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Memories of the North: Thrilled to be receiving the Order of Canada this week

This week, I am headed to Ottawa to be honoured by our Governor General and be invested into the Order of Canada.
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This week, I am headed to Ottawa to be honoured by our Governor General and be invested into the Order of Canada.

I am thrilled to have this honour bestowed by Governor General Mary Simon from Nunavik (northern Quebec).

This is a great happening for me as my son Jesse will travel with me. As well, Stewart Wheeler, who is an assistant to Mary Simon, will be part of the ceremony. Stewart is my stepson from Ross’s first marriage.

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I invited Linda Jane, Ross’s first wife to attend. Linda Jane is the queen of reconciliation and keeping families together despite divorce and acrimony. She set the example of separation regardless of hurt feelings by ensuring that relationships could carry on in a respectful manner and children of the marriage would not suffer separation anxiety.

There are people who will wonder how I was chosen for this award. I am not afraid to say that I’ve worked hard in the jobs that I have had in life. The reward for such was getting awesome work.

I wrote the proposals to start the Native Court Workers program, a service that the judiciary wanted badly, as they saw that Indigenous people would simply plead guilty to offences that they should have fought. This was because they did not know how to fight for their rights and were scared of the justice system. I had an early start-up grant to find board members and potential staff members known for their unpaid advocacy work.

I was the special adviser to the minister responsible for Women under Premier Bob McLeod. Funding for both the Status of Women and the Native Women’s Association came from this office. I worked with both groups as they developed projects meeting the objectives of their organizations. The position called for me to represent the NWT on the federal/provincial/territorial level. All ministers from provincial/territorial positions travelled to Yellowknife for the first time.

From my experience with the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT, later renamed the Dene Nation, I knew communities and the airport facilities they had. I took a job with the local travel agency and worked with clients travelling throughout the NWT and the world.

We Yellowknifers are a travelling bunch of people! Working with the agency, a woman from Arctic Co-operatives would use me for her trips involving as many as 14 stops. In the days of hand-written tickets each with four coupons, my fingers would get really sore from having to press so hard. It seemed always I would make a mistake on the last 16 stop ticket and have to start all over again as there could be no mistakes on any ticket. I was the first to try the computerized ticket writer with a multi-stop ticket and it rolled on and on until the ticket touched the floor. I was happy!

I worked in a medical office in which my training with St. John Ambulance and conversations with Ross helped me appreciate clinical workings, the DC codes and medical terminology.

I have had great adventures. Cheryl Walker noted I lost weight and seemed very fit. She asked if I would be interested in biking from Banff to Jasper through the Rockies. I said yes and biked every inch of the trip! It was just an awesome experience to test yourself to every extent. I worked hard to train for that excursion, biking out to the Roman Catholic site on the highway, up the airport hills, scrambling up the stairs at Pilot’s Monument.

This trip was wonderful and I will always remember it and think of Cheryl. And I thank her for the invitation to cycle with her.

I didn’t do as much travelling as I wanted and hope that I can still do some at near 70 years of age. Work took me to most provinces and territories of Canada. Vacations took me to Mexico and Ireland, where I travelled most of the seacoast. I loved it and the people.

It is crappy to deal with mobility issues.

Take the time to travel while you are still young and mobile.