Straight-talking Chief remembered

He was an honoured leader who cared equally for each and every member of his Tsuu T’ina First Nation, and so the old-time Elders named Gordon Crowchild “Lifetime Chief.”

“That’s the way he was. He always felt responsible for those around him,” said son Lee Crowchild. “Even after he was no longer the official chief, he helped everyone and the old people considered him their forever chief. Even after he got sick they referred to him that way.

“He had the respect of everyone.”

Officials from the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario are thrilled with the multi-million dollar funding they have received from the provincial government. 

At a news conference on May 15 it was announced that the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport has reached a two-year $3.6 million partnership with ASWCO. 

The funding agreement will allow the Aboriginal organization to invest in the wellbeing and health of Aboriginal youth across Ontario through a number of different ventures.

Casey Pierro-Zabotel has completed yet another season in the minor professional hockey ranks. (And like most of his other pro years, Pierro-Zabotel, a member of British Columbia’s Bonaparte First Nation, suited up for more than one team this season. (Pierro-Zabotel, a 26-year-old forward, began the season with the Gwinnett Gladiators, a Georgia-based team that competes in the East Coast Hockey League. He averaged more than a point per game with the Gladiators, scoring 60 points (23 goals, 37 assists) in 54 regular season contests.

Saskatchewan teams managed to continue their recent dominance at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. (For the second straight year both the Saskatchewan girls’ and boys’ entries captured gold medals at the tournament, which concluded on May 2 in Halifax. (The Saskatchewan girls’ club edged Ontario 3-2 in its gold-medal contest. And the Saskatchewan boys’ side registered a 4-3 triumph over Alberta in its championship final. (This year’s tournament featured a total of 16 clubs, eight in each division.

Sharon and Shirley Firth are among those being honoured this year by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. (The twin sisters, former elite cross-country skiers, were the first Indigenous athletes to represent the country at the Winter Olympics. (Shirley will be inducted into the national hall posthumously as she died in 2013. (The Firths, members of the Gwich’in First Nation, were born in Aklavik in the Northwest Territories. (Though they did not win any medals, the sisters both competed at four Olympics. Their first was at the 1972 Sapporo Games.

Organs can be harvested from children who die in Alberta care

The Auditor General of Canada says the federal government cannot guarantee adequate health services for First Nations people living in remote areas in Ontario and Manitoba.

That’s a conclusion First Nations leaders agree with, but not for the same reasons outlined by Auditor General Michael Ferguson.

The De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre, which offers a mix of traditional healing and western medicine, has outgrown its existing facilities. Capital planning campaigns for Hamilton and Brantford were officially launched at events in the two cities in early May. It is hoped that some of the funding for the multi-million dollar project will come from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The centre is planning a community feedback session for late June and expects to submit a proposal to the ministry as early as the end of July.

Aboriginal post-secondary education got a two-fold boost recently from the province. In the budget, the government announced an additional $5 million in funding through the Post-secondary Education Fund for Aboriginal Learners. The additional support positions Aboriginal institutes of higher learning to achieve even greater student success while continuing to work in partnership with Ontario’s colleges and universities, said Rebecca Jamieson, president and CEO of Six Nations Polytechnic.

Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy says the 2015 Ontario budget does not answer how Ontario will work with First Nations over the next year. The budget, which projects slight increases in First Nations spending, contains no new programs or services to close the gap between First Nations and Ontarians.