The purpose of this program is to work at creating Healthier Communities amongst the Coast Salish communities.

Youth Conference 2009

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 Submitted by Gary Smith September 23, 2009

Since I have been on board at CSETS I’ve been able to take part in a few big functions which were:

Program Mapping         Winter Gathering      Coast Salish Games       Youth Conference

I started Program Mapping back in October 2008, I completed it in April 2009. I went into the nations and asked them questions regarding Elders’s Programs and Youth programs. The reason for program mapping is so that we can find out what’s available and works, also what worked but couldn’t keep going for funding reasons or whatever it may have been. All the information has been saved on EXCEL so that the Nations could network amongst each other. In the near future I’m going back to communities to expand on:

Education      Social Development     Health             Child & Family Services

On January 30th 2009 we had the Winter Gathering in the WILNEW area at the Esquimalt Longhouse. We honored the respected people who burn offerings to our loved one’s that have passed on into the spirit world.We invited all the Chiefs within each zone, we had a very big turn out, the work went well. The next gathering will take place in the Ko’pthut zone, we are currently in the beginning of the planning stages.

July 13,14/09 the 2nd annual Youth conference took place. There were a total of 20 workshops:

Canoeing, Language Games, Clay Art, Coming of Age for Girls, Coming of Age for Boys, Naming Ceremony (snu’hemut), Cedar Bracelets, Essential Skills, Drug & Alcohol Awareness (ICBC), Virtues, History of the Lands, Medicine Wheel, Forgotten Ceremonies, Legends, True Colors, Relationships, Flower Arrangements, Career in Health, Sweet Life, Canoe Journey Life Journey.

There were a total of 299 youth who paricipated in the workshops. The two day event went well for the youth. They all enjoyed themselves, learned alot of new things from culutre to lifeskills. There was also a bubble excercise facilitated by Ray McGuire. There were alot of Chaperones who also sat in on the workshops. Chaperones feedback: why don’t we have events and workshops like this for adults? Maybe something we can start to look at in the future. On behalf of Healthier Communities Committee and CSETS staff we would like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers who committed their time to the Youth Conference. Your generosity went a long way. Next year the Youth Conference and Coast Salish Games will be held in the Nanoose territory.