Alberta Sweetgrass

The Northland School Division has implemented a First Nations, Métis and Inuit action plan through all 24 of its schools. The action plan was developed by the FNMI Working committee and approved at the September board meeting. The committee involved school administrators, Aboriginal language instructors and advisory board members. NSD still does not have a corporate board. “The FNMI…

The University of Lethbridge now has a protocol handbook for faculty, staff, students, board, and senate members for incorporating Blackfoot and other First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultural elements into activities or ceremonies on campus. “We also felt that it was important to gather the knowledge about these processes together in one place, and to have them affirmed by members of the U of L…

Fort McMurray First Nation, the Christina River Dene Nation Council, and the Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation have joined the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association. The association now consists of 37 member organizations who represent three levels of government, environmental non-government organizations, industry operators and Aboriginal groups. “One of WBEA’s goals has been to increase…

Alexis Nakota Sioux, the Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake, and the Ermineskin Cree First Nations will get the opportunity to voice their concerns to the Alberta Energy Regulator on Nov. 25 over Coalspur’s plans for Vista Coal Project, Canada’s largest thermal coal mine southeast of Hinton. The hearing is expected to take one to two weeks. Coalspur had planned to begin producing coal from the mine in…

Bill 31, Protecting Alberta’s Environment Act, was introduced in the Legislature by Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen the day after the Legislature resumed sitting on Oct. 28. The bill creates the Alberta Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency, which is to be in operation by early 2014.  AMERA is tasked with providing data on the condition of Alberta’…

The Alberta Energy Regulator has given Teck Resources the go-ahead to evaluate more than 170 wells along the Athabasca River despite opposition from local Aboriginal groups. Concerns over the impact of hunting, foraging and traditional use of the land were raised by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation as well as Fort Chipewyan Métis. However, Teck says…

Frustration with the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring program has led to Fort McKay First Nation withdrawing. The JOSM, a three-year effort announced in 2012 by the province and federal government, is mandated to improve environmental monitoring in the oil sands. Alvaro Pinto, director of Fort McKay’s Sustainability Department, said in a letter that information sharing was “often…

Martin Heavy Head, a student at the University of Lethbridge and from the Blood Reserve, was not successful in his run for Lethbridge city council in the Oct. 21 municipal elections. Heavy Head garnered 4,232 votes or 3.4 per cent. The closest successful councillor received 5,942 or 4.8 per cent of the vote. Twenty-nine people vied for eight council seats. Lethbridge’s new mayor is…

High Prairie was the site of the only workshop to be held in Alberta as a partnership between the National Association of Friendship Centres and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to create “spirit panels.” The work of Aboriginal youth from every province and territory will be displayed in a unique circular theatre inside the museum, which opens in Winnipeg in 2014 as Canada’s newest…

Healing Histories: Stories from Canada’s Indian Hospitals

Laurie Meijer Drees

University of Alberta Press, 2013

Edmonton, Alberta

ISBN 978-0-88864-650-7

244 pages

Reviewed by Heather Andrews Miller

In the early twentieth century…

OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Networks is hoping that a recent partnership with the Canadian Blood Services in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Thunder Bay has raised awareness that there is a desperate need for Aboriginal stem cell donors.  

“Matching donors to patients happens on a genetic level with stem cells, so the likelihood of someone finding a match depends on the type of heritage that…

Two University of Lethbridge students are looking to capture the stories behind the portraits and drawings by artist Nicholas de Grandmaison.

Maria Livingston and Karissa Patton are reaching out to families and individuals across the province, people who knew the famous portraitist or whose family members were subjects of his work.
The memories and stories will add to the depth of…

When Marvin Belcourt lay for hours, injured and in pain, waiting for medical help, he had no vision of what the future held for him. As an independent trucker for many years, he had supported his family and enjoyed a good lifestyle. When he left his home in Grimshaw that morning in 2009, it was just another work day. But his career was about to end in an industrial accident in Fort Wrigley.…

Some more screen time might end up being the secret to getting Aboriginal youth across the country more physically active.

At least that’s the goal of Don Patterson and Janice Ryan, who helped design the Spirit Runner app.

The free iTunes app runs on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Some of the features of the app include an activity log, schedule maker, motivational quotes, GPS…

Forty years ago, caring individuals from the Treaty Six First Nations and adjacent Métis settlements formed a society in northeastern Alberta which would eventually become the Bonnyville Indian-Métis Rehabilitation Centre.

 “It took about three years to accomplish all the organizational details and get the doors open, but it became a reality,” said Leah Ferris, the current executive…