Elders Committee and Youth Council come together to refresh spirits

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — Turtle Concepts recently helped to refresh the spirits of Dilico Anishinabek Family Care’s Elders Committee and Youth Council representatives during gatherings on March 29 and 30.

“[The Elders Committee gathering] was a wonderful experience — we were talking about joy and happiness and bringing back extra good positive energy,” says Dave Jones, founder at Turtle Concepts. “From the time they arrived til the time they left, there was laughter, there was joy, there were stories. It was really a good day; we had them jigging, we had them do a little fashion show in some Seven Grandfather t-shirts that we created. We made them have a real fun time, push the Elders to the limit kind of thing.”

Blythe Haynen, assistant director of communications at Dilico, says the Elders were “so happy” to gather again, noting it was their first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We just really wanted to come together and connect and see how they were doing, if they had anything they wanted to talk through, and then really focused on refreshing their spirit and having a couple of new Elders join,” Haynen says. “They had lots of laughs, tons of smiling, that great sharing during the day, they even had a couple of great dancing sessions where they were jigging, so it was really good energy.”

Haynen says the Youth Council gathering was “amazing,” noting that the youth had asked for some confidence training and self-esteem building.

“We did some more work on refreshing their spirits and building their capacities and confidence and self esteem,” Haynen says. “We had some great team events and good sharing sessions that we were able to do, and they had a great time, too.”

Jones says the Youth Council representatives were asked to bring a friend to the gathering, noting that Turtle Concepts had been working with them during the pandemic.

“It was the same idea, to connect in person and to bring some extra joy and to talk about what’s coming next, what do they want to see, what do they want to learn,” Jones says. “A lot of our youth are looking to learn more about confidence and skills and just being a better voice, so it was a great day for them as well. We were just talking about being successful, being great, reinventing all the stereotypes, that education is allowed, that land-based knowledge is needed, that culture is alive and communication is important.”

Jones says they also did a meet and greet with the youth and Elders on the evening of March 29.

“The Elders got treated to a mini-fashion show so they could see our kids being tall and being proud and representing where they were from,” Jones says, noting that the youth also spoke about what they were studying at school. “We had one studying to be a [police officer], one studying to be a social service worker, one that just got a job at the mine, one that is working back at home in traditional care. The Elders were so proud to hear them living and starting good lives younger.”

Haynen says Dilico recognizes the unique skill set that Jones and the Turtle Concepts turtles bring to their gatherings.

“I really like his philosophy and teachings,” Haynen says. “He just has a real special talent to connect with the audience. His background is a school teacher so he gives the youth really tangible lessons and instructions on how to build — we’ve seen them take to that really well and they’ve asked us for more sessions with them.”