Windspeaker Publication

Dear Editor:
I am a Metis who can speak for herself. I do not support Stephen Harper and the Conservative party. Never have and never will. I make sure that I vote in every election.

I am writing because I have been informed that the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples has endorsed the Conservatives and stated that they represent all the Aboriginals off reserve. They do not.

Dear Editor:
I would like to respond to the article published in the Globe & Mail Jan. 16 that claims that the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples represents us or anywhere near the number of people they claim to. How does anyone represent more Aboriginal people than one country actually holds? The only governing body that can lay claim to represent us is the Metis National Council and the…

Dear Editor:
For far too long has Mr. Jason Goodstriker has gotten away with comments that are derogatory to sensitive issues. We as powwow people have a way of life that exists for the purpose of preserving the way of life for all First Nations in North America. The powwow way of life is about song and dance of the proud First Nations people. I, however, find it hard to believe that an…

Liberal insiders in the country will recover from the shock of Jan. 23 eventually, and realize their ride on the entitlement merry-go-round is over and the circus has left town. The Canadian electorate has spoken. Stephen Harper will be sworn in as Canada's 22nd prime minister.

Windspeaker suspects that things are going to be very interesting in the foreseeable future. A lot of the…

Whether on the battlefields of Europe during the Second World War, in the boxing ring, or in the political arena, Sam Sinclair was a fighter.

Samuel John Sinclair was born in Lesser Slave Lake, Alta. on Nov. 22, 1926. He died on Nov. 29, 2005, just one week after celebrating his 79th birthday.

One of Sinclair's first hard-won battles took place in the schoolroom. He first went to…

Mike Martelle has won national martial arts championships in the past, but his most recent title has added significance. That's because the Mohawk Native was able to capture a Canadian title with his very first martial arts instructor, Kwok Chang, in attendance.

Martelle participated in this year's Canadian tai chi and kung fu championships held in Markham, Ont. in October. He won the…

Dear Tuma:

A couple of weeks ago, our chief was sick and asked me to attend a meeting as his proxy. I went and after the meeting the secretary came up and gave me a cheque. I asked what the money was for and she told me that it was an honorarium. I'm not sure what to do with the cheque. Should I keep it? Should I give it to the band? Tell me what to do.

Holy Honorarium
Dear…

One has to take pause to appreciate the sheer amount of work and preparation that must have gone into pulling off the First Ministers' Meeting (FMM) on Aboriginal issues, held Nov. 24 and 25 in Kelowna, B.C. The dynamics of securing commitments from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to deal tangibly with Aboriginal issues is a supreme accomplishment in itself, above and…

Just the other day I had an uncomfortable demonstration of two different types of stupidity demonstrated by two different types of men. Unfortunately, I was one of them.

It didn't happen recently. In fact it happened several years back, but it was only a few days ago I found out about it. And it's left me feeling... I guess odd would be the best word.

I have an acquaintance. For…

JUST A PRETTY FACE ... What do the words articulate, eloquent, polished and professional all have in common? They are all words that would not be used to describe Adam Beach's presentation performance at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in Toronto on Nov. 25. Beach (Smoke Signals, Windtalkers) accompanied Much More Music's Richard Cazeau (The Loop) onto the stage of the John Bassett…

The north wind blew into Toronto on Nov. 25, and riding in on a gust was a huge talent called Tagaq. The Inuit throat-singer took to the stage during the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and took the audience's breath away with an aggressive performance of her contemporary take on the traditional women's vocal game.

A standing ovation greeted the performance, but she couldn't see it,…

If you think the international powwow and the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards gala are the only activities worth talking about during Canadian Aboriginal Week in Toronto, you've got another think coming. In recent years, people involved in a variety of industries have taken advantage of the huge draw of festival week setting the time aside to hold gatherings of all sorts.

There was a…

Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild
By Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud
Random House Canada,
427 pages, $35 (hc)

On Nov. 29, 1990, Cree teenager Neil Stonechild was found frozen to death in a field in an industrial area outside Saskatoon. Fourteen years later, a public inquiry would find clear evidence that Saskatoon police had Stonechild in custody before…

Tanya Tagaq Gillis was in her fourth year of the bachelor of fine arts program at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design when she began to develop the distinctive sound that has garnered the attention of music fans both in Canada and further afield. Missing her home in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, she would listen to the tapes of throat singing her mother had sent to her and began to try to…

Those who follow the goings-on in the House of Commons knew that a storm was brewing when Ted Quewezance took his place in front of the microphone and patiently waited for Jim Prentice, Conservative Party of Canada Indian Affairs critic, to finish his presentation to the chiefs-in-assembly on Dec. 8.

Quewezance, the former chief of the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, had seen…