Matt Cruickshank sketched Duke Kahanamoku’s face on a wooden surfboard for the Google Doodle Aug. 24, the graphic that accompanies Google’s search box on the Internet. Kahanamoku was an Olympian, medaling five times in swimming. He was also considered the father of modern surfing. Aug. 24 marked his birthday. He was born in Honolulu in 1890 and is the only person to be inducted into both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Surfing Hall of Fame. The Indigenous Kahanamoku traveled the world putting on swimming exhibitions, and increasing interest in surfing.

About 13 per cent of the eligible voters of the Menominee Tribe cast ballots to approve both the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana on tribal grounds in a referendum described as “advisory”, meaning leadership is not bound by results. There are about 9,000 members of the tribe, and Menominee is the only Wisconsin tribe solely responsible for enforcing its own laws. “The state has no criminal jurisdiction over the Menominee Reservation, and we will continue to monitor this issue going forward,” said Attorney General Brad Schimel in a written statement.

Rob Demarais is searching for the remains of First Nations people who were buried on Scholten Hill, Alta. in the late-1800s and disinterred in the mid-twentieth century because of road construction. The remains had been reinterred in Medicine Hat. Then they were again disinterred and sent to the University of Alberta for research. A report in a local newspaper Nov. 19, 1959 say city work crews came upon the burial site while they were building City View Road, which became Scholten Hill.

At Queen’s Park on Aug. 24, Elder Garry Sault from Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation opened what Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day Wiindawtegowinini called, “a momentous occasion.”

A political accord was signed between the Chiefs of Ontario, represented by Day, and the Ontario Government, represented by Premier Kathleen Wynne. The accord commits to a renewed relationship between Ontario First Nations and the provincial government.

Métis veteran, lived to see his heritage honoured

Even though he returned to Juno Beach with mixed feelings, Private Robert Bruce made the trip in 2009 to be honoured as a Métis soldier.

The Elder made the trip with 50 Canadian delegates as one of only a handful of D-Day soldiers who attended the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to Metis veterans at the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer. The centre is immediately behind the beach in Normandy where 14,000 Canadian troops landed on June 6, 1944.

It’s been a year of up-and-down emotions for Carrie-Leigh Thomas.

The 22-year-old Cayuga, who lives in Ontario in the Six Nations community of Ohsweken, first joined the Canadian senior women’s softball team in 2012.

This past December, however, she was named as an alternate for the squad for the 2015 season.

That meant Thomas, who primarily plays first base now, would only get to suit up for the club’s most prestigious event this year, the Pan American Games, if another infielder was injured and unavailable to play.

Thibeault Competes At Pan Am Games

Canadians won more than their share of medals at the recent Pan American Games staged in Toronto.

In fact, Canada won a total of 217 medals at the multi-sport Games, which concluded on July 26. Only the United States won more medals, 265.

Jaimie Thibeault and her Canadian volleyball teammates, however, did not perform as well as they would have liked to.

Study shows culture impacted in wildfire evacuations 

Devon Fiddler of SheNative Goods Inc., and Heather Abbey of ShopIndig.ca are among 22 delegates who will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, in September for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance Summit. Both women were chosen through a lengthy process by Futurpreneur Canada. Abbey is the founder and CEO of ShopIndig.ca, a platform by which Indigenous artisans can sell their designs and creations to a global market. Fiddler is the chief changemaker of SheNative Goods Inc., a lifestyle brand of handbags, accessories and apparel with a social mission to empower Indigenous women.

Residential school survivors at the Standing Buffalo First Nation are using their money to ensure the continuation of the lacrosse program. The reserve has operated a lacrosse program for its youth for the past six years, however, financial difficulties last year meant Standing Buffalo couldn’t afford to put a team together. About 80 residential school survivors in the community donated their compensation package of $3,000 to the program. The donation helped pay for the registration fees and transportation costs for the novice, peewee and bantam age groups.