DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
Eva Villeneuve of Fort Resolution has a passion for cleaning.

Eva Villeneuve of E&R Services in Fort Resolution stands by a steam cleaner, one of the many pieces of equipment she has for her cleaning business. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I just love doing it since I was young. I just love to clean," she said. "Now that there's so much sickness and everything out there, I think it's good to keep everything clean and your house clean."

In fact, Villeneuve began helping to clean when she was just 10 or 11 years old.

"I've done it all my life," she said.

About seven or eight years ago, Villeneuve turned that passion for cleanliness into a business called E&R Services.

"I always helped people clean and I finally decided to go into business," she said.

The 'E' stands for her first name, while the 'R' stands for her husband, Robert Ekinla, who helps out with the business.

"I started it and then I thought, well, he might as well join me. He's my partner," Villeneuve said.

Along with helping with E&R Services, her husband is retired from the territorial Department of Transportation and is a part-time trapper.

E&R Services offers many custodial and janitorial services, including cleaning windows, walls and floors; dusting; laundry; ironing; doing dishes; shampooing carpets; steam cleaning; and basic housework.

Villeneuve cleans private homes when the owners call for her services and a teacher's residence every week.

Plus, E&R Services has contracts to clean three GNWT buildings in Fort Resolution.

Villeneuve estimated she dedicates about 12 hours a week to the business.

For the past 16 years or so, she has also worked three days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - for the GNWT as a home and support worker offering personal care and meals to elders in the community.

"If I have to clean somewhere else, I would leave it for maybe a Saturday or Monday when I'm not working," she explained.

Villeneuve, a member of Deninu Ku'e First Nation, noted that, before she had her own business, she would clean some people's homes for free.

"I used to do a lot of cleaning anyway for people, just volunteer," she said. "I love the housework. I love everything - the stove, the fridge, you name it."

Over the years, Villeneuve has discovered some tricks for cleaning.

For instance, she uses toothbrushes to clean around spouts in kitchens and washrooms. In fact, she has a collection of different types of brushes for various jobs.

Pointing to a collection of newspapers in her kitchen, she also explained another cleaning secret - using newspapers to clean windows.

"They shine perfect," she said.

Villeneuve can't really say why people hire her to do cleaning, as opposed to doing it themselves.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe it's the way I clean or maybe it's because I'm a sober person, as well. Or maybe I'm a good worker. I have no idea."

She recognizes that part of the answer might me that some people dislike cleaning, noting a woman once told her she hates washing the floor.

"Some people are working people," she noted. "They don't have time."

Villeneuve said, for her, there is no difference between getting paid to clean or cleaning her own home.

"I just love doing it," she said. "It doesn't matter if I don't get paid.

I'll still do it."

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