2009 BC Elders Gathering in Terrace

To talk about our recent trip to the BC Elders Gathering in Terrace, I thought I would do something a little different this time.

I thought I would give our liaisons a chance to say how the experience was for them, after all they were all there working hard at our booth and meeting many new people. But first, I'll set the context a little.

By now I hope you've seen our RRN Flickr account (mentioned in the previous post), and have seen all of our wonderful photos from the trip. As you may have seen, we set up an RRN information booth at the conference, where visitors and elders could walk around and get a taste of the site, talk to our researchers and take a brochure or two.

The Elders Gathering (hosted by the Nisga'a Nation in Terrace BC) this year was an absolutely huge event, which took up an entire arena (in fact, there were two arenas). Not only this, the conference organizers fed everyone! I couldn't believe it. With nearly 4,000 people in attendance, I didn't believe it was possible.

I left Sunday night from Vancouver with Charlene, Herb Joe, Jody and June. We arrived in Prince Rupert late that night, and arose the next morning to make the drive to Terrace. Dave and Lawrence had started their journey much earlier - coming from Alert Bay on the Ferry a few days before. All in all it was a long journey, but well worth the trip.

But enough from me, I will let our CLR's (community liaison researchers) speak for themselves.

The Elders that couldn’t make it around to the displays really appreciated me going to them. I also went around to the volunteers of the gathering, as they too couldn’t make it around. I went to all the vendors and gave them the spiel as well. Over all everyone is excited and eager to see the site, that was really positive and enlightening to go around and witness their reactions in person. On the negative side, some of the Elder’s said they went to the table and couldn't understand what the presenters were talking about, they talk too fast or use big words that they don’t understand, they were also thrown by the title, "Reciprocal Research Network” !!! they didn’t like that term and think we should call it something that they can understand better. So, that was the feedback that I got. Over all the interest and excitement far outweighed the confusion, and the gathering was well worth the trip.
- Wendy Ritchie, Coqualeetza

The conference was a truly great event. It was a pleasure to be able to participate in such a gathering. To watch, observe and interact with so many people was an experience not to be missed. People from all walks of life were catching up on old acquaintances and shooting the breeze with new found friends...People were genuinely interested with the work and development of the RRN. There will be a lot of follow up work with the communities in the near future.
- David Houghton, Alert Bay

There were a lot more participants at this event. It is always great to be around Elders...Was amazing experience to see a culture that is much like my own but was unique in its own way.
- Jody Felix, Musqueam

The trip to the Elder’s Gathering in Terrace was long and the plane ride was a little scary. We did some hotel hopping and it took at least an hour to get to each town, but it was a nice drive. The gathering was bigger than I had expected. A lot of contact was made and a lot of people of all ages were interested and wanted demonstrations done in their communities.
My favourite part of this trip even though it far away was being able to go to a different part of BC, it is very pretty in Northern BC and I am glad I got the opportunity and to be apart of the RRN.
- Charlene Point, Sto:lo Tribal Council

Some of the questions were, "can I find my grandparents things on the site?", and I wanted to help them keep an open mind that if it was not on there it could very well be in the near future with the other partner museums coming on board. There was a lot of excitement from whoever took the time to look at the site and also said that what we are doing is a very good idea and look forward to what would also be available.I think that what we have done is injected a lot of relief into people because now people have an opportunity to look at items they thought they would never see again and that in itself is fulfilling enough.
- Lawrence Isaac, Alert Bay

I enjoyed the trip to Terrace and Whistler immensely. Both were educational and it was exciting to see so many nations interacting and having fun...these trips helped me very much to know what to add to our booth and how to approach people.
- June Sparrow, Musqueam

I can't say it enough - this is the best job. I have never had so many opportunities, and this gathering is another example of that. It's also another example of how people can work together to accomplish something - and getting the RRN out to distanced communities is a big job. I know that I am always learning, and this experience definitely tops the list.


A wonderful way to start a day.