Geor Gina’s MusinGs on e quality

By shafia usman

Georgina Jacobson Masuzumi is a very remarkable woman. She has fearless green eyes and a forceful personality. “I made my own way in the community. The elders gave me permission to do whatever I did,” said Georgina. “I guess I’m a self made woman with a voice. Natural curiosity.”

The strong-willed Georgina went back to college at the age of 38, completed a diploma in recreation coordinating at 40, and has hosted Canada’s Governor General Michaëlle Jean for lunch.

Georgina is exceptionally devoted to her community and, with the help of her husband, she is currently raising nine foster children. “The reason that I’m taking in the foster children is because I don’t want to see our own children leave the ISR,” said Georgina. “I want to raise them in their own community where the parents can have access to them.”

It is no wonder that the Minister from Health and Social Services recently appointed Georgina to serve as a director on Status of Women Council. As director, Georgina has a wide range of responsibilities, which include providing advice to the government, engaging in research activities, and advocating on behalf of women, just to name a few.

Georgina was drawn to this work right from the beginning. “The vision of the status of women is equality for women in all areas… A society which respects and includes the diverse experiences and perspectives of women,” explained Georgina. “That was what really grabbed me because all my life I’ve been doing what I do as a woman and finding roadblocks which are put in front of me which I had to knock down or walk through to just be equal.”

For Georgina the most pressing gender issue in the ISR is equality between men and women. “Equality is really important because life is so hard up here – man or woman, doesn’t matter what their education is – it is so hard to make a living,” said Georgina.

Georgina’s musings on equality are poetic. Equality is “to give another human being the chance to speak, talk, and be themselves. I’d like to see that without having any violence done towards them and without having somebody saying ‘oh, you shouldn’t be doing that’,” states Georgina.

“I think that any woman who does whatever she wants or chases her dream or her goals realized is equality. If she can stand beside her own people in her own community and they all say ‘oh that’s okay. She’s opinionated anyway. She’s doing the right thing to make a living’ -- that’s all I want to hear in the ISR. Give everybody a chance to survive,” Georgina continued. “There isn’t enough of that in our community sometimes. Sometimes people don’t feel empowered to give another person that right to be equal.”

Georgina advocates that education and participation in community decision-making is a practical way to overcome obstacles to gender equality or women’s empowerment in the ISR. Georgina urges the young women in the ISR to keep on reading and keep on dreaming. “Sometimes life tends to knock you down,” Georgina said as she took another sip of her coffee. “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get on with it because no one else is going to do it for you. Get involved in the community, in politics. Try some different kinds of occupations for a little while.”

Georgina knows first hand that there are struggles and obstacles in life but she also knows the importance of moving on. “How do you let go of the garbage you picked up in your past? You can’t dwell in the past and think you’re going to have a future. The longer you dwell on something you did or the longer you’re putting yourself down…. You just have to get up and move along and say its okay,” continued Georgina. “You have to forgive yourself for a lot of things you’ve done. You have to have lots of forgiveness and do things with kindness.”

Georgina also points out that women have a lot to celebrate in the ISR. She says many of our women are keepers of our traditional knowledge. We should also celebrate our women in nontraditional occupations and support our women in politics. “We have a lot of women like that in the ISR,” said Georgina proudly. She listed off some of her role models such as Nellie Cournoyea (“I watched how hard she worked to get us our land claims”); Bertha Allen, who started the Native Women’s Association; Leena Wolki from Sachs, who is opinionated and accomplished in the trade of arts and crafts; Mabel Ruben from Paulatuk who raised ten children with her husband. “These women are very powerful women,” she emphasized.

On March 7th the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories hosted a two day conference entitled “Celebrating Northern Women: A Century of Achievement” in Yellowknife. The conference was organized to celebrate International Women’s Day and to promote positive and healthy changes within Northern communities. As a director on the Status of Women Council, Georgina Jacobson Masuzumi represented the Beaufort Delta area at the conference.

The “Celebrating Northern Women” conference started with annual Wise Woman’s Awards to recognize women who stand out in their communities as role models and for their hard work in advocating on behalf of women. The ISR’s very own Ann Kasook received a Wise Woman Award for her work at a transitional center in Inuvik, which made Georgina very proud.

Georgina Jacobson Masuzumi is fearless with a firecracker personality; she is indeed a very remarkable woman.∞