Fort McPherson (Apr 26/04) - Bertha Francis has one of the prettiest homes in Fort McPherson and she can't thank the people who built it enough.

Fort McPherson elder Bertha Francis loves her new home, which was built for her by the NWT Housing Corporation. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

The well-known elder smiled proudly at the maroon-coloured siding with the large windows and three bedrooms.

"It's beautiful, I can't believe it's my house," said Francis.

"I want to let the housing people know I'm just so happy. Saying thank you is not enough for me."

Francis picked the siding and the beautiful robin egg blue floors and counter tops herself and then the NWT Housing Corporation built the home. And in 15 years it will be hers.

Before she moved into her new home, Francis lived in a log cabin for 21 years.

Her husband and sons built it with wood they ferried down the Peel River, but the house was beginning to get old and drafty.

"It was cold," said Francis.

This is the first time she's ever had a furnace and a woodstove. Her old home was entirely heated by a woodstove which had to be continually fed.

Francis' voice is well-known to most people throughout the Beaufort Delta.

In the summer she can often be found at major assemblies with her head to a microphone in a glass cubical where she is simultaneously listening and translating what's being said into Gwich'in for radio listeners.

Francis spent 10 years in residential school, but reclaimed her language by practising and listening to her grandmother.

Her first translating job was on the Gwich'in land claim, which she explained for CBC and CBQM Fort McPherson listeners.