Festival of ARTS STARS PERFORM A26
MAY 07, 2014
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all eyes on taseko's challenge A5
PSO display art at parkside B3
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Friendship Centre finds home Annex dedication features distinguished Dr. Brokenleg
Carole Rooney Free Press
After the hard work and long effort of a group of volunteers, a First Nations friendship centre in 100 Mile House has finally found a place to become a reality. Stemete7uw’i-A Gathering Place will be stationed in the annex behind St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, and is intended to offer holistic support and services to all people in a respectful, safe, inclusive and welcoming environment within the municipality. Its dedication ceremony drew a large crowd of about 100 people to the church on April 30. The availability of a special guest speaker, Dr. Martin Brokenleg, emeritus professor of Native American studies (Vancouver) and Native American theologian (South Dakota), partly prompted the timing of the dedication. The full afternoon event began with opening prayers
and an orientation, featured a lengthy presentation by Brokenleg, smudging and dedications at the annex, and then concluded with a meal and refreshments. Stemete7uw’i project chair Mary Thomas of Williams Lake, formerly of Canim Lake Band, warmly welcomed the renowned doctor of psychology to the celebration and the community. Brokenleg is well known for co-founding the Circle of Courage model of positive youth development, and spoke about the model’s portrayal of four growth needs of all children – belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. He concluded with a story from his prairie tribe in South Dakota, where a young man in the 1600s was lost in unfamiliar territory and nearing death. In the legend, the man began singing “his song” – a belief shared by the tribe today as a source of strength for important occasions in life.
Carole Rooney photo
Ruby Boyce, left, held out her drum and stick so Mary Thomas could smudge them, while Dr. Martin Brokenleg looked on. After the ceremony, the drumming, singing and prayers began at the Stemete7uw’i-A Gathering Place dedication at the St. Timothy’s Anglican Church annex on April 30.
When he heard a woman’s voice softly singing along behind him, it gave him the courage to walk a bit further, then a little more, and so on until he found his village. The young man then turned around to see it was not a woman singing, but a doe.
Noting that this soft singing of “another’s song” is a good example of how to support each other, he explained that gentle, quiet support can help someone who is struggling in life to keep moving forward, even one step at a time. “I think that is what your
friendship centre is going to do. It is going to say ‘if you come here, you’ll be safe. If you come here, you can move on’. “I think you have a great tool here, you have a very good resource for creating strength....” Continued on A4
B.C teachers faced with benefits bill
The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and its union locals around the province are reacting as public teachers once again face losing money unless a contract with the province is settled soon. The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) has told the union that teachers will be billed for their own benefit costs for June if a contract settlement has not been reached by the end of the school year. While the B.C. Liberal government had threatened retaliatory action if the BCTF initiated strike
Ministry threatens punitive action if deal not signed
action, Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers’ Association president Murray Helmer says that, because teachers have not walked off the job, this seems like a “very excessive” response. “I personally think that it’s quite ‘over the top’, considering the low level of action we have taken.” The current Phase 1 job action has teachers refusing to perform previously unplanned extra-
curricular volunteer activities or communicate with administration. BCPSEA states a year-end administrative day set for June 27 will also be cancelled unless the two sides sign by then, which means teachers would also lose a day’s pay, Helmer explains. “If we haven’t reached a settlement by the last day of school, they are going to lock us out. That’s the government saying ‘we’re going to be the one that destabilizes the education system – we’re going to be closing the doors on you’.” Continued on A7