ULUKHAKTOK/HOLMAN
Healer, teacher, midwife, trapper - Ulukhaktok elder Rene Taipana Oliktoak has done it all, says her daughter, Joanne Ogina.
The NWT Status of Women Council selected Ulukhaktok elder, Rene Taipana Oliktoak as one of the Wise Women Award winners for 2013. - photo courtesy of Simon Kudlak |
That's one of the reasons why the NWT Status of Women Council selected the 98-year-old elder as one of the Wise Women Award winners for 2013.
"First of all, she's a respected elder," said Ogina. "She has a million grandkids. Well, it seems like that many."
Oliktoak was born in Prince Albert Sound before the community of Ulukhaktok was established.
Her family hunted and fished and travelled with the seasons.
"They were not staying in one place all the time, they would move around as the seasons changed," Ogina said.
As one of three girls in the family, she and her sisters often helped their father hunt and trap. Oliktoak even had a trapline of her own.
"They helped their dad with all the trapping and hunting for the family," Ogina said.
Oliktoak married Sam Oliktoak and the couple moved to Ulukhaktok, then known as Holman, in the 1950s. The couple had 13 children.
Sam was a minister in the Anglican Church and was sometimes away for long periods of time visiting people living in camps, but he knew he was leaving his family in capable hands, said Trudy Anne Akoaksion, one of the people who nominated Oliktoak for the Wise Women Award.
Oliktoak always stepped in to make sure her family had what it needed.
"She also hunted and harvested food for her family when her husband was doing ministry out of town," Akoaksion said.
Oliktoak made sure her children learned their culture as they were growing up.
"She knew a lot about all our traditional ways," Ogina said. "She passed those on to us kids, especially the traditional medicines."
On summer walks, Oliktoak would show her daughter plants that could be used for medicine.
"She said they take the willow at a certain time of the year, peel the bark and use the bark for upset stomachs, aches and pains," Ogina said.
Another plant was used to treat eye infections. Plants were picked, dried and stored for future use.
"It's all these things that her grandmother knew," Ogina said. "Her grandmother was one of the healers back when there were no doctors or nurses in our area."
She also taught younger generations how to drum dance as an adviser to central style drum dance groups.
"She taught the songs of the drum dance and also the movements and the story behind the drum dance song," said Akoaksion.
In addition to her hunting and trapping skills, Oliktoak is also a master seamstress.
"She knows how to prepare skins for sewing," Ogina said.
Her talent extends to a wide variety of clothing, she added.
"Mitts, parkas - you name it," Ogina said.
Oliktoak was also a midwife and a teacher, Akoaksion said. She spent much of her time at Helen Kalvik School, sharing her knowledge with generations of students.
"She's still teaching us today as a grandmother and a mother," Akoaksion said. "She has been a great role model for our community."
Ogina said she agreed.
"She's passed on her culture and her language to all her kids and her grandkids and her great-grandkids and her great-great-
grandkids," said Ogina.
Oliktoak was honoured along with Wise Women Award winners from across the territory during a ceremony in Yellowknife on March 8. Although Oliktoak was unable to attend the ceremony, a family member went on her behalf.
