Salomé Fornier Hanlon. Photo courtesy of North Shore Folk Fest

Salomé Fornier Hanlon, 23, was born and raised in North Vancouver. She is the treasurer of the North Vancouver Folkfest, a festival that has been running since 1974. Folkfest aims to preserve, promote and enrich cultural identities while promoting greater cultural interaction among ethnic groups and by including as many ethno-cultural people in one place as possible. And they’re doing it through a festival full of music, dancing and fun.

Hanlon became involved, in February 2012, in the simplest of ways – someone asked her to become a volunteer.

“Honestly, I just did it to help out a friend,” says Hanlon. “By the end of the informational meeting, I found myself unanimously voted onto the board as their new treasurer.”

From the board members to the cleaning crew, Folkfest is entirely run by volunteers. All nine members of the board are from different ethnic backgrounds. Hanlon says this makes things interesting, even at the most frustrating of times.

“Being around so many different languages is great in and of itself,” she says. “To be around so many different people is awesome, but things can get lost in translation and it can be difficult to communicate.”

But Hanlon has found a way of making things work. She says she can get her work done by asking questions and communicating. She credits the positive attitudes of those around her for making things easier.

Hanlon is no stranger to diversity. Although she jokingly identifies herself as half French, and half “North Vancouverian”, she says she’s still a Canadian even when her strong French ancestral ties complicate things. She was born on the North Shore and has a diverse set of friends from places all over the world like the Phillipines, China, Germany and countries in Africa and South America. She relishes the fact that her friends reflect her work, and vice versa.

“The world is becoming more and more diverse and we’re constantly coming in contact with people of all races,” she says. “It’s important to get to know one another. You can’t help but mingle.”

Her parents, friends and co-volunteers have made it apparent to Hanlon that cultural integration should be highly valued. She says that becoming involved in organizations that promote diversity should be a priority for young people.
“It just broadens your perspective,” Hanlon says. “It broadens your morals and what your values are on life. It gives you a bigger foundation to draw from in how you want to be as a person.”

Hanlon says that she’s not sure how long she will be a part of the board. She’s in the middle of completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies at Capilano University. But she is proud of the work she has already done for the festival and will walk away from her time as a board member with fond memories.

She adds that the benefit of getting involved with smaller groups is the opportunity to learn more by virtue of the small number of people involved.
Hanlon says that in order for young people to truly learn about the world around them it is essential that they be leaders in their own community and there’s no better place to do that than in their own backyard.

“It helps broaden our perspectives on things instead of being in more monolithic organizations,” she says.