Tlicho annual gathering to drop cultural components this year due to COVID-19 restrictions

The annual Tlicho summer gathering will be very different this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chiefs are still working out the details, but they have decided there will be no physical gathering. Instead, it will be done by teleconference or videoconference.

That means the social and cultural components of the gathering will not be happening this year.

"There will be no canoe trips arriving, people flying in by plane, a big feast, drum dance, handgames and all the cultural events that will not happen at this annual gathering," Tlicho Grand Chief George Mackenzie said Wednesday.

To reduce the chances of COVID-19 being spread, the N.W.T. chief public health officer has limited outdoor gatherings to a maximum of 25 people. The annual gathering the Tlicho government's biggest event of the year typically attracts hundreds of people.

Mackenzie said the Tlicho constitution requires the government to hold the gathering each year to review the government's financial statements, review the work of the Chief's Executive Council and answer questions from Tlicho citizens.

Details of how citizens will participate are still being worked out.

"It could be by teleconference call, or we can have a videoconference where we could set up a hall or arbour where we set up a big screen with a micwhere people can go to the mic and ask questions," said Mackenzie.

The Chief's Executive Council will be finalizing a date for the gathering. It will be held sometime in July or August, said Mackenzie.

The chiefs are arranging to have the gathering broadcast live on CKLB radio, said the grand chief.