THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Betty Villebrun enjoys helping people. And she has a job that lets her do just that.

Villebrun is a supervisor of benefits officers with the Finance and Employee Services section of the territorial government.

Betty Villebrun is a supervisor of benefits officers with the Finance and Employee Services section of the GNWT. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It's so nice to help people," she said. "I always enjoy helping people."

In her job, she ensures GNWT employees are aware of and can access the various benefits and entitlements that come with working for the territorial government.

"We tell you what benefits the government offers you," she explained, noting that includes things like leave credits, health care, medical travel, and much more.

It also includes relocation assistance, she noted.

"Let's say you're coming from B.C. to Fort Smith, we have to arrange your move, get you set up in a hotel, do all that and get you moved into the North."

Plus, she helps manage the deferred salary program - under which a worker can take a lower salary for several years to save for a year off with pay - and also helps to calculate people's pensions.

"The government has very good benefits for their employees," said Villebrun, who oversees three workers in Fort Smith, and also looks after the benefits of territorial government workers in Hay River and Fort Simpson

She said she definitely gets a lot of enjoyment from her job.

"You spend a lot of time sitting at a desk sometimes and going through every little piece of action, but when you can help a person and you see the satisfaction, it's great," she said.

Villebrun has worked with the GNWT for quite some time.

"It will be 32 years this July," she said, noting she started as an administrative clerk with the Department of Public Works and Services in 1983.

Villebrun said she did not know back then it would become a career in government.

"I was hoping it was because I started off first as a casual, then I went to Public Works as full time," she said.

"I didn't think I'd be

working this long and enjoying it, because it's something I enjoy doing."

She has been in her current position since 1997.

"I'm thinking of retiring soon now that I have my years of service," she said. "I had to wait until I was 55 to get a full pension. So I'm doing this job until April and see where it goes from there, and after that I'm thinking of retiring."

Villebrun is now 55 and has worked for at least 30 years with the GNWT, which are the two magic numbers to get a full pension.

However, she said her spouse - James Hood, the senior administrative officer with the Town of Fort Smith - still has to work for five more years to get a full pension.

Villebrun said if she retired, she would like to travel, spend more time at her cabin and enjoy the outdoors.

"It's a little iffy," she said of possibly retiring soon. "I don't know if I'm ready yet. I don't feel like I'm ready yet."

If she retires, Villebrun will continue to be involved in Metis affairs.

She is currently vice-president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, and was president from 2008 to 2012 and secretary-treasurer prior to that.

Villebrun said it was never an issue to be president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation while still being a GNWT employee.

In fact, she was seconded to the Metis Nation while president.

"The Northwest Territory Metis Nation paid the government and the government paid me," she said, explaining that meant she didn't lose those years for her pension eligibility as a government employee.

Villebrun said the GNWT supports its employees serving in aboriginal governments and it never became an issue for her over the years.

"So it didn't affect anything here. And yes, you do still have to be careful about what you say about the government, because the government is the government and they are paying your salary," she said.

"But I've never, ever had a problem. They've never squashed me or said I couldn't say this or couldn't do that."

She is also a board member with the Fort Smith Metis Council and has been involved with that organization since 1999.

Like in her GNWT job, Villebrun said she is in involved with Metis affairs because she enjoys helping people.

"It's very important because everything you have to do you've got to pass down to the next generation, so you're still trying to keep your culture and everything else in place," she said.

"You're also trying to do everything you can for your members to make sure that they have what your parents didn't have before you.

"So you're trying to make everything better as you go along."

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