Dreamcatcher Conference a hit every time around

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It was a highly successful Sixth Annual Dreamcatcher Aboriginal Youth Conference hosted by Edmonton's Grant MacEwan Community College Child and Youth Care Program.

Entitled The Heart of Our Nations: The Family, the popular conference attracted about 1,500 delegates from one end of the country to the other, including the northern territories.

The conference proper was prefaced with a Friday, Oct. 16 evening of entertainment by a hoop dancer, Dene drummers, and Metis cultural dancers. There were Arctic sports demonstrations, arts and crafts exhibits and opening prayers, as well as brief speeches from advisors, Elders and college president, Dr. Paul Byrne.

Beginning Saturday, the youth delegates went on the attack as they fanned out to the more than 100 different conference workshops that ranged from drum making to teen parenting. Indeed, there was no shortage of options for delegates.

Some of the sessions offered practical lessons in dance, drama, art, music, sports and crafts. Still others addressed Native spirituality, youth development and strategies, money management, anger control and healing processes.

Overall, the workshops offered knowledge and education that go a long way in assisting youth make the most of their years of transition that lead to adulthood - information that lights the way to helping them lead constructive, productive lives in harmony with their surroundings.

There were light and bright moments too. For example, the noon hours and evenings were filled with guest appearances of singers, dancers, drummers and Arctic sports demonstrations. This included performances by Asani, hoop dancer by Dallas Arcand, Roy Fabian and the Dene Drummers, and Shannon Cunningham (High Prairie) and Falynn Rose Marie Baptiste (Red Pheasant), as well as the hysterical rapping antics of the Magoo Crew.

This year, the four respected Elders to the conference were Robert Cardinal, Eva Bereti, Caroline Janvier and Helen Piper.

What stood out about the youth delegates this year was their exemplary conduct, their positive attitudes, respect toward others, their attendance at workshops and the interest levels demonstrated by them.

The recommended five-to-one ratio for youths to chaperones also proved a factor in the youth's behavior, said Jim Parriseau, a visitor from Manitoba.

Impressed also was conference advisor Millie Chalifoux who, at the conclusion of the conference exclaimed, "I was truly moved with the good conduct of this year's delegates."

Conference organizers paid special tribute to one of their past contributors, the late Elder Norbert Jebeaux, who passed away last February while attending a Healing Our Spirit world conference in New Zealand. His two daughters gave a touching presentation to a sizable crowd at the closing ceremonies and talked of Jebeaux's contributions to society.

In recognition of the spiritual guidance he offered youth delegates and conference-goers in the past, the college announced that it established the Norbert Jebeaux Memorial Fund which is designed to assist youth in attending future Dreamcatcher conferences.

Conference chairperson Sharon Enslen said anyone wishing to donate to this cause can forward contributions to the Grant MacEwan Foundation and specify that the donation is to the Norbert Jebeaux Memorial Fund.