The Sixth Gathering (2010)
The upcoming Gathering
in Hawaii is being hosted by Hawaiian Indigenous health
organisation Papa Ola Lokahi and will focus on successes, best
practices and common issues in health, healing and addictions
within Indigenous populations.
Registrations close on 30 April 2010 (Early Bird Registrations
have already closed). To find out more about registering, go
to the Australian portal for Healing Our Spirit
Worldwide.
For further
information, go to the official Healing Our Spirit Worldwide
website.
The CRC for Aboriginal Health and Healing Our Spirit
Worldwide
The CRC for Aboriginal Health has been a proud supporter of and
committed participant in the Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW)
movement.
The HOSW page on the CRC for Aboriginal Health website is
intended to be a point of contact and information for Australians
who attended the Fifth HOSW Gathering in Alberta last year and
those interested in participating in the next HOSW Gathering in
Hawaii, on 3-10 September 2010. The International Indigenous
Council for HOSW, which includes former CRCAH Chief Executive
Officer Mick Gooda, is engaged in planning to ensure the Sixth
Gathering continues the movement’s record of excellence in
healing.
The Lowitja Institute (formerly the CRCAH) will consider
providing support for presenters attending the HOSW conference. We
will confirm the details of any support we will offer at the
beginning of April 2010, after the Congress Lowitja at the end of
March. It is likely that any funding support to attend the HOSW
conference will be reserved for Indigenous people who have had an
abstract accepted, belong to one of our partner organisations and
have also actively sought support from their own organisations.
Previous CRCAH updates on the Sixth Gathering:
What is the HOSW movement?
The HOSW movement began as one woman’s vision to create an
international forum and movement focused on alcohol and drug abuse
issues and treatment programs in Indigenous communities throughout
the global community.
Maggie Hodgson, a Carriere First Nation woman from Canada, began
her lobbying efforts with the International Congress on Alcohol and
Addictions (ICAA) and the World Health Organisation in the late
1980s. In 1990 the ICAA included a special track on Indigenous
addiction issues at its Berlin Conference. Attended by Indigenous
peoples from Canada, New Zealand and Australia, this forum led to a
discussion that became the foundation for an international event
focused on healing.
Planning for this event began in 1991, with Canadian conference
hosts Nechi Institute and the National Native Association of
Treatment Directors inviting the National Association for Native
American Children of Alcoholics as co-hosts. The event was named
Healing Our Spirit Worldwide.
The First Gathering in Edmonton, in 1992, attracted 3300 people
from 17 countries around the world. With the Second Gathering
(1994) in Sydney, Australia, and the third (1998) in Rotorua,
Aotearoa (New Zealand), HOSW firmly established itself as an
international cultural and spiritual movement celebrating the
tenacity and resilience of Indigenous peoples around the world in
the struggle against alcohol and drug abuse.
The Fourth Gathering, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico (2002),
expanded the vision with the inclusion of health and governance
issues, and provided two important developments:
- The Covenant—a document designed for use at many levels,
promoting health and healing and ensuring these issues have a
prominent place in the everyday life of Indigenous peoples around
the world—was formulated to provide guidance and direction
for Indigenous peoples in developing models of healing,
self-determination and wholeness
- The International Indigenous Council for HOSW, consisting of
Indigenous leaders from different countries, was formed. Current
membership of the Council is:
- Rod Jeffries, Chairperson
- Allen Benson (Canada)
- Dave Baldridge (United States)
- Barry Bublitz (New Zealand)
- Mick Gooda (Australia)
The Covenant from the Fourth Gathering said:
We, the Indigenous Peoples of the world have come to the
HOSW Gathering to affirm our rights to live our lives in the
traditional ways of our ancestors through respect, integrity, and
honor, and to prepare our nations for the next Seven
Generations.
The human rights of all Indigenous Peoples, including in
particular our right of self-determination, shall be recognized and
respected in accordance with international law. As such, our rights
are inalienable and not subject to extinguishments or termination
by any domestic, foreign, or international laws.
The Fifth Gathering was held in Edmonton, Alberta, in August
2006 and included a record number of Australian Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people. The CRC for Aboriginal Health sent a
delegation of Aboriginal staff and board members including CEO Mick
Gooda and Deputy Chair Stephanie Bell. In addition the
CRCAH was able to fund, through our Indigenous International
Program, nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health experts
to attend the Fifth Gathering.
An integral component of the Edmonton Gathering was its focus on
Indigenous leadership and the need for political action to ensure
self-determination encompasses health and healing. The HOSW
movement is adamant that health and healing are necessities in
order for self-determination to be achieved.
