Past Participant Trevor Good Shares His Experiences
By Trevor Good

Gathering our Voices
Provincial Aboriginal Youth Conference March 20-23 2005 Vancouver

This was an experience I will never forget. I remember checking into this beautiful hotel and thinking there must be some mistake this hotel was so nice. I was checking in with the Songhees Nation, but I am from the Snuneymuxw Nation. I was to be a chaperone and chaperone I did. There was a bit of confusion at the front desk and we had to wait for ours keys, so we sat in the front lobby. There were flocks of Natives coming in from every door and a lot of doors are in that lobby. Lots of smiles and nods, hand shakes and jokes. I was really excited to be there. Natives from all over the place and some familiar faces and new friends were checking in. The Hyatt Hotel is huge the rooms were big and the view of downtown Vancouver was perfect. There was an awesome opening dinner that night with special guests. The food I remember being really impressed with, I mean it was a really good meal. My nephew was sitting beside me and he didn’t want the rest of his plate so I willingly ate it. As I sat there listening to a speaker, I remember thinking there is no other place I’d rather be. After the dinner, we were giving a piece of paper with the schedule on it and to sign up for workshops. The line ups for the workshop were long and disorganized; we didn’t get to sign up for the workshops on the first night. First thing the next morning confusion was still in the air. People didn’t know where and when to go for workshops. The system for signing people up didn’t work. Although there was confusion and frustrated people, there was still laughter and playfulness going around the room. This was also a good time to socialize and meet people. When the workshops started, I had along with all the other chaperones had the task of making sure the youth made it to the workshops.
Alright there were about a 1000 youth there! I can remember seeing hundreds and hundreds of youth laughing and having a good time. I remember there were about 20 of us crammed in the elevator and about 5 other youths want to get in, that is when my buddy yelled “Just pretend it is your Auntie’s van!” Every laughed and the 5 of them squeezed in. I had only good times there and it was an honour to be a part of that conference.
In the end of it I will remember the “Gathering of our Voices” conference was an experience that will affectionately stored away in my memory banks. The up coming conference in March is one I hope I have the privilege to go to. It is something to be in building with well over a 1000 Natives, I don’t think I have ever felt as welcome in my life.
All my relations!
Trevor Good