"Sharing Innovations that Work" conference cancelled

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Although the "Sharing Innovations That Work" conference, scheduled for June 29 to July 3 in Assumption, was cancelled at the last moment, it is planned to go ahead next year.

It was to have been the third community-based conference sponsored by the Four Worlds Development Project at the University of Lethbridge. The first two conferences were held in Alkali Lake, B.C., where alcoholism was once a major problem. Today, there is 90 per cent sobriety among the band members.

Topics dealt with at such conferences include cultural development, wholistic education and health, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, appropriate technology and economic development, as well as human and community development.

According to Phil Lane Jr., coordinator of Four Worlds, the funding for this year's Assumption conference was cancelled at the last minute. Just prior to the staging of the five day session, the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program NNAP withdrew a crucial $50,000 needed to run the conference.

Lane said he was extremely disappointed that anticipated funding was cancelled because of the cutbacks faced by NNAP.

He explained that Four Worlds and the Dene Tha Band, who were the co-hosts and organizers of the conference, "had to make a difficult decision to postpone the conference when we were informed that NNAP withdrew funding in early June."

Though the conference cancellation is frustrating, Lane stressed that it's a positive note that more Native people see the need for community-based conferences rather than to hold them in a big hotel.

"I know that the Dene Tha Band did a tremendous job in the past year in preparing for the conference," he said. "My biggest disappointment was that the work done by the band didn't get better recognition."

Lane said he had expected about 2,000 Natives from all over Canada and the United States to be in Assumption. Instead, he is encouraging delegates who already made their plans to travel to Alberta to attend the Ecumenical Spiritual Conference in Morley on July 26 ? 30.