Health and education a good mix for conference goers

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Aboriginal educators and health care providers from across the country are expected to convene in Winnipeg in April to take part in the Effective Strategies health and education conferences.

The first conference is called Effective Strategies - Aboriginal Children & Youth: Empowerment/Self-Determination, the 14th Annual Conference on Native Education. The second is Effective Strategies - Empowering First Nations' Health Committees. Both are scheduled for April 25 to 28 at the Sheraton Winnipeg.

Ron Phillips is the man behind the two conferences. With his wife, Mary Jane McCallum, he works to put both conferences together on an annual basis.

Phillips said he initially started up the education conference in the mid-80s, when he was employed as special education advisor with the Manitoba Indian Education Association. As part of his duties, he traveled all over North America, looking at special education programs offered on reserve. He came up with the idea of holding an education conference, he explained, because he was "tired of being on the road all the time," and saw it as a way to get all the people involved in the various programs together in one place.

The conference was sponsored by the Manitoba Indian Education Association for the first two years. In 1987, however, funding dried up for most education programs, which meant no money for the conference, and no money for his position. When that happened, he decided to run the conference on his own, he explained.

Phillips said the education and health conferences have been held concurrently for the past two or three years. He said the decision to hold the two conferences together was made because he's found that often bands want to send their health care people for training at the same time as their educators. He said the conferences include many common sessions applicable to both health care and education personnel, including general board training, as well as topics such as suicide, sexual abuse and grieving.

Phillips said that, while larger education conferences have been held by other organizations, the Effective Strategies conference has turned out to be the largest annual conference for Native education in Canada.

The conference consists of one- and two-day long workshops. The longer format provides participants a better opportunity to interact.

"I don't have any 75-minute short workshops," Phillips said. "People come to it year after year because we bring in top speakers," he said.

Phillips said he tries to get as presenters as many people as possible who are working in First Nations schools or tribal councils.

"There are a lot of people doing a lot of great work, and they should be recognized. There are some good programs going on out there, and they should be showcased," he said.

This year's education conference offers more than 50 different workshop topics, running the gamut from strategic education planning and board training, to adapting teaching to the learning styles of Native students, to learning to make a traditional Aboriginal flute and using art to teach math.

Many of the workshops specific to the health conference deal with preparing for transfer of health services to First Nations' control.

For more information about either conference, or to register, contact Ron Phillips at (204) 896-3449.