Wanted: women of achievement

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If you know of a woman who should be honored for her special achievement, the deadline for putting her name forward for an Esquao Award is March 1.

The Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women honors a number of women each year at their annual Angels Among Us gala evening. The ninth annual awards ceremony will be held on May 6 in Edmonton.

President and founder of the institute, Muriel Stanley Venne, who this year will receive a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for her contributions to the community, said the institute is looking forward to receiving nominations from across the province.

She said the objectives of the institute are to change society's negative attitude toward Aboriginal women, to help promote the success of Aboriginal women, and to advocate on issues of concern to Aboriginal women in three categories, poverty, isolation and discrimination.

In the nine years the institute has been honoring women with Esquao Awards, more than 180 have been bestowed.

Stanley Venne said that they are expecting hundreds of people at the awards banquet, including dignitaries and this year's Circle of Honor recipient Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

"We are looking forward to a beautiful evening, honoring and recognizing these Aboriginal women," she said.

There are many categories of achievement for the Esquao Awards, including performing arts, business, science and technology, community involvement, social services and advocacy, literature and visual arts. There are also the Dorothy Daniels Memorial Award, the lifetime achievement award and youth role model award. Twenty-five women in all will be honored.

"We had so many nominees last year and time was a factor. We had 70. This year we are going to cut back. We are also honoring 11 women from last year who were carried over from last year's ceremony," she said.

Stanley Venne said the institute is making a difference.

"We have a long way to go before society starts to get the message. The reason I'm saying this is because when we first started out doing the Esquao awards it was really hard to promote it and now people are accepting and liking the idea. I know that the awareness will always be an ongoing effort and that we have to keep on being vigilant all the time and not let our guard down. At this celebration we honor and love the women. They are beautiful and we want them to have a good life and that is a good and right thing to do," she said.