By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

7TH ANNUAL

Urban Aboriginal Voices Society invites public to virtual Community Gathering

Apr 15, 2021 | 3:07 PM

Red Deer’s Urban Aboriginal Voices Society (UAVS) wants to get back on track with strengthening the community.

Its seventh annual Community Gathering takes place Friday and Saturday, concluding with the organization’s annual general meeting and a youth consultation, all done virtually.

Friday opens with a welcome ceremony at 9 a.m., with various conversations and Community Action Planning activities running until 5 p.m. Saturday will begin with the AGM at 10, and then youth will have a chance to share their voices and ideas for creating hope, and teaching and learning Indigenous ways for the next generation.

Tanya Schur, UAVS Community Facilitator says anything can get started by having a conversation.

“The youth voices are incredibly important. Sometimes people say youth are our future, but in reality, they are our leaders today,” says Schur. “They are the ones that can manage all of these issues, or like a hoop dancer, multiple hoops, at the same time. They are Zoomed out, they’re trying to do school and meetings online, and we are looking forward to a separate summer gathering specifically for youth that we can do in-person.”

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However, Schur explains that it’s the duty of all individuals to step up in the effort of uniting community members.

“I really believe we can’t have sovereignty as nations until we have sovereignty of self. What we can do is decolonize ourselves, and that goes for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals,” she says. “We need to wash our brains of the things we’ve come to accept as true so that we can envision a better world. From the grassroots level, those are things that’ll have the greatest impact because as our individuals heal, our families and communities will heal.”

Asked if it feels like the messaging of the Indigenous community is falling on deaf ears, Schur explains this is why gathering and ceremony are so significant to Indigenous people.

“I do personally think there is some [spinning of wheels], but when I talk to the elders who’ve been around a long time and are still doing this work in their 70s and 80s, sometimes they’ll remind us how much worse it was 50 years ago,” says Schur.

“We forget that these things take a long time and that there has been improvement. Maybe it’s because we’re the microwave generation — you can make dinner in five minutes, but the elders know that you have to get the wood, build the fire, grind the ingredients and make the bread.”

Attendance for the Community Gathering is free and open to all members of the public. Registration via Eventbrite run until the start time.