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Workshop to explain heritage registry

A day-long All Nations Workshop on the Cariboo Regional District’s Community Heritage Registry will be held at the Long House April 19.
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Heritage can be found in songs

A day-long All Nations Workshop on the Cariboo Regional District’s Community Heritage Registry will be held at the Long House April 19.

Although primarily developed to inform First Nations people about the registry, the workshop is open to First Nations and non-First Nations people alike, says Phyllis Webstad, who co-chairs the CRD’s heritage steering committee with George Atamanenko. 

The workshop will help to sort out for participants the differences between provincial, federal and local registers; the need for heritage planning; and explain the various levels of heritage designations, Webstad explains.

“The specific objective of the day will be to introduce First Nations persons to the various processes for enhancing and preserving their heritage whilst pursuing tourism development,” Webstad says. 

Facilitators will include Webstad, Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Ann Louie, CRD chair Al Richmond, and CRD director Joan Sorley, liaison to the heritage steering committee.

Workshop presenters will include the following.

• Cheryl Chapman, training and product development manager for the Aboriginal Tourism Association of B.C. Originally from Soda Creek/Deep Creek Chapman  is currently managing Aboriginal Tourism B.C.’s Trailblazer Training Initiatives including Cultural Interpretation and Tourism Business Development. Both programs have train-the-trainer and participant-training components. 

• Arthur Dick and Willard Dick from the Esketemc First Nation. They will speak on the value of storytelling as a tool for preserving cultural heritage.  

• Jason Alsop, Haida Gwaii youth intern employed with the Heritage Branch of the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment. He is currently conducting research into First Nations historic places.

• Rick Goodacre, executive director of Heritage B.C. since 1990 and executive officer with the Heritage Legacy Fund of B.C. Society since 2004. Goodacre is an anthropologist who has worked in the heritage field for more than 20 years.

• Bruce Whyte, tourism development officer and cultural tourism advisor with the B.C. Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development since 2007. Whyte has more than He has 20 years experience in tourism planning and is also a PhD researcher at the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK.

• Carla Jack, acting heritage register officer at the B.C. Heritage Branch (Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment). She was born and raised on Vancouver Island and studied linguistics at the University of Victoria.

There will also be discussion on forming a group to work on First Nations heritage conservation and developing a conservation action plan. “The heritage forum will be an excellent opportunity to learn, network, and to create relationships based on trust and respect,” Webstad says.

Throughout the day participants will experience First Nations culture and heritage first hand, starting with smudging in the morning, drumming and all will leave with a medicine bag which they will have worked on to                 fill first hand.  

The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 19 at the Long House. Registration is required by April 8 and the $20 registration fee is payable at the door.

To register contact Phyllis Webstad at 250-989-2222, e-mail ttpmjack@hotmail.com, or contact heritage advisory committee member Brent Rutherford at 250-396-4811 or by e-mail at brentr@telus.net.