Vancouver DCC 2010

Kristen Pranzl

Happy New Year people! It is exciting knowing that we are finally living in the year 2010, the year of the Deaf Canada Conference in Vancouver, BC. Right now the general population of Vancouver is focused on getting ready for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics but the Deaf community here is focused on preparing for our conference. First things first though, it has been very exciting watching the city prepare for the world to come to Vancouver in February and March. We have a few community members that are involved with the Olympics (one of our teens will be carrying the torch on February 11th and another community member will be signing “Oh Canada” at the Paralympic opening ceremonies in March!) I have the Olympics literally on my front steps as the curling venue is across from my house. I will be looking out for some big name curlers... ;)

We have been working hard on making sure that visitors to Vancouver will have a wonderful experience here and at the same time, we have been having fun planning fundraisers that bring the community in Vancouver together. In the last two months we have had two film events that have been successful in fundraising for the Conference. We were lucky to be the first Canadian audience to see Mosdeux’s films, and it was that much more meaningful because one of our own Vancouver people was involved in two of the films that we showed. We also had a screening of Universal Signs in December and I was amazed to see how many people came out for both events. It is inspiring to see how many people support DCC 2010 and at the same time taking advantage of opportunities to get out and socialize.

As someone who has been involved in planning the conference right from the bid process, it has been a lot of highs and lows and exciting moments. I am working with an amazing group of people who are committed and excited about the conference, and we have already worked through so many challenges and good things that I believe we will put on a great conference.

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