Ndilo Elder is a precious community source

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Muriel Betsina has overcome the physical and mental damage inflicted upon her for eight years in a Fort Resolution residential school. Betsina was just seven years old when she was removed from her community and culture, forced to learn French and English and lose her mother tongue of North Slavey.

Betsina rarely saw her close-knit family during her stay at the Roman Catholic institution. But she never forgot what life had been like on Willow Lake in Fort Norman, near Great Bear Lake.

"I learned to live the lifestyle of the school and when I went home after eight years, I had to learn to live all over again. It was very hard. But the whole time I was away, I pictured all the things my parents would be doing. I always dreamt about it so as not to get sick," says Betsina, now the mother of seven children and grandmother of 11.

That spirit of resistance and dedication to family carried her through the experience and gives her strength today. Betsina now lives in Ndilo, a Dene community on Latham Island in Yellowknife. She has been married since 1963, and says that at 50 years of age, she is considered to be a junior Elder.

"There was a big Elder's gathering and my husband and I asked some of the Elders 'what we are and they said we are the junior Elders. They were the senior Elders because they have grey hair and they are very old, old and wise and we are the junior Elders," Betsina says amid much laughter.

As an Elder and as one who has lived through wonderful times and survived a great deal of pain, Betsina works very hard to help her small community.

"Early in my life I saw so many beautiful people and lots of Elders and everyone was self-employed and did everything for themselves. There was no self-pity. My parents taught us the good life, there was no scolding and you and never heard the elders argue in the community. It was a peaceful community. As I grew older, I saw a mixture but my time was not too bad.

"I've seen a lot of tears in my life from Elders, from the young, a lot of grieving, like they've lost someone very dear and they weep. They've never dealt with their problems - it's why the people drink so much. They don't know how to live. There's no sharing, no caring, no love, just like how the nuns taught us to live," she said.

Betsina credits her parents with teaching her how to be so generous and kind.

"My dad foresaw the future. He wanted me to have an education, at least to be able to communicate with English and to read. My dad never had that, the always had difficulty expressing English and there was no reading, same as my mom, but they were wealthy in cultural knowledge.

"My Mom was not smarter than any woman but equal with her hands and she never complained or criticized...My dad always taught me never to be stingy, even if it's your last, give it all and you'll always be rewarded and it's never the last, there's always more."

That philosophy is applied in her life on a day-to-day basis. She currently cares full-time for four of her grandchildren, making a total of nine in her household. This is down from 13 last year. Betsina always has extra food or clothing for children and their moms and she is working on a hot lunch program with other volunteers from the Yellowknife Women's Centre.

"There are lots of kids at home with empty cupboards and no lunch. So at the Women's Centre we're trying to start a hot lunch program and the kids say they're happy with this. This will help them with school."

She has become known in Ndilo and throughout Yellowknife as always having enough for everyone.

"If there's a drum dance of a feast or a death in the family, I don't know what it is, always put an extra dish out. There are always extra people so I always cook extra food...The hunters always give me extra caribou and I'm thankful. Also, the tourist big game hunters, like Raven Tours, it's against the law for them to waste meat so they give

it to me and I clean the meat and dish it out to all te neighbors and we have a feast. Someone is always offering something all the time," she said.

As well as getting the lunch program running, Betsina spends time at the Women's Centre offering advice and helping women from the smaller communities find shelter and get clothing donations. Her home is always open to new arrivals or to guests.

In between cooking and her work at the Women's Centre, Betsina attends as many meetings as possible. She goes to the band meetings, women's meetings, and addictions meetings. Betsina also sits on the Northern Addictions Services Board, the band corporation board, and is advisory person to the Native Women's Association.

Addiction work is particularly close to Betsina's heart.

"My mom always said 'my girl, never put anybody down.' If they're drinking, they need help. Always say hi and give them a kind word and one day, the smile on your face will wake them up....I've always done addictions work - for drugs and alcohol and gambling. I really understand what alcoholics are," she said.

Betsina also fights to get the children from Ndilo to stay in school.

"I want the young kids to have an education, to make something for themselves. The kids drop out early because the parents can't get work and Social Services doesn't ever give enough money and the older kids need more money and if they work, they can't do their homework so they drop out. There are no graduations in Ndilo."

Betsina has been fighting for better education since the early 1980s when her own children left school.