#FNCFNEA: Regional Chief Bill Traverse directed the F-bomb at an APTN reporter when he asked about the unofficial gathering of the AFN’s Confederacy of Nations. It was hastily assembled for the first time in 10 years (behind closed doors) in response to Bill C-33 and Shawn Atleo’s resignation from the top job at the AFN.  Sto:lo Grand Chief Doug Kelly called some grassroots people he engaged with on the First Nations education act “twits”.

From June 19 to June 21, Victoria, B.C. will host the 2014 Aboriginal Cultural Festival, highlighting and celebrating the region’s rich Indigenous culture through storytelling, artisans, dance, song and food. The three-day festival will take place on both the outdoor grounds and the second floor mezzanine of the Royal BC Museum and around Victoria’s Inner Harbour.

Celebrated Samoan dance artist Lemi Ponifasio from New Zealand is bringing Stones In Her Mouth with 10 Maori women to the Luminato Festival, June 12 to June14 at the MacMillan Theatre in Toronto.

    Stones In Her Mouth tells, in dance and song, stories of oppression, abuse of power and of a changing world. Through oratory, choral-work and dance, Stones In Her Mouth gives voice to intense personal emotions and holds a mirror to contemporary life.

A new film called MAÏNA, starring Roseanne Supernault, Graham Greene, Ipellie Ootoova, Natar Ungalaaq and Tantoo Cardinal, will be screened across the country in June for National Aboriginal History Month. The movie takes place in the time before contact with Europeans and “introduces us to two fascinating civilizations that founded America,” reads a press statement.

University of Regina
Kinesiology and Health Studies professor James Daschuk received four awards for
his book, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of
Aboriginal Life, at the recent 2014 Saskatchewan Book Awards held in Regina.
The book was published by the University of Regina Press. It has been
shortlisted for the Clio Award for Prairie History, the Sir John A. Macdonald
Prize in Canadian History, and the Libris Award for non-fiction book of the

Saskatoon Aboriginal
fashion designer Devon Fiddler is among the first recipients of funding from
the new Michaelle Jean Foundation Young Arts Entrepreneur initiative. Fiddler,
one of eight aspiring business people chosen from 60 applicants, received
$7,500. The program provides start-up capital as well as business and arts
mentors to under-served youth seeking to launch an arts-based business over a
two-year period. Fiddler is a social entrepreneur from the Waterhen Lake First

ATCO Structures &
Logistics will be working with George Gordon First Nation to provide catering,
housekeeping, janitorial and maintenance services for the facility that houses 1,470
workers constructing the K+S Potash Canada Legacy Project. The volume-based,
multi-million dollar contract began in April 2014. ATCO has partnered with the
George Gordon First Nation on other large projects in Saskatchewan. “Our
joint-venture partnership with ATCO works towards our goal of establishing an

Almost 10 years after
Daleen Kay Bosse disappeared from Saskatoon, the trial for Douglas Hales,
charged with first-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains by
setting fire to the body, has got underway. At the time of her death, Bosse,
who had lived on Onion Lake First Nation most of her life, was married, had a
young daughter and was nearing completion of an education degree at university.
She had recently completed a teaching practicum. Bosse, 26, was last seen on

Social Services Minister
June Draude is soliciting feedback from First Nations and Metis organizations
and citizens, providers and other child welfare stakeholders and the general
public as a new round of consultation on the province's child welfare laws
takes place from April 28 to June 30. The move is part of the province's Child
Welfare Transformation Strategy. Leanne Priel, Advocate for Children and Youth
program manager for advocacy and public education, told the Regina Leader Post

Eligible voters of the
Muskowekwan First Nation voted
overwhelmingly in favour on six separate ballot
questions to allow the construction and operation of a solution-based potash
mine on First Nation’s lands that are reserve and pre-reserve. “The proposed
development of a potash mine on First Nation lands is precedent setting as no
other First Nation in Canada has ever undertaken such an endeavour.  The council believes the development of
a proposed potash mine represents a game changer for the members,” said Chief