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DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
A Fort Providence elder has been recognized for the work she does in her community.

Fort Providence elder Margaret Vandell has been named the Deh Cho's Wise Woman Award recipient. - NNSL file photo

Margaret Vandell has been named the Deh Cho winner of the 2012 Wise Woman Award. The Status of Women Council of the NWT distributes the award yearly to one woman in each of the five regions of the territory.

The award recognizes women role models who demonstrate wisdom, perseverance and dedication while standing up for women, children and families in NWT communities.

"I feel very honoured and I am feeling very thankful," said Vandell.

Vandell said she wasn't aware that she had been nominated for the award so the call from the Status of Women Council of the NWT to say she'd won came as a surprise. Vandell said she is particularly thankful to her culture and her ancestors who passed teachings on to her.

Vandell was a language and culture teacher at Deh Gah School in Fort Providence for 18 years. Since retiring, Vandell has carried the teachings she learned from elders 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. The camps are important because students need that cultural foundation to help make decisions in their lives. The teachings are part of the students' identity, who they are, she said.

"To me it's sacred," said Vandell.

At the camps, students from Grades 5, 6 and 7 are given a few days to adjust to being on the land before Vandell starts introducing them to teachings that she learned from community elders, her parents and grandmother. The teachings include the rituals of water, berries, simple medicines and meat handling.

Students are also taught how to become connected to the world around them and how to become aware of the health of their mind, body and spirit. After a few days at the camp, Vandell said she sees changes in the students' behaviour. Many of them don't want to leave the camp, she said.

"I see that wellness is so important in what we do," said Vandell.

Students stay at the camps for a week at a time. After attending a few camps, the female students are able to identify berries and a few common medicinal plants and know how to handle tobacco, she said.

In addition to helping at the camps, Vandell volunteers in the community. She assists as a translator for seniors at the health centre and holds ceremonies when asked.

Vandell said she'd like to thank all of the people who helped her in her work, including her elders, and also the students that she taught and who taught her in return.

The Wise Woman Awards are a great way of honouring the achievements of women in the communities, including mothers, grandmothers, volunteers and service providers, whose work often goes unnoticed, said Lorraine Phaneuf, the executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT.

"To celebrate women for the work they've done is so empowering for the women and the community as a whole, I think," Phaneuf said.

Vandell and the other four award winners will receive their awards at a luncheon in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife on March 8 beginning at noon. The ceremony is open to the public.

This is the 20th anniversary of the awards. To commemorate the milestone, the council is also releasing a book containing photos and biographies of all of the past winners.

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