Education conference draws a large crowd

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Yellowhead Tribal Council scored a coup July 17 when Rubin Hurricane Carter made an appearance at a YTC education conference, banquet and fund-raiser where he was the featured keynote speaker.

Carter, now the subject of a full length book, The 16th Round, and a movie entitled The Hurricane, with Denzel Washington playing the part of the former middleweight boxer, spent more than 20 years in jail for a triple murder he did not commit.

Organizer Anna Demchuk was thrilled they were able to land such a big name for their first serious stab at bringing in a major speaker.

The conference theme, Education Through Justice, covered a broad range of education issues and concerns, with a special focus on programs related to justice.

Thirty seminars were offered to conference goers. Some of the more popular ones were the ones on racism, the Metis Cultural Dance Society, boxer Crystal Arcand's life story, and Muriel Stanley Venne's discussion of human rights, especially pertaining to Aboriginal women.

According to Cathy Morin, who is in charge of university transfer programs and the criminal justice program, the racism seminar by Tanya Tourangeau was "just packed," and probably the most popular of them all.

Yellowhead Tribal Council has, over the years, offered First Nation management, basic upgrading, a university transfer program, and a university and college entrance preparation program.

It also offers its criminal justice program through the University of Lethbridge, which is a two-year certificate program in corrections and law enforcement that allows for meeting the needs of Aboriginal students. Courses are transferable to the University of Lethbridge as well as to Athabasca University and the University of Great Falls, Mont.

Essential to the program are studies in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Criminal Code, other provincial and federal statutes, and court procedures.

Although policing is the principal focus of the Lethbridge program, it has been expanded to include areas such as writing, note taking, computers, interviewing and public speaking.

A number of additional courses are musts: things like first aid and C.P.R., self-defence, some sociology and psychology, human relations, criminal investigation, traffic law, justice administration, crisis intervention, and deviance and criminology.

As well, YTC will begin to offer this fall a Health and Wellness Program for the first time. The object of the program is to serve the health and wellness needs of people in the five First Nation communities surrounding Edmonton.

It is a holistic program intended to treat matters such as spirituality, self renewal, life planning, Cree, Stoney and Saulteaux history, food and nutritional planning, research, thinking and being proactive.

In dealing with its clientele, YTC provides assistance through its Elders, computer lab, and academic, career and personal counselling.

Most programs at YTC are transferable to the universities of Alberta, Athabasca, Calgary, and Lethbridge, in addition to university colleges like Augustana, Canadian, Concordia and King's.

YTC held a fund-raiser at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton's West Edmonton Mall. The object was to secure monies with which to purchase library books. They cleared between $10,000 and $12,000.

Among special guests at the banquet was Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith. He spoke in glowing terms of Carter, whom he called a "model of perseverance," someone who fought long and hard for justice. Smith stated, "it is fitting Carter was asked to speak because YTC promotes the continuation of efforts in the face of very tough times." YTC programs, he added, "show that health, wellness, education and literacy are key factors in a person's success and self-understanding."