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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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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
By Gordon Reid
Fifth House
39 pages (sc)
$12.95
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta is one of the oldest, largest and most well-documented buffalo jumps in North America.
For more than 10,000 years it was a 'world center' for Paleolithic hunters, nomadic Plains tribes and members of the…
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American book author Tony Hillerman has another literary hit on his hands and it's got a Canadian connection. Hillerman, who grew up in rural Oklahoma among Pottawatomie Indians, has written Skinwalkers, a mystery novel recently premiered on PBS Television.
Canadian Adam Beach plays one of the main characters, Officer Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Beach is well-…
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Nathaniel Arcand of North of 60 and American Outlaw fame is a busy man. The Edmonton-born actor will be seen in early December in the CTV's Literature Series movie called 100 Days in the Jungle, the real-life story of eight pipeline workers kidnapped in Ecuador in 1999. In February he'll be seen in a Warner Bros. remake of the Lone Ranger (Arcand plays Tonto). In March he has a…
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For 34-year-old Tammy Crier, a healing circle ceremony held on Nov. 1 gave her an opportunity to close the books on her father's wrongful conviction for murder and his difficult life and death after his incarceration and release.
Wilson Nepoose was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Marie Rose Desjarlais in 1987, but was released after five years in jail when…
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Kathleen McGuire grew up in an orphanage and several foster homes and says the experience hindered her ability to be a child. So now she's making up for lost time with an alter-ego she's developed called Smokey Hontus.
Smokey is an 89-year-old First Nation woman who tells it like it is and makes everybody laugh at life's little truths.
McGuire is Ojibway, Cree and…
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A handful of people braved the winter weather Nov. 16 to attend a memorial in a downtown Toronto park to honor the Native women missing in Vancouver and the hundreds of others missing across the country.
Amber O'Hara is the organizer of the event and the Toronto representative of Vanished Voices Never Again, an international group that attempts to raise the public's…
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Editors note: Cheam First Nation member Ernie Crey, 52, is waiting for final word that his sister Dawn, 10 years younger, met a violent end at the Port Coquitlam farm where the remains of many other women have been found. Crey said the evidence already at hand makes him fear the worst. He discussed his feelings with heart-breaking directness during an interview with Windspeaker…
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Germany is a complex and ancient country, one locked in tradition and memory. Its people, once tribal back in the days of the Roman empire, now bask in a culinary world of breads, sausages, and beer... actually, come to think of it, not that different from most Native communities. But within their unique Teutonic culture are contained many societal nuances and unique behavioral…
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Dear Editor:
I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the First Nations leaders across Canada who have taken a firm stance against the Canadian government and its legislative agenda in regard to First Nations people, including the First Nations Governance act (FNGA).
The dedication, passion, and overall character that has been shown by our leaders since…
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Dear Editor:
Anyone who has picked up a newspaper in the past few years is aware of the calls for accountability in First Nations communities. Partly in response to these criticisms, the federal government introduced the First Nations Governance act (FNGA).
The act is intended to provide the tools to First Nations bands to develop codes for financial accountability…
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My friend's name is Halfmoon. He is in his sixties. He was nicknamed Halfmoon because he always wore his pants halfway down, showing half of his butt. And why not! It was the style in those days.
Halfmoon and I were very much alike and during our drinking days we would do almost anything to cure that hangover feeling.
We had a little dog that we found on one of our…
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Will somebody please explain to us what the fuss is all about? Why call a special chiefs' assembly in November in order to pass a resolution that basically says First Nations want the right to have the financial institutions legislation apply only to the First Nations who want it?
The draft legislation was already optional. Isn't that what optional means?
All the…
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Ricky Papin's face clouds with pain and his voice quavers as he recalls the first time he sensed that something terrible had happened to his sister Georgina. Ricky said he felt powerless at the time.
"I started asking questions and I couldn't find nothing," he recalls. "I didn't know what to think. I was in prison and couldn't get out. I kept asking questions, but they…
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Native women are being left exposed to a class of predators whose tactics in some ways resemble those of the pedophiles who staffed the residential schools. So say experts from many different disciplines.
Much as pedophiles discovered, and then passed the word, that residential schools were places where they could prey on Native children without worry of punishment, many…
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A special arrangement between the Assembly of First Nations and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network will see the network's recently hired chief operating officer receive a tax-free salary.
As reported in Windspeaker's November 2002 edition, Jean LaRose, long-time director of communications for the AFN, will succeed Clayton Gordon as the chief operating officer of…