Alberta Sweetgrass

New legislation introduced by the provincial government will  have little impact on missing Aboriginal women or people without assets.

Bill 8, the Missing Persons Act, is the first proposed legislation of its kind in Canada. The strength in the bill comes in the power it gives police agencies. If passed without amendments, police will have the ability to obtain personal information to…

Enoch First Nation chief and council have been asked to step down in their role as Kitaskiwan Education Authority and to appoint a separate school board.

“We’re taking it under advisement. But right now we’re trying to finish our budget and we have year end to do. If we can put (discussion of the issue) between budgets, but we’re scrambling now,” said Clark Peacock, Enoch councilor, who…

An exciting new program which allows prospective teachers to learn at a campus near their home community has brought renewed optimism to the education of Aboriginal students.

The Aboriginal Elementary Teacher Program is a product of the University of Alberta and students graduate with a bachelor degree in education, whether they study on campus in Edmonton or in one of the off-site…

The number of Aboriginal students at a northern Alberta high school has increased dramatically in the last 10 years and is only expected to continue to grow.

High Level, a community of 4,000, has one public high school with a student population of 430 in grades seven through 12.

Ten years ago, about one-quarter of the student body at High Level Public School was classified First…

A literacy project adapting well-known fables to the Siksika First Nation cultural context and published in an illustrated volume has earned a prestigious Calgary Mayor’s Excellence Award.

Sequoia Outreach school, in partnership with Digital Press, Siksika Elders and Blackfoot Crossing, was recognized for the publishing of Collected Stories: The Three Buffalo Snuff and How the Kiayo Got…

“The number one priority of the Stoney Nakoda Nation is to enhance tribal capacity and the ability of the Stoneys not just to function but also to flourish,” said Greg Varricchio, chief executive officer.

That goal doesn’t come without challenges. It is difficult to provide security for investment, qualified managers, and enough skilled labor.

But that doesn’t mean Stoney Nakoda…

The ongoing challenges that face many Aboriginal people who move to the city for work or school were the impetus behind the creation of a new housing initiative by the Boyle Street Community Services in Edmonton.

 “The Aboriginal community coming to Boyle Street co-op typically moved to Edmonton for work or school,” said Yasir Syed, housing support worker. “They lacked support for that…

Violence against women on reserves is not an issue that can be addressed by women alone.

“For me, either (men or women on council) will work as long as we have a balance,” said Rose Laboucan, “that they want the best for their children, that they’re good parents. It’s about team work.”

Laboucan was recently elected to her fifth consecutive two-year term as chief of the Driftpile…

The key to financial success for partnership is the separation of politics and business and adherence to strict legal guidelines for hiring and promoting staff, said Chief Roland Twinn of the Sawridge First Nation.
Twinn addressed members of the Circle for Aboriginal Relations on Jan. 27 and spoke about an alternative model of corporate governance that benefits First Nations working…

Cheryl Whiskeyjack may have been the lone recipient for the Outstanding Service for the Aboriginal Community award, but it was team effort that helped her earn it.
“I was very shocked and humbled when they called my name,” said Whiskeyjack, executive director for Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.

Whiskeyjack and her staff have committed themselves to creating an array of…

“The Blood Tribe is a major contributor to the social and economic progress of the people of Southern Alberta,” said Rob Crow, director of Blood Tribe Economic Development.

The figures, as detailed by Crow, are impressive and illustrate the financial impact Blood Nation members have on both the reserve and neighbouring communities.
Based on a 2007 economic impact study, the Blood…

A former Aboriginal baseball star is about to become a hall of famer once again.

Jimmy Rattlesnake, a pitching star from the 1930s through the ’50s, will be inducted posthumously into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of Fame.

Induction ceremonies will be held Mar. 26.

Rattlesnake, who was Cree, was born in Hobbema in 1909. He died in 1972.

This is the third…

Though none of his own athletes from the Slave Lake Boxing Club were competing, the club’s head coach Lee Tange was still fortunate enough to take part in a prestigious multi-sport competition.

Thanks to the pilot project the Aboriginal Apprentice Coach Program, Tange was a member of the Alberta coaching staff for the boxing team that participated in the Canada Winter Games. The games…

Caption: Elder Vinnia Vanoverdyck (left) stands with Suzanne Dzus, ccordinator for the Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women.

Annual Valentine’s march honours murdered, missing women

Beating ceremonial drums, singing a traditional west coast women’s warrior song and carrying banners, March organizers led over 100 participants from Scarboro United…

Mural depicting residential school proponent strikes controversy

A mural at the Government/Grandin Centre LRT station is stirring up controversy. Mustafa Farooq wrote in the Edmonton Journal that the mural, which depicts Bishop Vital Grandin “is a celebration of residential schooling and Aboriginal displacement and a historical narrative of colonialism and…