SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Become a sponsor and contribute to an event that celebrates spirit and diversity.
National Aboriginal Day at Trout Lake is a 100% inclusive, family-friendly event comprised of attendees from all ages, gender identities, sexualities, cultures, abilities, and ethnic backgrounds. The event grows every year and NADOC is always looking to add more partners to create an even bigger network of community involvement.
As a sponsor you can receive the opportunity to:
- Attend National Aboriginal Day Organizing Committee (NADOC) planning meetings
- Carry a banner in the Friendship Walk (with your logo)
- Have your organization listed on the www.bcnationalaboriginalday.com website
- Set up your own tent at Trout Lake
- Have the Emcee acknowledge the sponsors several times throughout the day at Trout Lake.
- Have your logo displayed on printed media
SPONSORSHIP ELEMENTS
National Aboriginal Day at Trout Lake
COPPER – $5000 +
Significance: To the people of the Northwest Coast, copper was an exotic item, originally traded from the north and later with Europeans. It held supernatural properties, and to present a guest with a copper or a piece from a broken copper placed on them a powerful obligation. A host who had received coppers from his guests at their potlatches was compelled to present them with a greater value of coppers than he had previously received and thus obliged his guests to present coppers of even greater value at their next potlatch. The wealthiest chieftains would even smash coppers or throw them into the sea to demonstrate their superiority and strength. A leader who could not afford to make these presents or did not possess coppers could not hold a successful potlatch to celebrate important events and would consequently be considered a man of little importance among his peers.
OBSIDIAN - $2500 to $4999
Significance: Our local mining industry is actually 10,000 years old. Squamish archaeologist Rudy Reimer has found obsidian quarries in Garibaldi Park that were used shortly after the retreat of continental ice sheets permitted the initial peopling of the region. Used for razor sharp blades and fine jewellery, this volcanic glass can still be found among Garibaldi Park’s ancient lava flows.
Because each obsidian quarry has a distinct mineral composition, scientists are able to “fingerprint” fragments found at archaeological sites and trace them back to their source. Garibaldi obsidian, a valuable trade item, has been found throughout southern BC and Washington State.
JADE - $1000 to $2499
Significance: British Columbia is the number one source of jade in the world today. The history of jade in Lillooet is from time immemorial.
Jade is part of the geographical history of the region and can still be found on the shores of the local rivers and in the surrounding mountains. Jade is found only in certain unique areas where two rock formations shift, thereby allowing jade to surface from its source fifteen miles deep under the earths crust. Lillooet is lucky to be one such rare place. The local First Nation community used jade as a trade staple - trading north, south and west within other indigenous communities. First Nation peoples made axes, deer scrapers and other tools for daily use from jade. Ceremonial figures were also carved from this gemstone and are documented in historical records.
ARGILLITE – $500 to $999
Significance: Argillite is a black slate found only on Slatechuck Mountain on Haida Gwaii. Similar slates have been in a few other places around the world, but have slightly different chemical compositions that make them less suitable for carving (or so I’ve been told). Only members of the Haida nation are supposed to be allowed on the mountain, and families have unofficial quarries whose exact locations they try to keep secret.
Rumors persist of a logging road that makes access to the quarries easier, but, generally, artists either have to carry out the argillite they quarry on their backs down a narrow trail, or else buy what others chose to sell – usually at about five dollars a pound on Haida Gwaii, and as much as twenty dollars a pound in Vancouver. The tradition has been to keep argillite out of the hands of non-Haida, although a black market makes small amounts generally available to other artists, who generally turn it into pendants.
The history of argillite carving is equally romantic in its obscurity. The standard account is that argillite carving did not begin until 1820, and that the pipes that were among the first carvings known were never actually used. However, while European tools and interest in curios made the 19th century a Golden Age of argillite carving, it seems unlikely that such a sophisticated art form could emerge suddenly without at least a few centuries of tradition. Studies of early pipes show a residue that prove that some early pipes were definitely used, but, since heat can crack argillite, most likely it was a medium reserved for shamans and other ceremonial use before the nineteenth century.
Would you like to donate to the event?
- Gift cards or event tickets can be given away to the community as door prizes; your organization would be mentioned as the donor