Tsawout First Nation has accepted a $50,000 contribution from the New Relationship Trust to host the 39th Annual B.C. Elders Gathering.
NRT chair and Tseshaht Chief Councillor Tapoo'scho'ah Hugh Braker presented Tsawout Chief Elected councillor Harvey Underwood with the cheque at a June 26 press conference at the Tsawout office in Saanichton.
“We know how big an undertaking this is,” Braker said. “I don't envy you right now, because I know you are missing nights of sleep, with 2,100 people arriving on your doorstep. This is one of the biggest aboriginal gatherings in B.C. each year, if not the biggest, and it is also one of the best.”
The gathering takes place from July 7 through July 9 at the Panorama Recreation Centre in North Saanich. Braker reminded organizers that the event provides a major boost to the entire local economy, not just to First Nations.
“It’s very hard to find a hotel room for the first week of July, from here to Duncan. They are fully booked with the Elders Gathering,” he said. “Congratulations again from the New Relationship Trust. We are proud to be a partner. This is one of the fun things we do.”
The money has been earmarked to cover the cost of venue rentals, a shuttle service, meals, cultural activities and entertainment. The 2014 Gathering was held in Penticton, and attracted nearly 4,000 elders. Underwood said the Penticton Gathering inspired his Nation to apply for this year’s event.
“We had a community member who went to the last conference. He came back and said, ‘We’re going to be the next community that’s going to host the Elders Conference,’” Underwood said.
The chief explained that the member had not made any application. He was just determined to bring it about… somehow.
It wasn’t a hard sell, Underwood said. The Tsawout chief and council made the formal application, struck an elder’s committee and selected a King and Queen to represent the nation, as required. Since earning the right to host the event, organizers have been running flat out. While he is just approaching elder age himself, Underwood has attended a number of Elders Gatherings.
“I was a chauffeur for my dad, Harry Underwood, when it was held in Port Alberni in 2004. That was my first,” he said. “The next one was Carrier Nation in Prince George, and another in Williams Lake.”
The NRT is an independent not-for-profit organization created in partnership between the province and B.C. First Nations, with a mandate to assist Nations with capacity building in five areas: governance, education, language and culture, youth and elders, and economic development.
“The NRT was established 10 years ago by the province with $100 million put into a fund,” Braker explained after the conference.
The board consists of four directors appointed by B.C. First Nations and two from the province. That board meets several times per year and provides presentations at the First Nations Summit, to the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.
Braker said, thanks to some excellent investment management over the past 10 years, NRT has distributed $54 million out of the original $100 million pool and the current balance is just over $90 million.
“Last year, our return was 22 per cent on our investments,” he said. “This year, our returns are a 'paltry' 16 per cent, so far, and I think it will stay around there.”
Braker said many Nuu-chah-nulth Nations have received grants from the NRT over the years, most recently Ditidaht and Toquaht. NRT partners with the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation to help launch new businesses owned by Nuu-chah-nulth members.
“We also provide scholarships and bursaries and we have helped hundreds of First Nations students over the 10 years.”
Braker added that each Nuu-chah-nulth Nation with an active elders’ committee was eligible to receive $2,000 to help cover the cost of attending this year’s Elders Gathering.
NRT also contributes to language revitalization and numerous Nuu-chah-nulth initiatives have received support. (Braker said that includes the Ehattesaht FirstVoices App. See: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-01-25/nuu-chah-nulth-language-app-co....)
For the presentation, Braker was accompanied by Saanich & North Islands MLA Gary Holman, who is a member of the NDP Opposition.
Holman was first elected in 2013, and while he says his relationship with the four First Nations in his riding is a “work in progress,” his resume includes involvement with some notable aboriginal rights issues.
“In a former life, as an economist, I was involved in the fisheries component of the Nisga’a Treaty process. That was truly a learning experience for me, coming to understand traditional First Nations harvesting practices,” he said.
As a newly-elected MLA, Holman took on the province over the contentious building project on Grice Islet, where the Calgary-based owner had begun construction of a luxury home on a First Nations burial site. As a result, and after much initial resistance, the province eventually purchased the islet in order to preserve the site.
Holman said the Elder's Gathering will increase local appreciation of First Nations involvement in the economy.
“As a former professional economist, I feel I understand better than most the impacts of First Nations economic initiatives. There is a growing sense of empowerment,” he said.
And on the environmental side, the recent Tsilhqot'in decision has further strengthened the position of Canada’s First Nations in protecting natural resources.
“Over the years, with each successive court decision, the courts continually ramp up the rights of First Nations,” Holman said. “Those rights are now extending not just to the benefits to be had from those resources, but also to protect them.”
In presenting the NRT cheque, Holman told organizers he intended to attend the Elders Gathering as a volunteer, most likely with the shuttle service.
Noted Tsawout carver Doug LaFortune and his wife Kathy were appointed King and Queen for Elder's Gathering 2015. The couple has served as roving ambassadors for the event since September.
Doug said the organizing process has highlighted the importance of bringing elders together to exchange and share their accumulated wisdom.
“There's been a lot of things going on, and we’ve lost a lot of elders. It's been a real windy road,” he said. “It’s been a whole new process for me. I've never been to an Elder's Gathering, because I’ve always been carving.”
Doug said he is especially looking forward to the Grand Entrance that officially kicks off the festivities. Based roughly on the Olympic Parade of Nations, it features a procession of all Nations, dressed in traditional regalia.
Doug said he did not attend residential school, but he was a victim of the “60s Scoop,” apprehended by the state and placed in a succession of foster homes. Kathy, whose heritage is Pacheedaht/Tseshaht, attended Alberni Indian Residential School for 10 years.
“When my wife and I got together, we said ‘That’s never going to happen to our children.’ We made that decision,” he said. “We had a lot of ups and downs, but we made it.”
Kathy said she was taken away from her mother at four and did not return until she was 14. But while her mother was devastated by the apprehension, she was able to overcome the pain and to create a loving home when Kathy returned.
“For her to have survived and, when we finally came back to her, the nurturing and love that she put back into us… for her to have lived through it and to have the strength to raise us as a family was really wonderful,” Kathy said. “Both our mothers had traumatic times in their lives, and I look to them for strength. I really admire our elders for the strength they are able to still have after all that happened.”
Those are the lessons that must be passed down, she said.
The Panorama Recreation Centre is located at 1885 Forest Park Drive in North Saanich. For more information check out the event website at www.bcelders2015.ca.
