Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 06/00) - Five Northwest Territories women have been named 2000 Wise Women Award winners.

The Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories selected the women from among a field of 37 nominees representing the Beaufort/Delta, Sahtu, Deh Cho, North Slave and South Slave regions.

The winners are Violet Doolittle of Inuvik, Beaufort/Delta; Florence Barnaby of Fort Good Hope, Sahtu; Margaret Thom of Fort Providence, Deh Cho; Ingrid Kritsch of Yellowknife, North Slave; and Dorothy Beaulieu of Fort Resolution, South Slave.

The awards are to be presented at noon Wednesday in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly during the International Women's Day luncheon. This year's theme is "Canadian women -- getting involved to make a difference."

The criteria for judging the Wise Women Award winners is based on dedication and commitment to the community, benefits they have brought to women and/or to the community as a whole, and the positive role model they present to other women.

This marks the first year in which Wise Women Awards were presented in the new Northwest Territories, and the first year in which it was possible to recognize women from all regions of the NWT. In the past, when the awards were presented across the entire territory, only two were presented in the western territory.

Doolittle is a counsellor at the Family Counselling Centre in Inuvik. An active volunteer in community activities in Inuvik, Doolittle has helped many young mothers get on their feet and build a solid foundation for their families.

In fact, Doolittle was nominated for the Wise Women Award by one such young woman.

Doolittle is as equally skilled in listening and sharing with others as she is living in the bush. She knows the language and traditional skills such as sewing, and works with the elders.

Barnaby has served as a counsellor in Fort Good Hope for the past few years. She works closely with women involved in abusive relationships and encourages people to adopt a healthy lifestyle which doesn't include alcohol and drugs.

Barnaby takes part actively in community meetings, workshops, training and interagency and community groups.

Thom has provided strong leadership and was an excellent role model during the past nine years while on her own recovery journey. She is a grandmother, wife and community volunteer in Fort Providence.

Thom is a former co-ordinator of the Brighter Futures program and was instrumental in starting up many community wellness programs, including the Puffers anti-tobacco campaign with school students.

She has served on the band council and with various boards, including the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Board, the education council, and the Nats'Ejee K'eh Alcohol and Drug Treatment Centre program.

Thom has worked with the Friendship Centre and Healing Lodge. She uses her native language, respects the elders and is vocal and supportive of women's wellness issues.

Kritsch is a dedicated anthropologist who is comfortable in both bush camp and board room. She is greatly respected for her 20 years work with the Metis Nation, Dene Cultural Institute and, since 1992, with the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute.

Kritsch has worked closely with elders and youth, researching Gwich'in ties to the land, place names, the use of traditional knowledge in managing heritage resources, identifying and understanding historic sites, and developing educational material from oral history research.

For the past five years, Kritsch has worked directly with youth at the Gwich'in science camp. Projects have included promoting awareness of traditional Gwich'in medicine and cross-cultural learning between elders and youth.

She is currently working on a project which saw a group of Gwich'in elders and seamstresses visit museums in Ottawa and Washington, D.C. to see examples of traditional Gwich'in clothing. This will help reintroduce to Gwich'in communities the caribou-skin clothing used a century ago.

Beaulieu, after training and working as a nursing aide, began to work part-time at Peter Pond school in Fort Resolution in the 1960s. She began working full-time there in the 1970s.

She received her teaching authority in 1979 and in 1980 she received her diploma as a classroom assistant. Beaulieu began teaching Chipewyan in the 1990s, earning her Aboriginal Language Specialist Certificate in 1995 through her on-the-job experience.

Beaulieu has helped raise more than 30 children from other families over the past 40 years. She never turns away anyone who needs help.

An active church member, Beaulieau has served as a lay reader for many years and assisted when the community lost its resident priest.