Searching for the elusive Elder

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It's a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Vancouver. I've just received a phone call from Windspeaker asking if I would like to do a story on an Elder for this issue.

"Great," I say, "when's the deadline.?"

"Monday," said the voice on the other end.

"Oh," I say. Kind of a tight deadline, I think to myself. Well, it can't be that difficult to find an Elder to interview.

"No problem," I say. "Monday it is."

Now it is Saturday afternoon. It is still raining and I still have yet to find an Elder. I've been on the phone for three days in search of one, but there are none to be found.

"My great aunt would be a great person to talk to," said one contact. "Her husband just had a coastal ship named after him. Too bad she's not in town."

"My friend knows an Elder who raised her grandchildren," said another contact. "She'll have lots of stories. I'll call you back."

Two hours later - "Sorry, I can't get a hold of her."

Oh, oh. One day left to find an Elder. I phoned one last contact. Marlene Atleo, in New Westminster.

"Hi Mrs. Atleo, I'm having a tough time finding an Elder to interview for the upcoming issue of Windspeaker. Do you know of any in the vicinity?" I ask.

"That depends. What kind of an Elder are you looking for?" she asks.

"What kind? You mean there is more than one kind of Elder?" I respond.

And so that got me thinking - who actually is an Elder?

"Some official Elders, like Simon Baker, are almost like 'political Elders'," said Atleo. "I would call it an institutionalized Elderhood. They are people who serve a formal function in the integration of Native aspects of education in institutions.

But because each person's house of learning has official Elders, there are also what one might call 'community Elders' - like an advisory position," she said.

"Some people have very specialized cultural knowledge in their roles for the group as an organic whole. You have Elders for certain things," explains Atleo. "There are certain Elders that I get in touch with for certiin kinds of things that I want to check or get feedback from."

Okay, so what constitutes Eldership for a person? What makes someone an Elder?

"First of all, people who have survivorship," said Atleo. "What is it about their generation - what did they survive and what has contributed to their survivorship? What was their developmental task in their generation? I think survivorship was always about testing and a lot of stories are about testing."

"So, it's very much about how they can pass on that they have learned - their practical knowledge - to other generations in a meaningful way because it's survivorship that keeps the culture going," she said.

But there's more to being an Elder than surviving, she adds. It's not enough just to be an older Native person to possess Eldership," said Atleo. "Before going to an Elder, I would have to consider: are they from the same area as me? Would they have the same kinds of ground values?"

Atleo, who spent many years living with the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation on Vancouver Island's Ahousaht Band, said she received her own cultural education from inside the house of her husband's mother and from time to time is called upon to share her own wisdom and learning with others.

"We are considered to be Elders by some and who come to us for advice because we are conscious and aware of and how things work in our community," she said.

"Eldership is one aspect I'm very conscious of because it's part of my children's education. It's something we educated them about - something that was a very conscious process in our family."

Maurice Nahanee, 37, lives in the village of Squamish in North Vancouver where he runs his own writing company, All Write Productions Limited. He is presently working on a First Nations Tourism video that will provide an overview of Native history and culture, past and present and what the future will be for Native Tourism in British Columbia.

He has spoken with many Elders about the video proect. "Elders have a lot of background knowledge to pass on to people like myself who are seeking advice and encouragement," said Nahanee.

He describes Elders as being those people who have spent time learning the knowledge of their community and their culture.

"I think they have to be somebody who is generally recognized by the community of possessing certain qualities," he said. "I have a number of Elders I go to for different types of knowledge- some on a spiritual level, others for counselling, and others for a variety of knowledge about life."

Nahaneee said age has nothing to do with being an Elder. "Somebody can be 40 years old and be considered an Elder in the community and somebody can be 60 and not be considered an Elder because they haven't acquired the knowledge of their people to pass on."

As one of the paddlers of the Squamish canoe during the Qatuwas Festival last summer, Nahanee said he learned a lot of valuable knowledge from his Elders.

"We had Elders talk to us in preparation for our journey. We had to learn our songs and protocol and how to behave in public properly. Because we were embasssadors of our nation, we had to know something of our history so that we could present that to the public."

Minnie Kullman is the administrator/coordinator of the Native Brotherhood and Native Sisterhood of B.C. Education Society in Vancouver. She is from the Heilstuk Nation and grew up in the village of Bella Bella, B.C.

Kullman considers age to have some bearing on Elderhood.

"I consider my mom to be an Elder - she's 73 years-old. But, it also has to do with knowledge of your culture and heritage - basically how much involvement you've had in the village throughout your life," she said.

"The Elders of our Bella Bella villages are the ones that we go to for advice for traditional-type ceremonies. If there's anything going on in the villages that concerns potlatches or any type of feastings, we go to the Elders to find out what protocol we take and what o do. They basically give us cultural guidelines for anything that happens in the villages, from potlatches to name-giving ceremonies and feasts."

Well, deadline day has arrived and I still haven't spoken with an Elder. But, at least now I'm clear that there are, in fact, different types of Elders for different types of people, for different kids of things. End of story...almost.

The phone rings. It's Elizabeth Alfred, president of the Vancouver Native Elders Society.

"I hear you're looking for an Elder," she said with a laugh.

An Elder? On the phone? Talking to me? But my story is already written. Hmmmm. To fax or not to fax? I can't resist - twenty minutes later, we're sitting in her office in the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society buildings on Hastings and Commercial.

"When did I become an Elder?" she said with a laugh. "I don't know. I just did. One day I was at a meeting and they announced before dinner that the Elders would be served. Then I got up to get a plate, a young girl came by and said 'oh, no, sit down, I'll get your food for you.' I said oh, no thank you, I can get it myself. Then an Elder sitting beside me leaned over and told me to relax and enjoy it. 'You're an Elder,' she said. 'Let them serve you. Give them the pleasure serving you.' And I sat back and said, hey, when did I become an Elder?"

The interview ends and I walk outside into the pouring Vancouver rain. My car has been towed. I smile, water dripping off my nose. It doesn't matter because I've met an Elder. A real, live Elder.