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.
At the heart of the Native friendship centres movement are Aboriginal youth, the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population.
“The Friendship Centre Movement has honestly changed my life,” said Jessie Johnson, Alberta representative on the National Aboriginal Youth Council. “My life is so different — I have a place where I belong all the time, I have so much more knowledge, I…
Sitting in the bleachers in front of his grandsons waiting for the closing ceremonies of the latest Alberta Indigenous Games, Wilton Littlechild is pleased with his grandsons’ determination to choose sports and proud of what the AIG stands for. And that is why he wants to donate a complete set of his AIG medals to the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, in Red Deer, where he has been inducted in the…
A key finding in the Calgary Chamber’s Building the Workforce of Tomorrow: Employment and Career Directions for the Métis report is that Métis organizations can fill the role of solidifying relationships with government and education.
“Métis organizations seem to be the hub,” said Ben Brunnen, former director of policy and government affairs for the Chamber. “The key is to find groups…
When musician Sean Hogan heard Leonard Bearshirt from the Siksika First Nation speak about the devastation and loss people on the reserve were suffering as a result of the flooding of the Bow River in Southern Alberta, he wanted to do something.
“I felt overwhelmed and wondered what I could do to help,” he said. “I decided to do what I do best. Write a song.”
Hogan met Bearshirt…
Boy raises money for children in need
Brooklin Jacobs, a 13-year-old resident of the Tsuu T’ina First Nation, recently gave $1,500 to Christian Children’s Fund of Canada and Make a Wish Foundation. The youngster raised the money by performing his Michael Jackson dance moves in front of an eager crowd at Sarcee Seven Chiefs Sportsplex. Brooklin and his family chose…
Singing about Creation and connections
The Iskwew Singers, (from left) Fara Palmer is a Cree singer, Sandy Scofield is Métis from the Saulteaux and Cree Nations, and Krystle Pederson is also Métis and Cree, from British Columbia, performed a full concert and at several sessions during the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. The trio sang in the plains tradition about the…
It is the hope of the Monto installation organizers that the list-minute addition to the three-day Edmonton Folk Festival in early August will result in dialogue.
“There needs to be some difficult conversations and openness created,” said Dawn Marie Marchand, one of the Monto organizers. “During the Folk Festival, the different worldview was apparent. One lady told me that our people…
A Daughter of the Year award for April Wiberg is fitting for the cause she has been recognized for: remembering lost daughters through the Stolen Sisters Awareness Movement.
Wiberg organized the first Stolen Sisters Awareness Walk in 2007. Since then, her organization has worked in partnership with local Edmonton groups and in conjunction with the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s…
First Nations are seeking legal advice on Bill 22, the province’s Aboriginal Consultation Levy Act.
“Treaty rights are not being fully recognized. It’s not just about hunting, fishing and trapping. This is about governance and nation to nation partnership, it’s about developing models for co-management and co-governance of our lands and resources,” said Eriel Deranger, spokesperson for…
It is the recommendation of Justice Bart Rosborough that the province examine what the Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society claims to be a disparity in funding for children in care on reserves and if that disparity exists that the province enter into negotiations with the federal government.
The recommendation is one of nine that Rosborough brought forward in his 10-page report of the…
The chair of the Alberta Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice is pushing for a meeting with the head of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team following a spate of RCMP-involved shootings of Aboriginal men. Two of the three incidences in August resulted in deaths.
“A letter will be sent to them … regarding our concerns that when they consider and are studying these…
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…
An Aboriginal-owned corporation that is a major player in the Alberta oil sands industry has a new name and look.
Following a two-year rebranding process, Acden was born, replacing the Fort McMurray-based Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Business Group.
This new name is an acronym, the first two letters signifying the corporation's owner (Athabasca Chipewyan) while the last…
University of Lethbridge researchers are examining how social and economic adversity faced by Aboriginal peoples may affect their biological health. This first of its kind study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, will be co-led by public health researcher Dr. Cheryl Currie, kinesiology researcher Dr. Jennifer Copeland, and neuroscientist Dr. Gerlinde Metz. Working…
Premier Alison Redford was absent when provincial leaders from across the country met with Aboriginal organizations on the first day of a three-day Council of the Federation meeting in Ontario. Redford instead met with officials from the Insurance Bureau of Canada to discuss Alberta’s recent flooding. Also absent was Newfoundland Premier Kathy Dunderdale. Discussed was support for a national…