Beginning in September of 1999 through to July 2000, I had the honor of being the Assistant Coordinator for the 24th Annual B.C. Elders Gathering; this very successful "Millennium" event was held in my hometown of Campbell River; it is the most important cultural and informational event held for our Aboriginal Elders in British Columbia each year.
During the year of planning and fundraising, attempts to contact Elders throughout this province proved very, very difficult; there is an incredible lack of communication afforded the thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal Elders [Seniors] living in B.C. I found that many First Nations offices do not have Elders Workers and some that do can provide only the bare minimum in hours of work.
For whatever the reason, the consequence of this understaffing is Elders being misinformed or uniformed on their issues and events and/or left totally out of things due to lack of information, funds or organization.
The Elders Coordinators/Representatives, at a meeting held at the Gathering July 2000, asked that the B.C. Elders Communication Center be set-up as quickly as possible so that the momentum over the previous year would continue. Generally, they wanted someone to provide an office with which to send and receive information relevant to them: i.e. news on health issues, changes to wills and estates, upcoming Wellness Seminars, and the information from each new Host Community, etc.
Specifically, the Elders want and need to be included in the information age, they are tired of being left outside of the loop - they wanted a change for their futures and for those that follow, the Elders in our province want and needed to finally be in touch with each other and the world.
Our First Nation's Elders are the generation directly effected by the mental, sexual and physical abuses endured at Residential Schools. This Center is a positive way for the Elders to gain strength from their greater community, which is their family and friends who live throughout all of the traditional territories that make up British Columbia.
"All my relations" is a phrase Elders use to refer to all of their peers.
Learning wisdom from our Elders is crucial to our people surviving. The Elders need to be able to speak and we all need to listen. It is important that the Elders are afforded the great respect due them.
This Center shows them that respect by understanding and facilitating their need to have a network for gathering and distributing information valuable to them.