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The Tsilhqot'in National Government (TNG) may have started a firestorm with the Canadian government when it took the bold step of issuing its own firearms licences and implementing its own hunting regulations Feb. 14.

The main reason: "We've never been in agreement with having Canada impose their laws upon our people and we felt it was an infringement upon our Aboriginal right to hunt," said Joe Alphonse, the Tsilhqot'in fish and wildlife director. Part of that right is to carry a firearm in order to obtain traditional foods, he explained.

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The man leading British Columbia's residential school survivors organization says the government has refused to consider extending the mandate of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF).

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In British Columbia, a mobile diabetes unit is on the road, and sometimes, in a plane, to bring eye exams to remote communities.

It began in early 2002 as a pilot project operated by the First Nations Chiefs' Health Committee in partnership with the University of British Columbia Department of Ophthalmology, Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

But the project is in jeopardy, with the First Nations Health Branch planning to axe the chiefs' health committee as early as March 31.

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Walking through the back alleys of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside isn't likely to be most people's idea of a conference workshop. Neither would hip-hop dance lessons and basketball at the Y. Yet these were all important items on the agenda at the first Aboriginal Youth, Violence and Troubling Times training conference called Preparing Our Youth for a Healthy Future. Held March 6 to 8 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Vancouver, the conference was organized by First Nations Training & Consulting Services (FNTCS).

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VICTORIA-Eighteen-year-old Kate Harris is one of only five student chosen by the Royal Bank's RBC Financial Group (RBC) to receive an Aboriginal Student Award this year.

The award is given to Aboriginal students with an eye on a business career and aspirations of attending a relevant post-secondary program.

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VICTORIA?Spring was a week old and the planting season started in British Columbia when the First Nations Agricultural Lending Association (FNALA), which provides financing to Aboriginal agricultural producers, and the Investment Agriculture Foundation of British Columbia (IAF) signed an agreement to inject a half million dollars into First Nations' farming and food processing businesses.

The fund is called the Aboriginal Agriculture Initiative, and it will be administered by the FNALA.

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WILLIAMS LAKE-Darryl and Evangeline Samsun Porter celebrated an important milestone recently. The couple were surrounded by friends and family at their graduation from a family life skills program at Nenqayni Treatment Centre on March 25.

Evangeline is originally from Hazelton and Darrell is from The Xatsu'll First Nation (Soda Creek). Xatsu'll has two reserves, Soda Creek and Deep Creek, 45 km and 30 km north of Williams Lake respectively, on Highway 97.

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An impressive public ceremony on Feb. 14 at the Elijah Smith Building in Whitehorse launched the beginning of a year-long celebration.

"The event acknowledged the anniversary of the establishment of the Council of Yukon Indians (CYI), now known as the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN)," explained Alison Blackduck, co-ordinator of the festivities.

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At 6 a.m. April 1 on a chilly overcast morning in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, a small group of young people took their first step on a monumental journey.

Their route would take them to Departure Bay where they would board the ferry for Vancouver.

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Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC) will soon have a new home and a new name that will allow everyone to share in the cultural significance of Aboriginal people within the province, and across the country.

The new First Nations University of Canada will be unveiled by Prince Edward and his wife Sofie in a grand opening ceremony on June 21, said Wes Stevenson, SIFC acting president.