Redefining Rural Public Presentation
Tasked with the job of summarizing what they learned at the conference, each delegate shared their own highlights and lasting impressions of the experience.
FRANCINE ST.AMAND, of California Settlement, started out the session by distributing a very simple worksheet to the 18 people in attendance. St.Amand asked that they reflect on the two statements on the sheet and jot down notes during the presentations and beyond the evening.
1. VALUES which I want our community to be known for:
2. Things I WILL DO to help move my community forward:
St.Amand said conference speaker Sheila Jans inspired her to think about the importance of VALUES in the process of a community defining or redefining itself. Jans is a Cultural Development Consultant working in Madawaska ME and her work has lead to Culture Worth, Cultureway – “Voici The Valley” projects. St.Amand is so intrigued by her work that she will be inviting Jans to come to Perth-Andover as a presenter in the near future. “I really like how she thinks and looks at the underbelly of culture, the spirit of a community.
Therein lies the key to find its strengths and values and ultimately its identity”. St.Amand says that what Jans is doing in northern Maine is very empowering to the people there and it’s also making the area a tourist destination – in a very unique way”, said St.Amand.
LUKE SINSTADT, also from California Settlement, was thrilled to have been able to meet an actor from one of his favorite TV shows, “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”. Shaun Majumder lead the final session of the conference with a panel of youth – one representing each of the four Atlantic Provinces. Three weeks after the conference, Luke shared:
“Coming back from the Conference, I feel more interested and confident in being involved to help out the Village. I consider Perth-Andover my village too, even though I live in California Settlement. This is where I come to go out for lunch, go to Tims, volunteer for different things, see my doctor and go to the hospital for blood tests, go the bank. And I really like going to the Library. And I would like to have a job in Perth-Andover some day. I also come to events like the Gathering of the Scots and the Hullabaloo festival. I lived in the Village for a year a few years ago and both apartment buildings where I lived were flooded – one has been torn down already and I think the other one is going to be torn down too. It’s too bad; it was a beautiful place to live.
So how will I support the Village? If the Village decided to organize a project for people to help clean up the village, I could pick up litter, rake leaves, dig some ground for gardens and I could help serve coffee and donuts to the volunteers. It would be a way that I could be included in doing something important.
I want to help make things better and bring pride back to our community. And I hope you do too.”
LINDA NICHOLAS, formerly of Tobique First Nation and currently residing in a Land Trust community in Knowlesville, focused on the overall message of the conference – the necessity of communication and collaboration within the community! Highlighting speaker from Caraquet NB, Gilles LePage’s presentation illustrated the need to change our ideas of economy from the centralized manufacturing of industry, to smaller more individualised manufacturing, with central marketing. In this way the people take back power in their economy. Nicholas peppered her talk with quotes from various speakers to inspire enthusiasm. Potent words such, as those expressed by Zita Cobb, who is doing great innovative work in her community of Fogo Island Newfoundland, described her community in these words : “We’re Alive, Awake, and Pushing and Shoving”. Doug Griffiths, author of 13 Ways To Kill Your Community, emphasized that people, especially youth and seniors are not asked often enough to engage and participate. Nicholas elaborated, “Griffiths said that you have to ask seven times before they believe you mean it.”
Nicholas extended this idea to people in general, summarizing that we all need to hear something seven times before we really believe it. Highlighting another quote from Griffiths, ‘Every village has all the talents of the world’. “And that means YOU”, Nicolas said as she pointed to the audience. Nicolas summed up her presentation with a challenge based on what she learned about
The Ideas Festival d’idées that Digby NB hosted on Oct 23-25. The festival slogan is “Collaborate or Evaporate”. She asked the audience, “Got an idea? Share it, educate and collaborate with others to make it happen. That’s how we are going to lead ourselves into the situation we are facing in our rural communities.”
JOE GEE, of Carlingford jokingly stated that his favorite speaker was the one who hadn’t showed up. Joe attended one of the round table discussions, Signature Events, when organizers became aware that the speaker had not arrived. The offer was then put to those in attendance to share their own stories. So along with 3 other delegates, Joe took the opportunity to explain his recently launched project, Tomlinson Lake: Hike to Freedom. Gee organized this hike which took place on Sept 29th. Gee plans to make this an annual event – providing awareness about this critical time in history, and honoring the slaves and those who assisted them to safety. Fort Fairfield / Carlingford was the northernmost passageway of the Underground Railroad.
Gee also shared that there is a growing number of people who are going through a ‘values adjustment’. As was apparent at the conference, an increasing number of young people are choosing NOT to go West to make the big bucks. “I did it. I went out West for a year and made good money. But after a year, I realized it wasn’t for me”. Gee explained that his life out west lacked substance. Here, in rural NB, he may not be making near the money but he is having a real life with family and friends and he engaged in his community in creative and meaningful ways. Gee believe that this fundamental shift in values will drive economic discourse in a different direction.
On the Georgetown Conference website http://thegeorgetownconference.ca/, post-conference information continues to be added. The conference itself was just the beginning of building momentum for dialogue, sharing and action within the Atlantic region.
For links to actual live recordings of conference sessions, go to http://peicanada.com/content/george town_conference_live_stream . Joe Gee’s impromptu presentation can be found in “Signature Events – Interactive Sharing” at approximately 11:00 minutes. .
The delegates invite all interested of all ages to come to the next presentation at the Perth-Andover Civic Centre.
