MCC's Ron Janzen

April 18th has been selected as the new date for MCC Manitoba's 50th anniversary celebration and benefit concert at Knox United Church in Winnipeg. The event was to take place this past November, however, disagreements between the venue and MCC over the participation of the Aboriginal Women's Drumming Circle forced organizers to postpone.

Executive Director Ron Janzen says organizers immediately saw this as something to reschedule instead of cancel, adding there was a great deal of excitement and anticipation around the event. He goes on to say all of the previous speakers and musical guests set to originally participate will be returning for the rescheduled benefit concert as well. "The event looks exactly as it was planned in November. We still have the three choirs, the aboriginal women's drumming circle and of course the Right Honourable Joe Clark as keynote speaker."

We asked Janzen if the media coverage surrounding the postponement served as an opportunity to generate some discussion.

"They say there's never such a thing as bad press and I think, to some extent, yes, it certainly helped to highlight the event and get the word out there.  We've had a number of words of support and encouragement from the constituency to reschedule our event, so we're really excited to have a new date and to be looking forward to the event again."

He adds it's been encouraging to hear support from supporters during this process, urging MCC Manitoba to reschedule instead of cancel. "We really appreciated that support and words of affirmation." Janzen adds MCC Manitoba also feels a lot of support from the public for its efforts to better connect with the province's First Nations as well. "What's happening increasingly in larger society is a recognition of the need to be in positive relationship with the Aboriginal community, and our experience and feedback about our efforts at doing that and expressing that through this event have been positive in that regard."

Janzen explains MCC Manitoba will contact those who had tickets for the November event, and ask them to reconfirm their intentions for the April celebration. "Once we have all those reconfirmations made we will then invite the larger public to take whatever tickets and seating is left over."