INUVIK
Hearing indigenous women from across Canada speak was a powerful experience for Angela Koe Blake.

Diane Archie, left, and Tanya Gruben listen on translators during the women's summit. - photo courtesy of Tanya Gruben

"There were elders and there were middle-aged indigenous women. They were so strong in their culture," said Blake, who attended the National Indigenous Women's Summit to represent the Gwich'in Tribal Council March 6-8 in Toronto, Ontario.

"Most of them spoke their language, they represented their culture, they wore their traditional clothing. I felt like we as First Nations should start representing our culture a lot more than we do."

One theme that emerged, said Blake, was dependency on government in indigenous communities.

"I feel that us, First Nations, we have to start taking those roles," she said. "Leaders always say they want our own people working for their communities, for their First Nation, and it's about time we take that big step to start teaching our young generations."

Blake said the knowledge elders have needs to be capitalized on while they are still around to teach it.

Indigenous men tend to hold a lot of the leadership roles but women are more powerful than they think, said Blake.

"We are the people who bring people into the world," she said. "Women don't acknowledge how powerful, how knowledgeable they are. We've got to start learning that and recognizing it, because if we don't. we aren't going to be able to do it when our elders aren't here."

Youth play a role in the future of indigenous communities as well, she said.

"All indigenous people, we've just got to start recognizing it and practising and believing that we can do it," said Blake. "We're at that point where our elders are leaving and they're carrying so much knowledge they would love to pass on."

Tanya Gruben represented the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

She too enjoyed seeing other cultures being respected and displayed.

Gruben said there are a lot of opportunities for indigenous women to be educated and pursue their careers.

However, she just hopes the recommendations made by the group, which was meeting for the fifth time, can be put into action.

"By the fifth summit, there are tons of recommendations that have been made by the previous four," said Gruben.

"My concern at the summit was how do you get these recommendations into legislation in a timely manner, like before the next summit comes up so we're not discussing the same issues over and over again."

She was thankful for the opportunity to meet with other First Nations women and called them great role models.

"You can always find inspiration from other women," said Gruben.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.