Educating others about who we are is important. But before we can do this, we need to know where we came from. We cannot forget who we are as First Nations people. We are responsible, each of us, to value our traditions, our ceremonies - all of those things that make us different from, in many ways, other cultures. You will never know where you are going unless you understand where you have been.
Cultural preservation provides a window to our past, and is ultimately important to our people.
Many of our staff have been fortunate to have spent a considerable amount of time with some of our Elders this summer. The tremendous wealth of information Elders possess, and are willing to share, is a gift that cannot be found in any institute of schooling. For this purpose, I wish to dedicate this Annual Report to our Traditional Council of Elders for their guidance, patience and understanding in all we do at the Centre, to those Elders who have left this earth, we will be forever grateful for the wisdom and laughter they shared with us. We realize that specifics of traditional culture are often complex and beyond individual comprehension, for this purpose the Elders perform a significant role in providing guidance on all aspects of planning within the Centre. As always, effects of inadequate funding make it difficult to address all the requests we receive.