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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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Near-record rainfalls and a flood of setbacks didn't dampen the spirits of organizers and athletes of the first North American Indigenous Games held in Edmonton from June 30 to July 8.
More than 1,500 competitors and performers from across Canada and the western United States ready to punch, kick, shoot and stoke their way into sports fame paraded into the opening…
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Veronica Kootenay's smile said everything about her pride, excitement and expectations as she anxiously waited for her appointment with the Queen during the royal visit to Calgary.
"We couldn't sleep last night because of the excitement. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Veronica," Desmonia Kootenay, Veronica's mother, said as they waited in the Palliser Hotel…
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An historic agreement has been signed giving the Blood tribe a voice on the Cardston school board.
After years of talks, the Blood chief and council signed an addendum to the existing tuition agreement June 15 with the Cardston school board, allowing for Native representation on the board for the first time in history.
The agreement is the first of its kind in the…
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When Jim Thunder was turned away from New York's American Museum of Natural History last spring without reclaiming Big Bear's sacred bundle, he was leaving behind one of the most spiritual gifts ever handed down to western Canadian Indians.
The 40-year-old Alberta Native couldn't convince American anthropologists he was chosen in a dream to bring the holy relic back to…
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Ann McLean of Edmonton won first place and a $5,000 scholarship in the 1990 Asum Mena Alberta Juried Native Art Festival. Her winning piece entitled The Offering A/P is a detailed black and white etching. McLean, who is originally from Sturgeon Lake reserve, majored in printmaking during her fine arts studies at the University of Alberta. She plans to continue her studies in a…
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The Indian Association of Alberta is calling on the provincial government to ignore the Woodland Cree band.
The IAA charged the band was created by Ottawa to "undermine the rights of the Lubicon Lake Nation."
The Woodland Cree band - officially recognized by the federal government last August - is seeking a land-claim settlement separate from the long-standing…
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The setting was the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec, across the river from Ottawa's Parliament Buildings.
It seemed a fitting venue for one of the most intense brainstorming sessions in Canadian history, which was destined to have major implications for the country's aboriginal people.
But the ironic twist came when the 11 first ministers emerged from the…
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Well, after doing quite the job on Native people in the last federal budget, Ottawa almost pulled another dirty deed on Native people.
And it would have been pulled off if it wasn't for Elijah Harper, the Manitoba MLA, who's been single-handedly blocking passage of the Meech Lake accord.
He's succeeding where white politicians like Premiers Clyde Wells and Gary…
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It is sad Native elders had to trek hundreds of miles from their homes in Browning , Montana and southern Alberta to try to recapture lost Native artifacts from the Provincial Museum of Alberta.
What's even sadder is they've gone away empty-handed.
And it's sad their families and reserves have suffered for decades the loss of these artifacts, which include sacred…
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Talks on the Meech Lake accord postponed the formal signing ceremony of the Whitefish Lake Indian band's $19 million land claim deal. The ceremony, scheduled for June 11, was postponed when federal Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon was called back to Ottawa. Provincial and federal organizers are now hoping for a late June or July 1 signing date, said Whitefish Chief…
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The Sawridge Indian band is looking at exporting Canadian water to Santa Barbara, Calif. The Slave Lake band has submitted one of eight proposals the city is considering in search of an alternative source of fresh water for three to 10 years, starting in the spring of 1991. Mike McKinney, executive director of Slave Lakes's Sawridge Group, said a British Columbia company that's…
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A Native Calgary police officer has won the right to wear braids on the job. The Calgary police commission announced June 15 that Const. Norman Manyfingers, an eight-year veteran of the force, can wear braids. Prior to the commission meeting, Calgary's police chief Gerry Borbridge had expressed concern the force was having little success recruiting visible minorities. Commission…
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Norcen Energy wants to reopen 18 shut-in wells it operates and partly owns in the area claimed by the Lubicon Lake band near Little Buffalo. "It is essential we get them going again for our cash flow to be reinvested," said Norcen spokesman Ian Seph. Norcen me recently with the band and hopes for a further meeting soon to determine the status of the band's land-claim negotiations…
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Alberta Indians have unanimously rejected the Meech Lake accord.
And they let Prime Minister Brian Mulroney know it.
The Indian Association of Alberta at its annual assembly June 5-7 sent Mulroney a telex expressing "total rejection of your government's effort to pass Meech Lake without due consideration of the First Nations of the Country."
The IAA,…
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Manitoba Native leaders who've slapped down their approval of the Meech Lake constitutional accord, are teaching the federal government a history lesson it can't afford to ignore, says Bob Hawkesworth, Native affairs' critical for Alberta New Democrats.
If the accord fails, he said, it's because Native concerns weren't addressed.
"Because of what's happening in…