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Alberta Sweetgrass

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Community focused with a grassroots appeal. Established in 1993 to serve the needs of the Indigenous people of Alberta.

  • August 14, 2013
  • Shari Narine Sweetgrass Contributing Editor EDMONTON

The suicide death of a teenage Métis boy in kinship care is a “tragedy” that spurred the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate to issue six recommendations to the Ministry of Human Services.
“A mother’s lost her son, a family’s lost a loved one and we looked at that (and) we were quite concerned about what are those systemic issues that are related to this situation? How can we learn…

  • August 14, 2013
  • Heather Andrews Miller Sweetgrass Writer CALGARY

Out of destruction can come renewed hope and a brighter future, says Vivian Manasc of Manasc Isaac Architects, whose firm was “instrumental “ in helping rebuild Slave Lake after the devastating fire in 2011.

“In addition to most of the homes in the southern Alberta floods being unliveable, the community health care facilities and schools were damaged and need to be repaired and that…

  • August 14, 2013
  • Compiled by Darlene Chrapko

Alvin Manitopyes leads the Grand Entry into Olympic Plaza.

First Nations celebrate Canada Day on Olympic Plaza

Despite the flooding of Prince’s Island in late June, Canada Day celebrations went ahead at Shaw Millenium Park, on Stephen Avenue and at Olympic Plaza, beginning with the Grand Entry of the pow wow. Hundreds of Calgarians packed Olympic Plaza for an…

  • August 14, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

Marchers, led by Chevi Rabbit (centre, without sign), many wearing red to represent anti-hate, marched from the University area over the High Level bridge to the Alberta legislature for a rally entitled “From Hate to Hope.”


Hate to Hope rally

Aug. 2 marked the second Hate to Hope rally held in Edmonton. In 2012, Montana First…

  • August 14, 2013
  • Shari Narine Sweetgrass Contributing Editor COLD LAKE FIRST NATION

Cold Lake First Nation is demanding answers from Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. after it came to light that bitumen emulsion has been seeping into the ground.

In a strongly worded statement released Aug. 8, Chief Bernice Martial stated, “We are extremely alarmed with the environmental damage from the blow out… and we are now demanding answers and want factual information on the…

  • August 14, 2013
  • Shari Narine Sweetgrass Contributing Editor EDMONTON

Prayer vigils were held July 25 in Edmonton and Calgary as part of national action to condemn the federal government for using children at six residential schools for experimentation.  Children who attended St. Paul’s and Blood schools, on the Blood reserve, were among those included in government tests.

 “Scientists chose Aboriginal children because they were already malnourished and…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Sweetgrass Staff

Via Canadian Press

The Alberta Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that restricts where Métis people can hunt in the province of Alberta.

Garry Hirsekorn was convicted in 2010 of hunting out of season after he shot a mule deer in 2007 near the Cypress Hills area in southeast Alberta.

Hirsekorn's lawyers had argued that he was exercising his Aboriginal rights as a Métis.…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Northern Lakes College has a new bursary program. The “Shell Canada Aboriginal Education Advancement Fund” will pay for course upgrades across the Northern Lakes community campuses and be distributed over a five-year period. Shell donated $250,000 to Northern Lakes College to provide funding for students who wish to enter a college or apprenticeship program, but do not meet the…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Dr. Wilton Littlechild, a member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation and commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, performed the honouring ceremony at Augustana’s convocation ceremony June 2 as a record number of Aboriginal students graduated from the University of Alberta’s Camrose campus. Littlechild also presented an offering to his youngest daughter, who followed in her…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Cree artist George Littlechild, originally from Alberta but now living in British Columbia, received an honourary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of the Fraser Valley. Littlechild built both a strong reputation and a huge catalogue of work over the 25 years he has been creating since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

In early June, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs launched a 10-day motorcycle tour of First Nations across the Prairies to raise awareness of treaty rights. The motorcycle caravan traveled more than 4,000 km to about 40 First Nations in six traditional territories in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The route saw the caravan hit Alberta in the middle of the 10…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

Dene Tha’ First Nation lost its bid to stop the sale of oil and gas tenure in their territory. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Grauer found that the Dene Tha’ had been properly consulted on the B.C. government’s sale of exploration rights on 21 parcels of land, most for shale gas development in northeastern B.C. However, in his written judgment Grauer says the depth of consultation will…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Whitefish Lake First Nation and Ermineskin Cree Nation have undertaken an aggressive joint campaign to stop Coalspur’s proposed Vista coal mine project- the first of four stages in a massive 470 sq/km open pit operation in the Eastern Slopes, which will impact diverse wildlife populations and threaten one of the last hunting grounds of several First Nations’ communities. The drive to…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has postponed his tour of an oilsands plant in the Fort McMurray area slated for the last weekend in June and his visit to a First Nations community at Fort Chipewyan because of the floods in southern Alberta. Kennedy is a lawyer with the U.S. National Resources Defense Council and president of the Waterkeeper’s Alliance. CP reported that…

  • July 4, 2013
  • Compiled by Shari Narine

 

Samson Cree Nation Chief Marvin Yellowbird signed an agreement with Brendan Dolan, president of ATCO Pipelines, that outlines a commitment by the company to explore employment and training opportunities with the Samson Cree on the replacement of a 219 mm pipeline running through the First Nation. The pipeline is a critical piece of a larger network that provides natural gas service to…