This year’s National Toshaos’ Council Conference will see leaders engaging through regional meetings and Amerindian Heritage Month 2021 celebrations will be limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This announcement was made yesterday by the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, during a press conference. Sukhai disclosed that preparations for both events, which will be held in September, are ongoing and are expected to be completed soon.
There was no National Toshaos’ Council Conference in 2020.
Sukhai said that after much deliberation, a decision was taken to have regional meetings instead this year.
“…Again, we will not be able to support the National Toshaos’ Conference in 2020… This year, we will not be able to gather 220 leaders together in the city or in one location. Of course, we have to protect our leaders and we want to be very cautious,” the minister said.
A plan is already in place, she said, as to how the meetings will be held in keeping with the COVID-19 guidelines. Further, Region One (Barima-Waini) will be the only region that will have two meetings since it consists of a large number of leaders from almost one hundred communities. One of the meetings will be held in the Moruca sub-district while the other will be at the Mabaruma sub-district.
Sukhai added that regions Seven, Eight, and Nine will have singular meetings. “There, numbers are much smaller and we can be able to manage the protocols. We will be able to manage social distancing and of course we will locate the venue in an area where there is enough space for observing and keeping in line with the COVID-19 protocols.”
As it relates to the coastal regions, Mainstay in Region Two has been selected as the venue for the meetings. At this venue, she said there is enough conference space facilitate the leaders so as to ensure there is no clustering.
The meeting for Region Seven will be facilitated at the Lower Mazaruni district, while Mahdia sub-district 2 has been designated as the venue for Region Eight meeting and Lethem for Region Nine.
At the regional meetings, leaders are expected to discuss concerns, challenges faced, and priorities for the upcoming budget. “We will present a location for the leaders to collaborate with and have an engagement with ministers so there will be active discussion going on with and among the leaders and their sector ministries,” Sukhai noted.
She further related that a platform will also be provided so that executive members of the National Toshaos can be elected. “… Everyone will get a chance to be among the requisite contingent to have that engagement to come up with their executive who will sit to represent them.”
“Limited”
In 2020, Amerindian Heritage Month was held virtually. This year, however, the minister noted that the celebration will be limited with just a few activities taking place.
“This year we are still in the pandemic and from my understanding our country is confirmed as having one of the variant that is referred to as the Delta variant and therefore we are still in a position where we will not be able to hold the level of celebrations that we are accustomed to… Heritage for us this year is going to be quite limited but [we] are planning to have an extravaganza,” Sukhai said.
Amerindian Heritage Month 2021 will be observed under the theme “Maintaining our traditional integrity and celebrating our cultural identity.”
Sukhai told the media yesterday that the celebration will commence on September 1 with a grand virtual concert.
The second activity will be held on September 10 at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Georgetown, where art and craft will be showcased in honour of Stephen Campbell.
“Stephen Campbell is the first Amerindian Parliamentarian. He has a history in representing our nation with respect to the struggle of land rights…Stephen Campbell did pretty well on that front and therefore the nation and the month is not a month without honoring Stephen Campbell,” the minister related.
The other events include a series of samplings of Amerindian cuisine. These events will take place at a number of venues including the ministry’s office in Georgetown. Additionally, there will be some heritage celebrations in hinterland regions across the country but these will be mainly activities that do not involve person-to-person contact.
Sukhai explained that the Ministry has not given permission for the hinterland communities to host events. However, they can host significant activities in keeping with COVID-19 protocols. “So they do not put their villages or themselves at risk,” she elaborated.
All activities will be observed in keeping with strict COVID-19 protocols. Medical teams from the Ministry of Health will be present to encourage persons to get vaccinated and those who wish to get a COVID-19 test will also be given the opportunity. All the events will live streamed. “…We do hope to ensure that the entire nation will participate with us because our activities will be live streamed on various media outlets including on the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Facebook page,” the minister informed.
