Lucy Jackson: Order of NWT 'still sinking in'
Fort Good Hope woman recognized for lifetime of helping people in Sahtu
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, November 30, 2015
RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE
When Lucy Jackson found out she was among the first six recipients of the new Order of the NWT award, she said she was not entirely sure why.
However, the more she thought about it, she said, the more apparent the reasons became to her.
The 73-year-old mother of 13 children said she is very proud to receive the honour but it took a while for it to sink in.
"It came in as a short notice and at first it didn't really make an impact because I really didn't know anything about the order," she said.
"But as I was traveling to Yellowknife to receive the award I started to think about why I was getting it - how I have led my lif. I missed the actual ceremony, which we could not do anything about because flight from Fort Good Hope were delayed by the weather. But I started to realize that I was being recognized for my work for the lives of the people across the Sahtu. I was in the education system for years, I was in health as a board member serving for many years and I spent a lot of years out on the land with my family raising them.
"I am a residential schools survivor but I still spoke my language and did all those activities that were required to live my life to a certain level."
Jackson said the motivation to help her people came easily to her over the years but it took some time for her to understand the cultural importance of being Dene.
"Eventually I understood after being assimilated into residential school it took my a long time to realize that I was a Dene person, a Dene woman. So with that understanding you have to see your own people in your own communities, especially in the Sahtu," Jackson said.
"You start to begin to understand the level of work that you have to do and push for - a better world for people in the Sahtu.
"Those are issues that I have been pushing for years."
