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Five Wise Women
Awards celebrate their 20th anniversary by honouring five more women from across the NWTNathalie Heiberg-Harrison Northern News Services Published Saturday, February 18, 2012
The announcement marked the 20th year the awards have been given to women who are role models in their communities, and brought the total number of award recipients to 93. Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director of the council, said the impact of their work cannot be understated. "They're not only women who have been in big political, high-profile positions, they're women who have worked side by side with service providers in various communities. They're doing volunteer work, they're mothers and grandmothers," she said. "It's just a really nice way of honouring and celebrating the life of women." Marsha Argue of Yellowknife, Greta Sittichinli of Inuvik, Ethel Blondin-Andrew of Norman Wells, Therese (Dollie) Simon of Fort Resolution and Margaret Vandell of the Deh Cho were this year's winners. On March 8 a luncheon will be held for them at the legislative assembly where they will be presented with the awards. "I think it's important that the young girls and young boys int he territories understand the role and the importance of women, the work that women do every day in the Northwest Territories," Phaneuf said of the awards. Argue, who has worked with the Status of Women Council and the YWCA, is credited with helping create YWCA Agvvik Nunavut last year – Iqaluit's first YWCA. It now operates a 21-bed transition house and a 12-bed house for women and their families. "I've worked for a long time to support women's projects," she said. "I've always felt as a women that all women should be treated fairly and equally, and certainly I was inspired by my mom, just the person that she was." Sittichinli, who just recently become regional superintendent of the department of Education, Culture and Employment, volunteers with the Anglican Church, coaches soccer and raised $15,000 for the Muskrat Jamboree in 2010. She said it's her attitude that has helped her give back to the community. "I always say not to give up and to always have hope, no matter how hard things are," she said. "At the end of the day, you try your best and you don't give up and you get things done. That's the message I always try to give to young people." Blondin-Andrew said that throughout her life, she has worked to carve a path for herself. "I think you have to define yourself, don't allow people to define you. I think you have to remember that if you're doing something it's not about you, it's about who you serve," she said. Blondin-Andrew served in Parliament for 18 years and has also worked as an educator, assistant deputy minister and national manager of training programs. Simon said she was honoured to win a Wise Women award because of her passion for advancing women's causes. "I like to break barriers," she said. Simon works as a community wellness worker in Fort Resolution, but also works with the Canadian Rangers and is a junior Ranger instructor. She is also a past president of the Status of Women Council, sits on the district education board and has close ties with the local drumming program. Vandell said she is particularly thankful to her culture and her ancestors who passed teachings on to her. She was a language and culture teacher at Deh Gah School in Fort Providence for 18 years and since retiring has carried her teachings into the wider community. For the past five to six years Vandell has been attending the school's puberty rites camps as an elder and cultural teacher, sharing the teachings that community elders, her parents and grandmother gave to her. Vandell said the students need that cultural foundation so when it comes time for them to make decisions in their lives they will be able to draw on it. "To me it's sacred," she said. -with files from Roxanna Thompson and Katherine Hudson
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