Alberta Sweetgrass

The historian who alerted media in September to vandalism of a glacial rock he said to be covered in Aboriginal carvings and images, is dismayed his word is being called into question by the archeological community.

Despite questions over a lack of documented evidence, Stanley Knowlton, head of interpretive services at Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and member of the Piikani First Nation…

The federal government is putting more money into skills training for Aboriginal youth in light of a labour shortage – but it’s coming at a cost to other Aboriginal programs.

“I think an equal balance is what we look for because in our culture the whole realm of healthiness has to evolve, has to be equal,” said Chief Cameron Alexis of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation.

Alexis made…

Vivian Tucarro (centre) with son Billy Joe get comfort from event organizer April Eve Wiberg as the family remembered Amber Tuccaro at the Sisters in Spirit rally and Stolen Sisters Awareness Walk in Edmonton on Oct. 6. Amber went missing August 2010. Her body was found east of Leduc almost two years later on Sept. 1.  The family’s plea for action, both to prevent violence and to get closure…

Ermineskin Residential School Monument unveiling ceremony

The historian who alerted media earlier in September to vandalism of a glacial rock he said to be covered in Aboriginal carvings and images, is dismayed his word is being called into question by the archeological community.

Despite questions over a lack of documented evidence, Stanley Knowlton, head of interpretive services at Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and member of…

Taane Mete has been a leading dancer in New Zealand for more than two decades and is co-artistic director of Okareka, a prolific company that creates compositions that inspire and provoke audiences around the world.

Alberta choreographer-on-the-rise Troy Emery Twigg and internationally renowned Indigenous choreographer Taane Mete recently presented Spirit,  a new dance works exploring…

The hearing for Shell Oil Canada’s proposed Jackpine Mine Expansion project begins Oct. 29 in Fort McMurray and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation will be actively involved. ACFN has been fighting the proposed Jackpine Mine expansion and the Pierre River open pit mine tar sands projects for over a year. “We are rightfully concerned about how Shell’s proposed Jackpine Mine expansion project…

The federal government has delayed the release of the final woodland caribou recovery strategy until at least Sept. 30. According to the mandatory timelines set out in the Species at Risk Act, once the overdue draft strategy was released in August 2011, the final recovery strategy should have been posted in November 2011. The public comment period was extended until February 2012, after which…

A formal complaint was filed in August with the federal Competition Bureau claiming Enbridge is misleading the public with promotional videos about the proposed Northern Gateway tanker route. Lori Waters, a BC woman who has a graduate degree specializing in scientific animation and owns a biomedical communications company, claims Enbridge erased more than 1,000 square kilometres of islands…

Tall Cree First Nation has formed a partnership with Native American Resource Partners Canada Inc. to create Tall Cree Energy, which will pursue the development of resource projects both on and off Tall Cree’s reserve lands. In forming Tall Cree Energy, the First Nation has secured both the industry expertise and investment capital necessary to evaluate and fund associated exploration and…

The Métis local in Fort MacKay is asking that the municipal council of Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo consider changing the spelling of the community’s name to Fort McKay. “The First Nations already identify themselves as the Fort McKay First Nation. The Métis community already self-identifies as Fort McKay. If you drive down Highway 63, all the signs say ‘Fort MacKay,’ so it’s a clarity…

Seventeen months of collaboration between Portage College and Devon Canada has resulted in the creation of the first Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Operator program. The program begins this fall at the Lac La Biche campus. The SAGD Operator program produces fourth class power engineers who are specially trained to work in oil and gas water processing and treatment facilities. “Since no…

The Energy Resources Conservation Board has approved Enbridge Inc. applications to construct and operate two pump stations and a pipeline that would transport diluted bitumen from Fort McMurray to Sherwood Park. The proposed pipeline route generally parallels several existing pipelines and is approximately 385 km in length. It is proposed to transport an initial capacity of 400,000 barrels per…

Michel Paul seemed like any other reluctant 15-year-old boy when his mother, Helene Paul, suggested he join Air Cadets. Originally from Kuujjuaq, a remote community in northern Quebec, the Inuit youth moved to Cold Lake at the age of seven when his mother was posted to the base there. She had seen the value and discipline that could be gained from military training, and so she encouraged her…

CFWE Radio’s Bingo Manager Anna Giles has an elegant,  needle-point sign hanging on her office door that reads “Happiness is yelling “Bingo”!

Is this true? I wondered, keeping the question in mind as I set off with her this past July on a junket across northern Alberta to touch base with bingo players and card sellers. On this trip, Anna focused on the Peace River and High Level areas,…