From Indian Country:

Elders from throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Washington state gathered in the small Vancouver Island city of Port Alberni in early August for the 30th Annual B.C. Elders Gathering.

More than 3,000 elders attended the July 17 - 19 gathering, which was an opportunity to renew old friendships, start new ones, celebrate First Nations cultures from around the Pacific Northwest, discuss issues of the day and learn about programs and services geared towards elders.

Visiting elders were very impressed with the many activities available and all the planning and organization that went into the event, and had nothing but compliments for their hosts and the army of volunteers.

A major goal for this gathering was to facilitate the transmission of wisdom:

Elders Gatherings are a wonderful time for people to visit and exchange memories and knowledge, to create new friendships and to renew old ones. These Gatherings provide a chance to gain perspective on how other First Nations live. The Basic purpose of the Gathering is the need for Elders throughout the province to have inter-social and community links that bind them together as a Nation. It allows them to intermingle with like-minded, like-aged individuals and their families, to reveal common grounds that strengthen those links. It will offer the opportunity to interface with youth, which helps to mitigate the generation gap, and allows the younger generations to demonstrate respect, regard, and honour for their Elders.

Our Elders possess all the wisdom of the ages - knowledge and experiences that the younger generations need to guide them through life.

At the risk of butting in, might I suggest a new nugget of wisdom to catalog and then pass on to subsequent generations?

It's called "separate cheques":

A Vancouver Island native community has been forced to close its band office and lay off most of its staff because of a $60,000 dinner it hosted last month.

The problem was caused by a dinner the band provided for about 3,000 people during the 30th annually B.C. Elders Gathering in Port Alberni, July 18-20.

Apparently, the commitment to host the gathering was not so much a "wise" decision as it was an "off-the-cuff" decision:

Unfortunately, said [chief councillor Moses Martin,] a past chief councillor committed the 300-member Tseshaht to host the dinner without providing a budget and the commitment hit the current band council “out of the blue.”

“I don't think the fellow who made the commitment had a full grasp of what it would do to the community,” said Mr. Martin. “It wasn't a small thing.”

Maybe the wise thing to have done would have been to cancel the event, or at least cancel the dinner:

Pulling out of the event was not an option, said Mr. Martin.

“It's something we had to do that our tribe was committed to do,” he said. “It's upholding the status of our hereditary chiefs.”

Well, if it was about status, then going broke and suspending community services is better than looking foolish:

“We've had to shut down our office and lay off the staff to try to deal with the problems we are having financially,” Mr. Martin said Thursday.

Essential workers handling social and legal assistance, patient travel and water and sewer now are working four hours a day, three days a week. The temporary cuts include community health, education, drug and alcohol counselling and security.

Going broke just to look good is a tradition that goes way back to the potlach:

A potlatch is a ceremony among certain Native American and First Nations peoples on the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States and the Canadian province of British Columbia such as the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw). The potlatch takes the form of a ceremonial feast traditionally featuring seal meat or salmon. In it, hierarchical relations between groups were observed and reinforced through the exchange of gifts and other ceremonies. The host demonstrates their wealth and prominence through giving away their possessions and thus prompt participants to reciprocate when they hold their own potlatch.

Originally the potlatch was held to celebrate events in the life cycle of the host family such as the birth of a child. However, the influx of manufactured goods such as blankets and pieces of copper into the Pacific Northwest caused inflation in the potlatch in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some groups, such as the Kwakiutl, used the potlatch as an arena in which highly competitive contests of status took place. In some cases, goods were actually destroyed after being received.

So it might be that separate cheques is not an acceptable solution after all. Too bad, since it seems like the cost of the dinner would have been covered if the elders had kicked in $20 each.

Will the tribe go to the government for help? So far, it seems like the council would rather make the community suffer. Of course, that might also help them make their case about the dire need for money.

A government bailout might be acceptable while asking the participating elders to each mail in a cheque for $20 seems to be out of the question. It's not like the opinions of non-Native taxpayers like you and me factor into the calculation of tribe status.

But whatever the opinion of non-Natives, the elders plan have already decided to have another blowout:

Next year's Elders Gathering will be hosted by the Squamish First Nation in North Vancouver.

I wonder if Moses Martin will come with twenty bucks in his pocket to make sure he doesn't contribute to any financial problems for the Squamish next year. I'm not sure it would be wise, and it certainly would not enhance the status of the Squamish, but it sure would be considerate.