught."