Friendship has much to celebrate next year

A 50th anniversary and a giant gathering of elders will top the caldendar for Friendship House in 2008.

Wednesday's Daily News examined the work required to bring together the plans for the elders gathering as well as what to expect for the Friendship House's anniversary.

Planning underway for elders gathering
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The 2008 British Columbia Elders Gathering in Prince Rupert next summer will be coinciding with the Friendship House's 50th anniversary, something George Sampson is quite happy about.

"I'm pretty sure Farley [Stewart] has a couple things up his sleeve for it," said Sampson.

"Obviously one of the great promotions we can have for the anniversary is the gathering. Opening up our doors, welcome people to come down and see and experience what we've got here in our centre, recognizing the beauty of it and the programs we ran, the people we served, and our prominence in the community."

Sampson knows the amount of work that's required going into planning something of this magnitude, and he's already begun pondering the logistics.

"There's a lot of work to be done, you've got to feed a lot of people, house a lot of people, entertain a lot of people," he said.

"I'm thinking about what we can do to improve upon it, but until we sit down with the planning committee, it's all just thoughts in my mind. We've got to put pen to paper and put a date to it, which is the most important part of it. Are we going to have it in early July when the salmon is running? In the later part of August before Labour Day weekend, so that way people can facilitate their break?"

One of the largest concerns for hosting the Elder's Gathering is organizing enough volunteers to facilitate an event of its magnitude, something not as easily done in the summer months.
"The worst would probably be right in the middle of summer when a good 50 per cent of our volunteers are working in the cannery," said Sampson.

"I believe when our King and Queen, Leonard and Mona Alexcee, get back from checking out some medical issues, we'll send out a notice to the public stating we're inviting all the stakeholders, concerned citizens and everybody who's interested to come and help out in one way or another."

The first community committee meeting is yet to be scheduled, but Sampson is hopeful there will be set dates agreed upon as a result of it.

While the Alexcees are still down in Vancouver, Sampson did have a chance to speak with them about their experiences at last week's gathering.

"We went to the one in Port Alberni the year before, where they had anywhere from 2,100 to 2,200 delegates, so experiencing this one ( in 2007) going up even bigger, their experience was really something to behold," said Sampson. "From the gathering, there were a lot of good things happening. One of the things everyone was hearing is to continue to make it fun, and not to go way over and try to do things out of the mandate."

Not only do elders from across the province get together to talk about the issues affecting all communities such as health concerns, but also for fun activities like story telling, weaving, and a lot of entertainment.

"As well as fun stuff for tourists, and promoting the museum, the whale watching, and obviously we all know the casino is going to make money," added Sampson. "So it'll be an honour to have it in Prince Rupert, and we're really thankful for the city and all their contributions."

Stay tuned to find out when the first community meeting will be held to set a date for the 2008 B.C. Elders Gathering.

Elders to gather in Rupert in 2008

Between 2,000 and 3,000 First nations elders will gather in Prince Rupert next year after the Kaien island Friendship House made a successful bid to host the annual gathering.

Twenty elders attended this years event in Vancouver and after their presentation to delegates were rewarded for their passion with a successful vote result, Prince Rupert was chosen over Kelowna to host the event in July or August of next year.

The Daily News featured the successful bid as the front page story in Monday’s paper.

Elders win bid to host a huge 2008 gathering
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Monday, August 13, 2007

The Kaien Island Friendship House First Nations Elders successfully bid to host the 2008 B.C. Elders Gathering in Prince Rupert when they traveled to Vancouver last week.

Along with Michael Curnes, representing the city of Prince Rupert, 20 elders traveled to the 2007 Gathering to secure this honour for next year. The gathering included 2,500 registered voters, who had the responsibility of choosing between the two cities who had put bids in to host the 2008 event, Prince Rupert and Kelowna.

Before the voting took place on Friday afternoon, Prince Rupert elders were able to make a presentation on stage in front of delegates, while a power point presentation supporting their bid played on 10 giant monitors across the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Prince Rupert elders Leonard Alexcee and Murray Smith both spoke to the crowd passionately about the honour it would be for the elders to travel to Prince Rupert next year. Their presentation was more than well received.

"The elders I traveled with are just a remarkable bunch, and I can't think of any better ambassadors for Prince Rupert than these folks," said Michael Curnes, director of recreation and community services, who accompanied the elders to the gathering on behalf of the city.

"They showed well, they put Prince Rupert's very best foot forward, it was a class act. The presentation they made was very slick, and obviously very effective. This is not any small gathering, and it's a really intense, very spiritual and very emotional gathering."

"It's going to be a really nice face to put on Prince Rupert for a couple of days," said Curnes.
The gathering will bring anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 visitors to Prince Rupert in either July or August of 2008, with the potential to generate a great deal of economic activity, as well as the opportunity for the city to highlight itself as one of British Columbia's great cultural centres.
Last month, the elders presented a request to city council for support in order to make their bid successful, to which the city agreed.

To facilitate the hosting of the event, the city will be donating the use of the Lester Centre and the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre at no cost, as well as possible use of the museum during the three-day gathering.

Also approved by the city was the request for staff to help coordinate the event, as well as a special permit to construct a temporary demonstration smoke house, to allow the processing of traditional First Nations' food during the event.

"It's terrific, we're really pleased, and particularly proud of the elders and what they did, but also the role of the Recreation Department played in traveling along with them and supporting them in this initiative," said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.

"It's very positive and very impressive.

"I'm told it was a very proud moment for the elders as they presented and talked about their home community in front of this gathering of 2,500 people, and it was a really good chance to excite people about coming here."