Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 17/99) - The importance of balance and respect between men and women, that's what one Yellowknife woman came back with after attending the circumpolar women's conference entitled Different Lives, Common Threads in Whitehorse in mid-November.

That, and the invisible thread that seems to bind women no matter if they are from Alaska, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Denmark or Northern Canada.

"Everybody seemed to know everybody just because they were women," says local artist Ann Timmins, who attended the conference along with more than 400 other delegates from circumpolar nations.

The conference dealt with issues that ranged from women in politics, women in media, women in the arts and women in business to women raising children, women herding reindeer and women healing.

Problems that seem unique to the NWT, such as alcoholism, violence and poverty are problems that crop up across Northern nations. For Timmins it was a humbling experience.

"I was hit by my own lack of knowledge and complacency regarding politics," she says.

"OK, I've got a nice home, a good husband. I've got it made in so many ways. I should be doing more."

For Timmins, that translates into how she might make her art meaningful in a more universal fashion.

"That's half the problem sometimes," she says, "How to make art with meaning, dealing with common issues for all of us."

Former Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin opened the conference, and was followed by opening addresses from a stellar cast of Yukon women who hold or have held various political offices. Finally, Mary Simon, Canadian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark and Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs, spoke of her transition from a life on the land to a life in politics.

"She talked about becoming a modern woman of the 21st century. It just seemed she had to learn so fast to get into this century. I really got a better sort of view of where women are in the North," said Timmins.

The conference took place over three days at the Yukon Arts Centre, with a Circumpolar Performing Arts Gala topping of day two.