“It’s our past experiences that bring us places” says Michelle Gruben. She has lived in Aklavik, Northwest Territories for three decades but originally grew up in Tuktoyaktuk. Her first job in Aklavik was as a youth centre assistant with the recreation department, a role she enjoyed but she ended up wanting to try something new. She applied to be a resource person and office manager at the Aklavik Hunters and Trappers Committee and has been working there for thirteen years.

In addition to working with the Hunters and Trappers Committee, Gruben sits on the Inuvialuit Game Council, part of the Inuvial Regional Corporation. She sits on the Wildlife Management Advisory Council, North Slope as an alternate Inuvialuit rep, too. She used to help with the Shingle Point Summer Games, the Carnival Committee and sit on the Community Corp in Aklavik but has since scaled back her commitments. She also loves to bake. In her spare time, Gruben likes to spend time with her family and travel to Husky River or Shingle Point.

In terms of education, Gruben attended Grollier Hall in Inuvik when she went to school right up until grade 12. Working with the recreation department, she had annual training and now in her current role she gets together with the other resource people annually to compare notes about what’s working in their areas and learn from each other. There’s a conference that’s held every four years under the Inuvialuit final agreement and at the most recent one, she won an award for her hard work and responsiveness and also learned more about Indigenous economies.

Her advice for Indigenous students that have to leave their home communities to seek higher education, post secondary and training would be “Do it.” Living in Aklavik for thirty years, Gruben’s seen some people never leave the community. She notes that there are only so many opportunities in small towns and urges “Education is best… Go get an education, the world needs more educated people.” She encourages people to go out and explore the world, then come back and make their community a better place.

Thinking back on her life, sometimes Gruben regrets not taking advantage of an opportunity to go South and work in the oil patch. At the same time, she loves what she does and believes everything happens for a reason. She wishes she could have travelled more beyond Edmonton and maybe even outside of Canada.

At one point, Gruben was out of work and struggling to pay bills. She walked to the Northern store and saw a job posted on the community bulletin, the job she does now. There were just two hours left before the posting closed so she ran home and sent in her resume. She followed the advice she’d received about interviews, to stay calm, be herself and stay true to herself. Fortunately, she knew the people interviewing her and she was all smiles and jokes. She notes thinking about how her experiences on the land and knowing about fishing and cutting caribou meant that she feels God put her on the right path to be in her current job. “I wouldn’t change anything for nothing,” she beams.

Through her board work, Gruben tries to make positive things happen in her community. Something that really excites her is the Indigenous protected and conserved area, one of a kind for the settlement region and also the land guardian program. Her spouse gets to spend time on the land as part of his work, patrolling in the region and she loves being part of the working group.

When it comes to inspiration, Gruben looks to her parents. Her dad used to be a chairperson, working hard for the Inuvialuit while she was going to school. She used to go goose hunting with her dad and reflects, “I think where I am in my life today is because of those little experiences I had with my dad.” Her mother was a social worker from Fort McPherson. Her ninety year old mother in law tells her stories and shares wise words with her, like how she still learns new things every day even at her age.

Giving back to her community through her work with Hunters and Trappers Committed and sitting on boards, Michelle Gruben does what she can to make where she lives a better place. Strongly rooted in Aklavik after more than thirty years, her love of the land shines through in what she does every day.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.