Summer filled with international events

Page 7

The world will be coming to Canada this summer, as visitors from across North America and around the world gather to learn, compete and celebrate during a variety of events being held across the country.

Aboriginal Catholic youth from across the country will be joining with thousands of other young Canadians as they welcome the world to Toronto for a celebration of Catholic faith.

From July 22 to 28, the city will play host to World Youth Day 2002, with more than 350,000 registered participants from 150-plus countries expected to take part.

The highlight of the World Youth Day (WYD) celebration will be an evening vigil with the Pope on July 27 and a Papal Mass on July 28.

A number of activities are being planned as part of World Youth Day to help make Aboriginal youth from Canada and around the world feel welcome, as well as to share aspects of Canadian Aboriginal cultures with international visitors. Among the features being planned is an Aboriginal village with traditional dwellings and sweat lodges, and people on site to share traditional teachings.

The numbers of Aboriginal youth from Canada who will attend WYD is expected to be high. One of the reasons for that, explained Sister Eva Solomon, co-ordinator of Aboriginal affairs for WYD 2002, is the pilgrimage aspect of the celebration.

"The Aboriginal people really do have a sense of pilgrimage, especially from the north and the east. For years they've been going to Lac Ste. Anne. And they will walk and drive all the way from Yellowknife or wherever, hundreds of kilometres, to get there. And the same in the East Coast, going to Chapel Island and St. Anne de Beaupre and those shrines. Then in Ontario it's Martyr's Shrine. It's just a part of what has been, in a sense, their journey, I guess. And they are closer to the spirituality of that kind of journey."

For more information about World Youth Day 2002, visit the event Web site at http://www.wyd2002.org, or call the WYD information line at 416-913-2080.

From July 25 to Aug. 4, Aboriginal athletes from across the province will be representing Saskatchewan in Winnipeg, as that city plays host to the 2002 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG).

The games will feature the best male and female Aboriginal athletes from across Canada and the U.S. competing in Bantam, Midget, Juvenile, Junior, Senior and Masters competitive age classifications, covering competitors aged 13 to 50-plus.

Athletes will compete in 16 events-archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, golf, field lacrosse, rifle shooting, soccer, softball, swimming, tae kwon do, volleyball, and wrestling.

Special Olympians will also take part in NAIG this year, competing in athletics and swimming events.

For more information about the 2002 North American Indigenous Games, visit the official NAIG Web site at http://www.2002naig.com, or call toll-free at 1-877-682-2002.

Visitors from around the world will also be gathering in Morley, Alta., as that community plays host to the sixth World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education from Aug. 4 to 10.

Close to 300 presenters representing more than 25 different countries will be taking part in the conference, including a number of presenters from across Canada.

For more information about the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education, call the 2002 WIPCE office at 403-258-1775, or visit the conference Web site at www.fnahec.org/wipce2002.