Youth conference draws nearly 2,000 delegates

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Hundreds of delegates hurried down corridors as they searched for workshops, the cafeteria, chaperones or group members at the seventh annual Dreamcatcher Aboriginal Youth Conference held on Oct. 15 to 17.

This year's theme for the conference was Dancing Our Four Directions: All My Relations. The conference was hosted by the Grant MacEwan Community College child and youth care program and was attended by close to 2,000 youth from across Canada.

"There were more people this year," said Sharon Enslen, chair of Dreamcatcher '99. "Eighteen hundred students registered at the conference," she said.

The youth attended numerous workshops, including Awareness Wheel, which uses a concept similar to the medicine wheel to create a healthier school environment in assisting problem solving, Living in the Now, a discussion group to help participants find inner peace and life improvements by using positive affirmations, Keeping the Peace, facilitated by Const. Sharon Bourque, who shared her experiences as a police officer and information regarding training and career opportunities with the city police, and All My Relations Quilt, in which participants created pictures and words on quilt squares using liquid embroidery.

"I'm really proud of my work making these beaded moccasins," said Colleen Sitting Eagle, chaperone from the Siksika Nation. "I find this very interesting. I always wanted to make moccasins," she said, who took part in the moccasin-making workshop.

When Sweetgrass staff asked some of the young people what the draw of the conference was, they cited meeting new people, learning about other cultures, and information from the workshops as motivation.

"It is a good experience to be here. I learned a lot from the workshops. My favorite one was Keeping the Peace, about policing," said Carlene George, of Penticton, B.C. "A lot of information. There are 14 of us who are from the same community at this conference," she said.

Val Courchene, the founder of the Dreamcatchers conference, and a graduate from the child and youth care program, was on hand to welcome the delegates during the opening ceremony. Courchene, who hails from Saddle Lake, encouraged the youth to make the best of the workshops and the conference.

"Every year the workshops are different. I chaperoned about 10 youth to this one," said Yvonne Black Horse, Siksika Nation Culture/Heritage researcher and instructor. "I found that there are more youth here this year. The volunteers were helpful and organized," she said.

From Friday night's grand entry and the evening's round dance to Saturday night's talent show and Much Music Video dance, the non-stop action proved to be just what the youth needed. A number of contestants entered the talent show. From Inuit throat singers, a pop singer and a hip-hop group to a number of young people keeping step to a jig, the audience was thoroughly entertained. Later at the video dance, the floor was crammed with dancers doing the latest steps amidst bright lights that kept in time to the music videos. While the youth were keeping time to the music, chaperones kept an eye on their groups from the sidelines.

"This year the dance is better," said delegate Jeremy Collins from northern Alberta. "Last year they had a dance with a DJ. This year it is with Much Music," he said.

Throughout the three-day event, volunteers hurriedly moved in and out of the crowds as they guided delegates to the workshops or worked as security.

"If you look at the numbers overall who attended the conference we did not have any significant problems to deal with," said volunteer security co-ordinator Glen Laboucan. "This year we had a lot of the youth from the community participate as volunteers in security. We wanted to provide the youth with leadership skills. A lot of the time society thinks that the youth are not responsible enough," he said.

This year's theme of Dancing Our Four Directions was played out during the grand entry ceremonies as four epresentatives from four directions stood in a circle. Three dancers dressed in Native regalia moved to the beat of a drum, as singers' chants filled the college's gymnasium. On Saturday, the Four Direction Youth Project was run in the college's theatre. The project had four youth representing the four directions, north, east, south and west. They talked about the cultures, traditions and communities they were from."

"We had a young lady from Rae Edzo, N.W.T., another young lady from Chapel Island, N.S., a young fellow from Brocket, Alta., and a Haida representative from British Columbia," said Enslen. "That was a wonderful workshop. The youth did a wonderful job."

As part of the package, the conference provided lunch and dinner each day to the delegates.

"No one went hungry. There was plenty of food for the delegates," said Wally Desjarlais, food services caterer. "The kids had a positive attitude, in high spirits. It was great seeing a lot of different Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures coming together."