Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.
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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A new student data system being brought online by Saskatchewan Learning will help the province and First Nation departments of education to ensure all school-aged students are in school and are getting the programs and supports they need to succeed.
The new system will include data on all school-aged children in Saskatchewan, both on-and off-reserve, but it's unclear…
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A two-year study has revealed high levels of contaminants in the wild meat and fish consumed by the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabauskang First Nations.
One hundred and eighty samples of animals that include otter, beaver, muskrat, moose, rabbit, deer, marten, jackfish and pickerel were collected. Lab results for 93 per cent of the samples collected show high levels of…
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Not much has changed in Kelly Lake since the CBC did a 1993 documentary exposing hard living conditions in their community and the lack of essential services, said Lyle Letendre, president of the Kelly Lake Metis Settlement Society. Except more Elders have passed and the people who remain are more disheartened.
Until Sept. 1, that is. For two days, the Kelly Lake Metis…
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NASIVVIK
Harry Daniels, Metis leader and spokesman extraordinaire, has passed away. I was blessed to know Harry well, and associated with him excellently during the Aboriginal constitutional conferences of the 1980s. The defining ingredient in our relationship was the sharing of a lot of intense non-seriousness, in the backdrop of solemn business itself; of defining, and…
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PRO BONO
Dear Tuma:
I had my eyes enucleated three or four years ago and have been experiencing excruciating pain ever since. I am getting the feeling that the doctor who did the surgery must have made a mistake. Is it too late to do anything? I'm getting really depressed because not only do I have to deal with my blindness but also the pain in my eye. I feel as…
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THE URBANE INDIAN
Not that long ago I was at a conference in Montreal on traditional knowledge, or as its affectionately known around our circles-TK. And as it drew to an end, we were all given a button to put on our jackets. It said "Mais avez-vous paye' l'artiste?" Translated it means "But have you paid the artist?" Deep, philosophical, almost religious words for a…
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Silver Wave Records' recently released album Many Blessings features 15 songs that showcase the diversity of today's contemporary Native American music, with styles and influences originating from all four corners of the Americas.
The songs on the CD run the gamut from New Age to jazz to rock melded with Native American rhythms, themes and soul.
The album is a…
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Carsen Gray,13, may seem like a typical Grade 8 student, but how many of her classmates can say they've appeared in a major motion picture? Carsen was 11 when she flew to Australia to join the cast of the movie Peter Pan in the role of Tiger Lily. Her performance earned her a nomination in the Best Performance in a Feature Film-Supporting Young Actress category in the 2004 Young…
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Want to be inspired all over again? Check out a 2002 offering titled The Winona LaDuke Reader: A Collection of Essential Writings published in Canada by Theytus Books. You remember Winona, that Harvard-educated, Chippewa who served twice as Ralph Nader's running mate on the Green Party's presidential ticket? LaDuke and publishers have combined 40 of her most important speeches,…
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If you missed it the first time, don't miss it now. Richard Van Camp's The Lesser Blessed, first published in 1996 to rave reviews as a powerful first novel has been re-issued by Douglas & McIntyre.
Sherman Alexie describes the book as First Nation noir madness. "I love it, and I'm sorta scared of it, too," he comments on the cover. The publishers describe the novel…
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Sun on the Mountains, Book 1
The Story of Blue Eye
By Tyler Trafford
Thistledown Press Ltd., 2004
$18.95; 349 pages (sc)
Not since I devoured saga after saga by that great chronicler of the American West, Zane Grey, 45 years ago have I enjoyed a story of the wide open spaces so much.
Canadian author Tyler Trafford's first Sun on the…
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Kinnie Starr might look delicate, but looks can be deceiving. During a recent show at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre she told the audience if they remained in their seats they would be "asked to leave." Everyone laughed, but they stood up as instructed, because they knew she wasn't kidding.
"I'm not known for being polite," Starr said in a pre-show interview. "I respect…
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In a classic case of irony, the community of Kwicksutaineuk First Nation, in which the water is undrinkable and the houses are unlivable, rests on the shores of a place called Health Bay.
Health Bay is located in a remote area on Gilford Island near the northern tip of Vancouver Island accessible only by float plane or boat.
Respiratory illnesses caused by the mold…
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An announcement of a new process to oversee implementation of modern day land claim and self-government agreements may come in early October.
If it does become a reality it will be in large part because of a document prepared by a coalition of seven Indigenous nations that have signed self-government agreements with Canada.
Government sources say the Prime Minister…
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Imagine a hockey game where one team gets to review every decision made by the referee and can then rewrite the rules to suit its own purposes even after the game has begun.
A well-placed source says that's going on right now in Canada with the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process for survivors of residential schools.
One team can move the net whenever its…