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Established in 1983 to serve the needs of northern Alberta, Windspeaker became a national newspaper on its 10th anniversary in 1993.
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Dear Editor:
I have listened with dismay as Aboriginal prisoners described how, due to strict non-smoking policies, they are no longer permitted to smudge and pray in their cells. I am writing now to register my displeasure with such cultural insensitivity and the violation of religious freedom. As I see it, the justice policies are being used to strip away rights and…
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Dear Editor:
In honor of the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has launched a new initiative, Stop Internet Hate, to fight hate on the Web.
The CJC Web site now carries a link for anyone wishing to report what they believe may be an Internet site with hateful content. This new initiative is…
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Dear Editor:
Before you read this I would just like to say that all that money the government is trying to avoid giving to Natives for residential school should just go towards language and culture renewal. I don't doubt that all those Elders that went to residential achool would love for their money, or part of it , to go towards the renewal of language and culture. It…
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Dear Editor:
Just read the piece in Windspeaker Business Quarterly titled "Tax court upholds GST exemption." I enjoyed it and became a little more aware of a First Nation citizen's right to be GST exempt. I'm often asked questions about tax issues involving Aboriginal people and the First Nations and Canadian taxation policies, especially when dealing with financial…
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Dear Editor:
I am writing from Montieth Correctional Facility regarding the article titled "Take Pride In Your Successes." I haven't been the type to be able to communicate socially. I always got lost in my thoughts. Then I would feel sweaty and out of place. Your article helped me see that I have been something I'm not. Just always trying to fit in socially with a…
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Dear Editor:
The Canadian government has procrastinating down to an art when it comes to dealing with First Nations residential school survivors. The agreement-in-principle has to go before cabinet on March 31, and then before all the courts on May 30, and then it has a six-month waiting period for residential school survivors to opt-in or out which then is Nov. 1. This…
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Editorial
As accountability questions arise again and plans for more rhetoric and political posturing are being prepared, let us try to keep things from getting silly this time around.
Knowing the world of Indian Affairs as well as we do, we believe this must all begin with someone saying the things that everybody knows but nobody talks about.
One: Most…
Page 26 First woman chief used creativity to solve problems Elsie Knott made history when she became the first woman in Canada to be elected as chief of a First Nation. While that feat earned Knott a place in the history books, she chose…
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It was truly a wet and wild year for Jeremy Brown in 2005, who spent five months of it travelling the waterways of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
From June 1 to July 22, the 28-year-old outdoor enthusiast from Dryden paddled from Thunder Bay, Ont. to Batoche, Sask. as part of an expedition co-ordinated through the Metis Nation of Ontario that retraced the 2,300-km…
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As the Aboriginal tourism sector continues to grow, so does the need for Aboriginal interpreters. These positions would be filled by people of Aboriginal decent who have the desire to tell the Aboriginal story and can do so in two new heritage sites, including Metis Crossing in northeastern Alberta and Blackfoot Crossing in the south.
Lakeland College, in collaboration…
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PRO BONO
Dear Readers: I must say sorry for not having any recent columns available. I will do my best not to have this situation happen again. My sincere apologies and here is this month's column.
Dear Tuma:
I'm looking for a lawyer and was told to talk to you. A family member is in jail and the Legal Aid lawyer is not working to get him out. Can you help…
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NASIVVIK
Open the pages of any Arctic book or journal and the tortured spellings of Inuit names leap out like bad captions in a foreign language movie. To an Inuk reader, coming across such names in print is like having to negotiate, with great care and caution, through patches of brittle, treacherous, unavoidable rough ice.
Qallunaat [White people] have never been…
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THE URBANE INDIAN
Ponder this: You write something that explores a unique aspect of a culture or society in an interesting, fun and critical context. However, in the journey to bring that exploration to the masses, it first has to be filtered through a process that could potentially rob it of some of its originality and reality. It's called editing. You may have heard of…
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Album-Simple Steps
Song-Enough Room
Label-Independent
Producer-Robert Walsh
New direction for Metis singer
Andrea Menard gained many fans and garnered a lot of attention when she released her first album, The Velvet Devil, in 2002. The CD featured songs from her one-woman play of the same name and helped establish her as one of Canada's…
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The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala was held in Vancouver on Jan. 27 with local performers dominating the stage show that served to honor 14 Inuit, Metis or First Nations people who have excelled in a variety of areas and categories.
Comic performer Skeena Reece of Prince Rupert brought the house down with her unique take on the story of contact with the…