Our National Pagan Conference

I've just realised how quickly Gaia Gathering, Canada's National Pagan Conference, is approaching. Six weeks left to register!

This year the conference is close to home, in Ottawa. For those of us in Montreal, it may not be this close again for a while since the conference rotates cities and the organisers try to move it to completely different geographic regions each year.

For folks interesting in attending the conference--which I highly recommend--it costs $90 for three days of workshops participatory panels and other events over the Victoria long weekend in May. Accommodation at the University of Ottawa residence starts at $23 per person per night for a shared student room with 2 single beds (ie, $46 per night for the room). Dorm rooms may not be pretty but they certainly are a bargain for the budget conscious.

If past years are anything to go by, this conference brings together Canadian Pagans from across the country to celebrate our identities as both Canadian and Pagan, and to discuss issues relating to Canadian Paganism. For example last year, Prof. Lucie Dufresne gave a comprehensive presentation on how the law in Canada views Paganism, and how our laws rights and freedoms differ from those of our neighbours to the south. Very enlightening. Past conference have also discussed the legal how-tos of creating churches and performing handfastings in Canada. Who knows what this conference will hold.

The program is not final, but the conference is essentially a co-creative effort and you can see the discussions and proposals on the YahooGroup list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gaia_Gathering/

The conference also has an academic stream for pagan scholars, both those academic and amateur, as well as a music stream and a visual arts gallery displaying the work of our talented peers.

On March 11th the line-up looked like his:
Featured speakers talking about Pagan parenting.
Featured speaker talking about Pagan resource centers
Academic / Scholar's stream of presentations
Song and Chant share

Panels on:
Pagan parenting
Numbers and Visibility
Teachers and Mentors
Counselling skills
Pagan civil rights
Pagan businesses
Conflict resolution
Gender roles
Song as ritual tool
Druidry

For those of you who remember the Montreal conference in the fall: yes, some of the panels are similar. The format of the conference is also similar: moderated peer panels rather than speaker/audience.

You can get information about the conference and the registration form at http://www.gaigathering.ca