On International Women’s Day, it only makes sense to celebrate outstanding women in the North.
Six women were presented with Wise Women Awards in Yellowknife Wednesday night, marking the awards’ 25th anniversary.
The Status of Women Council of the NWT has handed out the awards to deserving women since 1992.
The awards recognize women who demonstrate wisdom, perseverance and dedication while strengthening NWT communities.
Yellowknife’s Lydia Bardak was the recipient for the North Slave region.
Bardak, who’s spent much of her professional life working in community justice, spoke about the need to invest more in people.
“I don’t know if I have a long enough life, but we need to do more,” she said.
“I encourage everybody to step up and see how can we contribute and what is it we can do to make this place a better place so that we’re all living in safety and that we don’t have to protect people from harm,” Bardak said.
Caroline Cochrane, the territorial minister responsible for the status of women, also spoke at the ceremony about the importance of seeing more women in leadership roles.
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“By raising women up in leadership positions in our communities and in our regions, a shift in attitudes will take place and our women and girls will no longer be seen as targets for violence,” Cochrane told the crowd.
“We all need to work together to make this change.”
