When you get to Victoria, you can understand why the Hudson Bay Company set up Fort Victoria there in 1843, and why it became the capital of British Columbia before it voted to join Canada and while it was still a colonial outpost of the British Empire. At that time, travel was by sea, and Victoria provided good anchorage and a pleasant climate. Since then, with the coming of the railway, Vancouver has outgrown Victoria, but Victoria remains the seat of the legislature, and while it has all the facilities of a modern city, it retains charm and a human scale.

The setting is gorgeous, with the distant snow-capped Olympic Mountains across the water in the USA, the forests to the north in Vancouver island, and, of course, the sea. Where else - other than in Victoria harbour, would they have to take the top off the totem poles to allow for sharp turns for the seaplanes or a pilot have to abort his landing because of whales on the runway? The University, where the conference took place, is set in a pleasant wooded area on the edge of Victoria, and although it is growing fast with a lot of building under way, the setting still has a rural flavour, enhanced by rabbits of various colours hopping around the campus.

Even the weather was unusually good for the conference, though the long period without rain had left the Province vulnerable to fire, and over 800 outbreaks were reported in British Columbia at that time.

The Department of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria has developed an excellent reputation, and the two conference organisers, Professor James Anglin and Sybille Artz, are both staff members there. The conference attracted between 700 and 800 participants, and although it was primarily aimed at North Americans, it attracted participants from over thirty countries. Not only were there some excellent speakers, but it was a good place to network.

First Nations

There was a strong First Nations flavour, with a group of local Esquimalt dancers performing on stage at the start of the conference, with songs of peace and remembrance. The Chief welcomed delegates, emphasising the importance of children as a sign that the Creator intended humankind to have a future on earth. He spoke of the need to use services for children to rebuild families, and not tear them apart as residential care had done in Canada.

This theme was re-inforced by Cindy Blackstock, who pointed out that Canada was only 136 years old, that John Cabot had discovered Canada in 1492, but that Indians had been living in Canada for about 10,500 years. Yet the European settlers had seen themselves as superior, with John McDonald, for example, speaking in 1867 about the onerous duty of their guardianship as if they were persons under age, incapable of managing their own affairs. The Indians were seen as under-educated, incept in modern ways of living and naïve. They were put on reserves, their names were changed and their languages were banned.

There had been attempts to absorb Indians into the white culture, most notoriously through the residential school system, which separated Indian children from their families for most of their childhood. Despite high levels of death in the schools (8 out of 38 children in one school in one year), residential education continued for many years, and the last school in Saskatchewan only closed in 1996.

The arrival of Europeans also introduced illnesses such as small-pox, and there was some suspicion that outbreaks were not all accidental. The impact on the First Nations was catastrophic, with whole villages wiped out. The Haida Nation, for example, was reduced to 500 people - a drop of 83% between 1850 and 1915.

Even today, the First Nations suffered discrimination, with inadequate access to funds and their history and culture were not yet accepted into the mainstream but categorised under anthropology.

Cindy Blackstock argued for reconciliation. Reconciliation was a journey on which the different groups which made up Canada were just starting out, and it needed to be based on listening. Listening was not just waiting to talk, but learning from others, even if it was uncomfortable.

The Esquimalt dancers performed again in the First Nations section of the City Museum, at an evening event where delegates were able to eat different sorts of food appropriate to the exhibits on show.

Promise into Practice

The conference was entitled Promise into Practice. As with all good conference titles, this was an umbrella under which many ideas could shelter, but there was throughout a very strong emphasis on practice in the provision of services for children and young people.

We could only attend a handful of the two hundred workshops, but the reports below indicate some of the themes of research and developments both in Canada and other countries at present. A good event. Thanks, Sybille and Jim, for all your hard work.

Photographs of Victoria : Please click here