Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Mar 08/02) - "For me, all women are wise. Why pick only one?"

In the days following the announcement that she was the Deh Cho's Wise Woman award winner, that's a question Terry Villeneuve began asking.

Terry Villeneuve, who was named the Deh Cho's Wise Woman Award winner last month, says young people and elders alike have helped her during the course of her life. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

When she received a phone call from a representative of the Status of Women Council of the NWT informing her of the distinction, she initially had the wrong impression.

"At first I thought, 'Oh, she's probably trying to sell something, or (she's) a bill collector," Villeneuve said, smiling.

Then reality set in, and she was taken aback.

"I was speechless. I couldn't think of anything to say," she recalled. "I was so surprised."

She said she certainly doesn't consider herself in exclusive company.

"I think everybody has some sort of wisdom that they are happy to pass along ... I don't consider myself totally knowledgeable. The computer for instance, I'm sure my grandchildren can do things on the computer better than I can," she said, adding that people young and old have helped her throughout her lifetime.

"I strongly believe that people help one another. You don't do things on your own."

Villeneuve, who has lived in Fort Simpson for 20 years, was born in Fort Resolution and grew up speaking Chipewyan. Religion has always been an important part of her life. She remembers how she longed to go to church even while fighting tuberculosis in the hospital in the 1950s. She now gives grieving workshops, helps train lay presiders and assists with women's retreats in Yellowknife.

"I've found that throughout life when I've had problems, my faith has kept me going," she said. Although she went to residential school, she was able to retain her mother tongue.

She had never really learned much about life on the land, however, so she asked several elders to teach her.

"For me it's very important. As a person who didn't know these things I felt I was lacking something ... and I really appreciate that because I, in turn, can pass that to my children and now my grandchildren," she said.

Indeed, Villeneuve and her husband Jim raised seven children and imbued them with bush skills such as camping, making a fire and making dry meat. She also takes her nine grandchildren out on the land periodically.

A stay-at-home mom, Villeneuve said she doesn't regret giving so much of herself to her children.

"I wouldn't change that for anything. I enjoyed it and I found that in no time at all they were gone," she said. "The time went so fast."