Saturday February 8 2025

Recently appointed honorary consul for Kazakhstan in B.C., Darren Klinck, says that in addition to assisting Kazakh citizens and strengthening economic ties between Kazakhstan and B.C., part of his role is highlighting the rich culture of Kazakhstan and promoting cultural ties between the nations. Only the third of its kind in Canada, Kazakhstan opened the Honorary Consulate in Vancouver just this past January.

Even though he is not Kazakh, Klinck who is also president of Arras Minerals Corporation, has maintained close connections with the country and was appointed as honorary consul through the recommendation of the former Kazakhstan Ambassador to Canada, Akylbek Kamaldinov.

“Our company is focused on exploring critical minerals in Kazakhstan…I got to know Ambassador Kamaldinov very well, and [the Embassy] had been very supportive of our company,” says Klinck, noting his goal of finding future opportunities to engage with the culture.

Similarities and synergies

Klinck says there are many similarities between Canada and Kazakhstan, including their small populations, economic drivers and cold winters. He also points to the long history of Kazakh international students in Canada which contributes to beneficial synergies between the nations. The Consulate seeks to promote these connections on various levels.

Kauken at the Turkic Festival 2024 | Photo by Aika Sembay

“[The Consulate] has helped with meetings between B.C. government officials and the Ottawa Embassy, as well as promoting trade at the governmental level, investment in cultural opportunities and from a cultural perspective,” Klinck adds. “I think it’s something that is evolving.”

Klinck also points to his experience at the 2024 Turkic Festival in North Vancouver, where the B.C. Qazaq Community, an organization focused on promoting Central Asian culture, participated alongside other countries.

“I had an opportunity to attend that and represent the Kazakh government and spend some time with the Consul General of Turkey,” he says. “I think it’s kind of a mix of business and trade, cultural government ties and just trying to help wherever possible.”

In addition to aiding Kazakh nationals get in touch with the Embassy, providing help in emergencies and promoting economic ties between B.C. and Kazakhstan, Klinck looks forward to engaging more with the Kazakh community and their culture.

“It’s a very rich and engaging and welcoming culture, and I’m sure that in the future years there will be more culture and engagement opportunities to experience and learn more about the Kazakh culture,” he adds.

Uniting the community

Ajara Kauken, a member of the organizing committee for the B.C. Qazaq Community, first came to Vancouver in 2009 as an international student. Having lived in B.C. for 16 years, she shares her knowledge and experience with international students from all over the world.

“I’ve been working with students from different countries such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and along the way, I started helping students from other countries as well,” Kauken says.

Darren Klinck | Photo courtesy of Darren Klinck

She cites homesickness and culture shock as common challenges that international students and newcomers face coming into Canada. In addition, she feels that the biggest challenge that the Kazakh community in Vancouver faces is distance.

“Not many people can handle the long flight and tickets might be expensive, so there is no opportunity to travel back home to reconnect with family,” she explains.

She hopes for the Kazakh community in Vancouver to be united, and for their members to feel welcome and safe. Currently with around 900 members, the community has been steadily growing over the last 15 years. As of this past November, they are also registered as an official non-profit organization. The community is currently working on their official website and preparing to organize larger events for next year.

“We can help and support all the people from Kazakhstan who live in British Columbia, doing various events…so that everyone can attend and find a group according to their interests,” she adds. “Our main goal is to help and to combine because it’s very important to feel connected with the community.”

For more information, visit: www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa-ottawa?lang=en or www.bcqazaq.org

Learn about the history of Indigenous veterans and participate in local Indigenous community events, encourages Randi Gage, a Vietnam-era veteran and the founder of Indigenous Veterans Day. This Nov. 8 marks the 30th anniversary since the day’s first commemoration.

“Don’t be shy. Go there and find out what it’s all about,” she says. “It’s like a big family gathering.”

Although Indigenous Veterans Day is now celebrated across Canada, Gage states that the day has not developed in the way that the veterans originally wanted.

Not another Remembrance Day

In 1992, the National Aboriginal Veterans Association gave Gage a mandate to designate a day of recognition for Indigenous veterans. In 1994, the government of Manitoba became the first province to officially recognize and celebrate Indigenous Veterans Day.

Randi Gage. | Photo courtesy of Randi Gage

“The biggest problem is that everybody has the mindset that it’s a second Remembrance Day, but it’s not,” she says. “It is not under the Royal Canadian Legion. It’s our way for our people, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But it has evolved into a very regimented thing.”

Gage stresses that Indigenous Veterans Day is for veterans to teach the younger generation and share their experiences in their communities. There is no prescribed way of celebration, as each Indigenous community commemorates their veterans differently.

“It’s to be celebrated how a community wants to do it – with a powwow, a feast, a square dance, whatever the community wants,” she says.

In B.C., there are more than 200 different Indigenous communities. Gena Edwards, president of the B.C. Native Women’s Association, shares that each group has their own ceremony and way of commemoration in B.C.; and each First Nation also has a wall dedicated to the veterans of their community.

“B.C. is such a vast province where each First Nation has their unique culture and values that they follow,” Edwards says.

She also highlights the importance of honouring and respecting veterans in the way that they want.

“I think it’s really important for the younger generations, and future generations, to learn about our forefathers and ancestors who have contributed to Canada,” she says.

Archiving Indigenous veterans’ stories

Gage and Edwards emphasize that more work needs to be done to document the experiences of Indigenous veterans. However, the process will be long and complicated, as many veterans after WWI used a different name when enlisting. Thus, the history of many Indigenous veterans has been lost.

Gena Edwards. | Photo by Medrick Azak

“When an Indigenous person would leave the reserve, they had to give up their treaty rights to become a solider,” says Gage. “They would lose their Indian status.”

As for Indigenous women veterans, Gage and Edwards explain that in Indigenous culture, women are raised to be protectors of children and creators of life. As an Indigenous veteran herself, Gage conveys the internal sacrifice that Indigenous women must make to join the military.

“In the military, your job is to kill that other woman’s child, and that’s a very hard thing to come to terms with,” she says.

Maria Trujillo, project coordinator for the Last Post Fund, has overseen the Indigenous Veterans Initiative since 2019: placing military markers for unmarked graves of Indigenous veterans and inscribing their traditional names on tombstones. Although over 250 markers have been placed, with over 40 from B.C., only four were for Indigenous women veterans. The three of them agree that there is much more to be done in honouring and memorializing all Indigenous veterans.

“There could always be more information sought and gathered. Especially for the Indigenous women veterans,” says Edwards. “Because they not only lost their status rights, but they were also disenfranchised for serving a country to make this country better.”

For more information about Indigenous Veterans Day, visit: www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/people-and-stories/indigenous-veterans

What determines whether an attraction is harmful or benign? Acclaimed poet and writer Rhea Tregebov’s 8th collection of poetry, Talking to Strangers, reflects her ongoing fascination for human interactions. Tregebov – in conversation with poet and lecturer Sheryda Warrener – will be discussing her book (Oct. 16) at UBC’s Green College.

“The filter of language has always seemed to me the best way of understanding human experience, understanding how we are with each other, understanding the natural world,” Tregebov says.

Her new collection observes current affairs, love, mortality, tastes, and its titular experience – talking to strangers. It is also a heartfelt elegy dedicated to Tregebov’s late sister.

More than just an anecdote

Tregebov’s interest in poetry stemmed from high school, where she discovered her affinity for dwelling on the present and observing small, daily moments.

“I think I’m more interested in moments and interior experiences, than in what happened [sic] next,” she says.

For her, the work is “more than just an anecdote.” She strives to accomplish something unique and different for each poem, and raise questions about social interactions. Warrener hopes to create a space for Tregebov to share her poetry and give context to her as a poet.

Rhea Tregebov.| Photo by Belle Ancelle

“She has such a beautiful sensibility, her own style of poetry, that I find really moving and contemplative. I want to hear from her about the poems, the making of the poems, and the context of the poems – talking to strangers,” Warrener says.

Talking to Strangers is divided into six sections, with each section centered on different themes and inspirations. The ten poems under the section “Talking to Strangers” are all inspired by the poet’s genuine conversations and encounters with strangers over the span of 11 years. The conversation from her first poem “Talk: White Night” took place in summer of 2011, in a bar in Whitehorse, Yukon. In her other poem “Talk: Tangle,” dated 2021, her interaction with a stranger is indirect, yet still impactful.

“In many cases, it’s a moment of trust, in treating a stranger like not-a-stranger, but there’s one in which I’m eavesdropping on a woman at a café; I never talked to her, but my approach to her changes,” the poet says.

Human experience and connectivity

Tregebov and Warrener share a fondness for finding the surprises in daily moments rather than dramatic events.

“We look at the quiet moments in life and see that if we spend more time with them, discoveries can be made,” Warrener says.

At the center of Tregebov’s poems lies her curiosity about ‘how people are with each other.’

“Why we are the way we are? What does it mean to be human?” she says, adding humorously, “A very narrow small question.”

Sheryda Warrener | Photo by Jackie Dives.

Tregebov and Warrener’s conversation will discuss this idea of human connections and how it is augmented by simple, daily interactions with people unfamiliar to you. At this event that will host an audience of strangers, the poet hopes to engage with dialogues that already exist in the thoughts of the audience members and connect with their own fields of interest.

“It’s in those unexpected connections where we open up our understanding of the world, and there’s an opportunity for new ideas to come through,” Tregebov says.

Even for those who are unfamiliar with poetry or have yet to read Tregebov’s works, Warrener believes anyone who is looking to find company, or a community should join the upcoming event.

“Poetry can be great company,” she says.

For Tregebov, she invites all who are curious about strangers, conversation and poetry to attend.

“I hope that the discussion will stimulate questions in their minds, or even complicate questions that they already have” she says.

For more information about the event, visit: https://greencollege.ubc.ca/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D1762%26reset%3D1