Recognizing that there was a need in the Aboriginal urban community for an outpatient program, two well-respected Aboriginal organizations have come together to help those struggling with addictions.

Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centre has opened an outpatient office at the Canadian Native Friendship Centre in downtown Edmonton.

The idea to offer outpatient services came last year when Merle White, executive director for the Canadian Native Friendship Centre, noticed that there was a demand in aftercare assistance for people trying to maintain their sobriety. 

Rockin’ on Whyte

Rockin’ Randy (Daniels) belts out classic rock tunes while Rick Shott plays guitar during the jam at Blues On Whyte on Jan. 31. Both are familiar faces in Edmonton’s music scene. Daniels has led a number of open jams around the city, but is especially known for his energetic performances at Blues On Whyte. 

Audio tells story of missing, murdered women

Once again, a First Nation is seeking legal action against the Alberta government.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation filed an application in Calgary court on Jan. 15 challenging the province’s newly created Aboriginal Consultation Office.  The court action goes beyond questioning ACO’s direction to the Alberta Energy Regulator that “consultation with ACFN is not required with regard to” TransCanada Pipeline’s Grand Rapids Project, to questioning the overall authority ACO had in the process of consultation for this specific project.

A new report on poverty in Edmonton indicates that 43.7 per cent of young Aboriginal children up to age five lived in poverty in 2011, more than twice the poverty rate of young Edmonton children overall. Almost one-third of the 100,000 people who live in poverty are children.

Aboriginal people in the city make up a disproportionate number of those living in need, says the Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty, even though those with Aboriginal background in 2011 represent only 5.6 per cent of Edmonton’s population.

The Blood Tribe Police Service has added a new Crime Reduction Unit to their troop. As a result of recent deaths linked with street versions of oxycodone, the BTPS has taken steps to prevent further harm.

“The impact it’s had on the community’s been great. Some parents are overdosing on it, and leaving young children. The community’s upset,” said Sgt. Joseph Many Fingers, who currently oversees the new unit.

“It’s not a prescribed drug, so you can’t get it at the pharmacy. It’s something being made… probably by organized crime groups in an illegal lab,” he said.

The second of three investigations that involved shootings of Indigenous men by RCMP in August 2013 has concluded in the same manner as the first: no wrong-doing by the RCMP officers involved.

Directors of a newly formed Métis forestry company have grudgingly accepted a government investigation into their joint venture and claim that KAQUO will withstand scrutiny.

Iner Gauchier, chair of Peavine Métis Settlement and a director on KAQUO, says the provincial government is against Métis taking control of their own lands and that is why the investigation was launched.

Key to the inroads Calgary’s United Way’s Aboriginal Youth and Education Strategy has made in increasing high school completion rates over the past 10 years has been its ever-evolving comprehensive approach. The program works with the education sector, including the three school boards of Calgary Board of Education, the Calgary Catholic School District, and Rocky View Schools, post-secondary institutions, agencies and corporations.

The promotion of Edmonton Police Service’s Const. Mike Wasylyshen to sergeant in early December sparked a series of protests downtown.

“When I heard that Mike Wasylyshen was being promoted to sergeant, I was shocked,” said Jeanne Longo, a First Nations activist with Idle No More. “I had seen the news and read the newspapers about what he had done and was surprised he was still a police officer, let alone getting a promotion.”