Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 08/99) - Vi (short for Viola) Beck has lived in Yellowknife since she was about one month old.

Many might be quite surprised to find out she describes herself as a "shy" person. She also says she "hates to be bored." That will come as no surprise to many Yellowknifers.

Beck, currently project and services co-ordinator for the NWT Chamber of Commerce, has had a diverse and rewarding professional life in Yellowknife.

Her career is mirrored by her community service -- also diverse and rewarding.

Beck, who gets the job done, reminds us that with drive and commitment, anything is possible.

Under the phrase "watch this space," there's a picture of Vi Beck.

Yklife caught up with Beck at the NWT Chamber of Commerce's eighth-floor offices in the Scotia Centre.

Yklife: You said this is the first time you've had a view like this?

Beck: That's not entirely true. I was working at the legislature and there was a beautiful view their but this is the first time I've had my own office with its own view.

Yklife: You've done numerous different jobs in Yellowknife, including working for Northern News Services. Take me back with a bit of background on the different work you've done.

Beck: I started off working at the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital in the kitchen.

Yklife: Then...

Beck: Then a counsellor asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said I wanted to be a secretary. She asked if I had ever seen a dictaphone and I said no but I knew what it was for. She took me to the territorial government. I was shy and 15. She sat me down and went into an office there. Half an hour later she came out and said, OK you've got a job, you start tomorrow. That was quick. I hadn't even applied. I was there to see a dictaphone.

Yklife: And you were 15?

Beck: I'd left home and that was my start. I did many different casual jobs in the government. Eventually I got a job with Wardair then Northern News Services Ltd. I started in typesetting.

Yklife: What did you do at Wardair?

Beck: I was an office clerk.

Yklife: Did you see Max (Ward)?

Beck: Oh yeah! He was there all the time. He was very approachable. He talked to everybody and was nice. He still remembers me when I call him and ask him for a donation for Caribou Carnival. After that, I got a job at NNSL and things started to change for me.

Sig (publisher J.W. "Sig" Sigvaldason) let me play in the darkroom and Darkroom Dave (McLaren) was helpful.

Yklife: When did you work at NNSL?

Beck: 1970 to 1980. I started in typesetting then when Darkroom Dave hurt his thumb, Sig said Vi can you do the photography. I said sure. Then Mike Scott (now NNSL general manager) left to go back to school and Sig said why don't you become advertising manager for Yellowknifer and News/North. I said I've never sold an ad. Sig said he knew I could do it. That's when my life turned around because I was a shy person before that and Sig must have seen something I did not see. I had no choice but to talk to people.

Yklife: That was around the time you started a magazine wasn't it?

Beck: I started my own magazine called Husky Fever which was a dog mushing magazine. It was inserted in the Northern News Report. My husband Richard is a dog musher.

Yklife: How far did that magazine go?

Beck: I had subscribers all over the world.

Yklife: How did the magazine get such a reach?

Beck: Dog mushers are a really closely-knit group. Then I was with Inkit and then I started Type Unlimited, a graphic arts personal agency. I did that for about 14 years. During that time I also produced a television guide and bought the Native Press and changed its name to the Northern Star. But the economy took a downturn. In 1994 I decided I had to do something different. I've been executive director of Metis Local 66, a city alderman, assistant to MLA Roy Erasmus and his campaign manager. I've been full time with the chamber in January.

Yklife: And...you said you were shy?

Beck: I'm still really shy. I've had a lot of things to overcome. I was brought up in a home of addiction so I had a lot of insecurities. I think it was probably the day I took on the job of advertising manager of both newspapers that I decided I wasn't going to let my fears stop me. So now I even fly in planes. Even though I may be afraid of challenges, I won't let that stop me.

Yklife: So you have a fear of flying?

Beck: I did. it was awful. Then I went to Europe.

Yklife: So that DC-3 the chamber chartered down to Hay River last month for the annual general meeting didn't phase you at all?

Beck: No, not at all.

Yklife: What about your community work?

Beck: I've been on numerous boards, chairman of Caribou Carnival, past chairman of NWT Family Services. I'm on the Status of Women Council. I think it's because I know so many people.

Yklife: Where do you find time to do all this? Are you one of those people who only needs three hours sleep a day?

Beck: You never clean your house. That's everybody else's job.

Yklife: You have a family as well?

Beck: I've got three children and one granddaughter. And I'm going to be a grandmother again in July.

Yklife: And they all live here?

Beck: Yes. Yellowknife is still a great place to live. There's a lot of opportunity for young people here. We like the outdoors. My children are all involved with dog mushing and are building their own careers.

Yklife: You've moved around a lot with your work? Did you decide you had to do different things all the time -- why not stay with one company, why aren't you still with NNSL?

Beck: I'm not putting that one on tape.

Yklife: So why have you been so involved?

Beck: It goes back to my childhood. When I was chairman of NWT Family Services, I ended up being in that position because of the healing I had done. I found people have come to me and asked me to help and I had to prove to myself that I could do it. I reached a point where I knew I could do these things. I feel confident about myself.

Yklife: Is there a highlight to your work?

Beck: I'm still in the process and wanting to do more. I think the highlight is yet to come. I'm doing a personal family tree. I started with about 300 names and I've found 24,000 relatives in this family tree. I correspond with 500 of them. I sent out 500 Christmas cards last year. What I'm learning is that everybody is thinking the same way. It doesn't matter what your background is. I see myself talking publicly about these things.

Yklife: What things?

Beck: I want to help as many people as possible. We're in such a mode of change in the North, with division and other changes. I think there's room for everybody, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, and I'm trying to find how it can be done.

Yklife: Why do you think you can find the answer?

Beck: I went with an aboriginal friend to a place where the lines were drawn between the aboriginal community and the non-aboriginal community a long time ago. I was able to build a bridge. You could feel the love and respect.

Yklife: So when there was a suggestion at the recent NWT Chamber of Commerce meeting that the chamber needs more aboriginal representation what were your feelings?

Beck: I've been campaigning for that, trying to get aboriginal groups to get involved with the chamber. We can work together to find a way to make everyone happy.

Yklife: This is more bridge building. The chamber I mean.

Beck: It is a way and it is important to the whole NWT.

Yklife: What are your thoughts on division?

Beck: It's exciting and sad. We, at the Status of Women, went through the division process in January. A lot of people are not going to be as closely connected as they once were.

Yklife: You wonder if their will be time to stay in contact?

Beck: You know what happens when you leave a town, and you say you'll visit a next door neighbour, then 20 years go by. I don't think people realized there would be sadness.

Yklife: So what's next for you?

Beck: I'm busy with the Status of Women. We're having a western conference in March.

Yklife: You said earlier you were Roy Erasmus' assistant and campaign manager, what are your thoughts on the North's political environment and will you be involved?

Beck: Oh I'll be involved one way or another. I guess that's one of the things that's exciting about division.

Yklife: I'll bet you'd like to have a town hall meeting and invite everyone in the NWT.

Beck: That would be great fun. I think it would come out that the West is a great place to live and we are one family.