Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.
Community focused with a grassroots appeal. Established in 1993 to serve the needs of the Indigenous people of Alberta.
Miss Blackfoot Canada 2010, Simone Smith, is not just another pretty face. The 19-year-old Fort Macleod resident can’t wait to add more pageants to her resume with the hopes of being a role model of overcoming issues that are heavily affecting the First Nations population, including herself.
“I was directly affected by suicide through my father, so I think it is really important through…
The recent decision by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to decrease $60,000 in funding to three of Alberta’s six on-reserve women’s shelters has shelter directors concerned. While the Sucker Creek, Ermineskin, and Bigstone women’s shelters were initially told the cuts would come in April 2010, they now have until next year to figure out how they can alter their budgets.
“What it means…
The $180,000 salary given to Chief Harry Sharphead, of the Enoch Cree First Nation, is the high end of what Alberta First Nation chiefs earned in 2009.
According to figures provided by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the range of salaries for chiefs of 44 First Nations in Alberta went from $26,700 to Sharphead’s $180,000.
Sharphead’s high earning is one reason why the…
Montana Cree Nation is thinking outside the box when it comes to acquiring land and managing it in order to provide for their community. But their aspirations have been met with hostility, said Chief Carolyn Buffalo.
“We can’t do anything without land,” said Buffalo, who addressed an audience of industry professionals at the Circle for Aboriginal Relations’ annual conference on May 20…
Cut Rock Walk to raise funds for cancer
Darlene Cardinal, of Fort Chipewyan, is undertaking he second annual Cut Rock Walk in the hope of raising $20,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, specifically for the Cross Cancer Hospital in Edmonton. The Cut Rock Walk is a continuous marathon from Cardinal’s residence to Cut Rock, approximately 8 km there and back. She will…
After months of arm-twisting by Native healthcare groups, the federal government has renewed funding for treatment and prevention of diabetes for Canada’s Aboriginal communities.
Health Canada will provide $285 million over the next two years for a range of health programs for Aboriginal Canadians, including the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, the Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention…
When Georgina Lightning was growing up on the Samson First Nation, the house in which she lived was merely a two-room shack. Today, the Cree filmmaker’s name can be used synonymously with the more opulent White House. Or, more specifically, the White House Project’s EPIC Emerging Artist Award, which Lightning won in April on the strength of her 2006 full-length motion picture, Older Than…
Kevin Seesequasis has traveled around the world and he wants to see other Aboriginal youth have that opportunity as well. Seesequasis is commanding officer of a local Army Cadet Corps in Edmonton. “The cadet experience is the best experience a youth can be part of. I have traveled around the world as part of the corps, and now as a commanding officer. You have to put in a certain amount of…
The Olympics and Paralympics were not the only successful multi-sport games held in western Canada this winter. Another event that received rave reviews was the Arctic Winter Games, which ran Mar. 6-13 in Grande Prairie…
The first group of Aboriginal students has graduated from the Syncrude Aboriginal Trades Preparation Program. This influential community-based trades program started because of a need and commitment of Syncrude Canada to hire and attract Aboriginal employees. “The Aboriginal workforce is continuously growing and the need for organizations to look at Aboriginal people as valuable employees…
First Nations girls part of runway success One of 10 runway shows at the Fashion Has No Borders Fashion & Accessory Expose in mid-March featured Aboriginal designer clothing modeled by First Nations teens. The girls were part of the Stardale Women’s Group Inc. Foundation. “They’re all heights and all weights,” said Helen McPhaden, executive director with Stardale. “It’s important that…
A proposal by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce calls for tackling a looming labour shortfall by facilitating more Aboriginal economic opportunities.
The organization’s Aboriginal Workforce Initiative, outlined in a research paper dubbed Completing the Circle, and released March 26, makes the case for solving the upcoming labour shortage by recognizing opportunities that will not only…
Elder honoured at university Elder Theresa (Minde) Wildcat of the Ermineskin Cree Nation is the newest recipient of the Alumni Association Citation Award for outstanding contributions to the development of the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus in Camrose by a member of the community. Wildcat was born in Hobbema and was the first member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation to graduate from…
An oil sands site in Northern Alberta is only months away from being preserved as a historical site after more than one million artifacts from Canada’s First People were found. Spear points, knives and stone flakes were all remnants from thousands of years ago, that archaeologists have found in an area 75 km north of Fort McMurray. The location is also referred to as The Quarry of the…
The Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards is the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3’s way to recognize that leadership is critical. The awards have been running since 1998 and are an acknowledgement of businesses, organizations and individuals, who have succeeded and made contributions to the Métis community. At the 12th annual gala affair, held April 16 at Calgary’s Coast Plaza Hotel, Region 3…