TROUT LAKE - Bertha Deneron doesn't consider herself to be someone who's likely to win an award for being a wise woman.

"I don't look at myself that way. I'm an everyday person," she said.

Deneron, however, was chosen as the winner of the 2007 Wise Woman award for the Deh Cho. It's an accolade from the Status of Women Council of the NWT.

Bertha Deneron from Trout Lake has been selected as the winner of the Wise Woman award in the Deh Cho for her work in the community. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The council gives the awards to women in five regions in the territory who have worked to improve the lives of others in their communities and serve as role models for the younger generation. Community members submit the nominations.

Three residents of Trout Lake approached Deneron to ask her if she'd mind being nominated for the award, but the call to inform her that she'd won still came as a surprise.

"I was shocked when they told me I'd won the Wise Woman award," said Deneron.

She is employed as a community health worker in Trout Lake. The position means that people often look up to her, she said.

Community members approach Deneron when they're not feeling well, and if they need someone to talk to, she'll listen.

"I never turn anyone down," she said. "I'll always be there for the people."

In giving advice, Deneron draws from her own life experiences.

Born in Trout Lake, Deneron attended residential schools in Fort Simpson and Fort Smith from the time she was four-and-a-half until she was 15.

Students in residential schools were always under constant supervision. As a result when she left the schools, Deneron said wasn't sure what path to take and looked for someone to give her direction. She slowly broke away from that dependency and decided to live a clean life.

Part of that decision involved giving up alcohol. Deneron chose to be sober when she entered a teacher's course at Aurora College in Fort Smith. Prior to that she worked as a classroom assistant in Trout Lake for 13 years starting in 1979.

Deneron has now been sober for 13 years.

"I came a long way," she said.

After finishing her teacher's course, Deneron taught for a year at Deh Gah school in Fort Providence. She was taking a year off in Trout Lake when the community health worker job opened in 2000 and she decided to apply.

"I find the work very interesting," she said.

Deneron continues to volunteer as a substitute teacher at Charles Tetcho school. She said she talks to the students about the difference between right and wrong and how to have a positive attitude towards people.

On weekends Deneron enjoys spending time in the bush, although her daughter often accuses her of not using her weekends wisely because she often spends most of the time cooking for elders.

Deneron also uses her experience being a mother and now a young grandmother of two to encourage parents.

Parents need to spend more time with their children and take them out on the land so they can continue what our ancestors used to do, said Deneron. She also encourages parents to talk to their children when they are young about the dangers of drugs and alcohol so they will make good choices.

Encouraging children when they do positive things is also important.

"If you don't encourage your children they will just be sitting there not doing anything," said Deneron.