Alberta Crown will be appealing the not guilty verdict rendered in
the case of Cindy Gladue, an Indigenous woman, mother, and sex-trade
worker whose body was found in a bathtub in a motel in Edmonton four
years ago. On March 18, a jury of nine men and two women acquitted
long-haul truck driver Bradley Barton on a first-degree murder charge.
Gladue died after she received an 11-centimetre injury to her vagina.
Barton’s defence attorney claimed the wound happened during rough sex.

Members of the Aboriginal community will now feel more comfortable when receiving medical treatment at the Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre. A room recently opened in the hospital is dedicated to honouring and respecting traditional Aboriginal beliefs about health.

While traditional healing has always been a key part of Aboriginal culture, Camille Pablo Russell believes it is becoming more widely accepted by Western medicine.

“It has always been there, but not at the level it is now accepted by Western medicine, and it has given the Aboriginal population the access to use it and in the past it wasn’t there for them unless they went to reservations,” said Russell, who was born on the Blood Reserve.

Photo credit: Jannie Nikola

Cory Nicotine certainly believes in inclusiveness.

That’s why the 26-year-old from the Saddle Lake Cree First Nation has put together an Edmonton-based event called Knowledge Is Pow Wow.

The program, which is geared towards all youth, features presentations on various religions.

The event began on Feb. 20 with a night dubbed Indigenous Spirituality. The Mar. 20 session was on Catholicism. Judaism and Islam presentations will follow on Apr. 20 and May 20, respectively. A program finale, including live musical performances, will be held on June 13.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Canadian Red Cross, First Nations youth from various communities will now be able to participate in an established outdoor education program.

Officials from the Canadian Red Cross have agreed to provide more than $320,000 to the Canadian Rockies Public Schools board.

The money comes from funds the agency raised following the devastating floods in southern Alberta in 2013.

As one of the province’s few Aboriginal physicians, Dr. Daniel McKennitt is both confronting and breaking down stereotypes while continuing to work towards bigger and better goals in his field. McKennitt is Ojibwe, originally from Sandy Bay First Nations outside of Winnipeg, but grew up in Edmonton where he went to university and medical school. He recently finished his residency in family medicine, and works at a clinic in Edmonton as well as in Maskwacis.

A partnership between Whitefish Lake (Goodfish) First Nation and the Christian Labour Association of Canada is helping Whitefish Lake members get into the trades.

Whitefish Lake First Nation approached CLAC to ask if the organization would be interested in developing and delivering a training program for the construction industry, said Warren Kootenay, Aboriginal initiatives coordinator with CLAC.

Olympic athletes inspire youth

It may not be readily apparent what the Okotoks Erratic has in common with world heritage sites such as ChichÈn Itz·, the Titantic, the Parthenon and Machu Picchu, but it is one of two Canadian sites that has been selected by the CyArk 500 Challenge, an international project that is digitally preserving vulnerable, culturally significant historic sites around the world.

Speaking out for the voiceless has earned Aboriginal cleric Rev. Travis Enright an Interfaith Advocate Award from the Edmonton Interfaith Centre for Education and Action.