NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The Status of Women Council hosted a ceremony last week for the women who are a constant support to others in their communities.

On International Women's Day March 8, the Wise Women Awards took place at Yellowknife's Explorer Hotel, where women from each of the territory's regions were called onto stage to be honoured for the work they do.

"We always give out five Wise Women Awards and those awards are given to women who often go unnoticed, who are just role models for other young girls and women in the territories," said executive director Lorraine Phaneuf.

This year, those women include Denise McDonald from the Beaufort-Delta region, Martina Norwegian of the Deh Cho, Emily Saunders from North Slave, Dora Grandjambe of the Sahtu and Edna Dow, who lives in the South Slave region.

Each year, residents across the territory are invited to nominate someone they think should be chosen as a Wise Woman.

Ballots are sent to the Status of Women Council, where a set of panelists vote on who they think should win.

Phaneuf points out there seems to be an unintentional theme each year as residents happen to nominate people across the territory who work in the same trades.

One year included mostly traditional artists, while this year's candidates circled around educators.

"We have teachers, teachers of traditional knowledge, some in the formal school system or just in general, women who are teaching their skills to other women," said Phaneuf.

While Saunders is not a teacher in the traditional sense, her career as an addictions counsellor has helped many people overcome challenges.

In the description nominating the former counseller, Saunders is described as "a beautiful example to the community as an elder, role model and wise woman."

Saunders worked in addictions for more than 20 years and said her urge to help others came from her experiences in childhood.

She was raised by her grandparents who taught her the value in helping others.

"I've always been around elders and one of the things is they always encourage us to help," she said. "That was my teaching as a little girl - it was to help people and I guess that's still what I'm doing."

Since retiring in 2004, Saunders has been involved in numerous projects throughout her community, adding she is on several boards from Health and Social Services to Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation.

"I don't even know how many boards," she said.

When Saunders received the phone call stating she was selected as one of the wise women, she was left speechless.

"I was kind of shocked and kind of excited and thought, 'Wow am I really wise?'" she said.

Organizers of the annual event decided to spruce things up this year by adding traditional clothing and artwork created by females in the territory.

Lining the side of the room were various outfits displayed alongside paintings and descriptions of who created each one.

"This is our 25th anniversary for the Status of Women Council so we asked women to bring in their art and maybe perform later and Yellowknifers have not let us down," said Phaneuf.

Ending the night were musical performances by Karen Novak, Leela Gilday and Grey Gritt, among others.