As the momentum of the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission event was building both nationally and locally, members of Edmonton’s St. Andrew’s United Church wanted to get involved.

There is a Siksika asteroid in the sky. It was named by Robert Cardinal after his Nation.

The Alberta government has pledged to create a new curriculum that will see kindergarten to Grade 12 students learn about the legacy of residential schools, about First Nation treaties, and receive the Aboriginal perspective.

The mayors of Edmonton, Calgary and Wetaskiwin have declared Years of Reconciliation for their cities.

Emotions ran the gamut from forgiveness to anger to guilt to horror as honourary witnesses shared their reflections over the four-day national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In an already emotionally charged statement, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson broke down when he personalized the experience of children being taken from reserves and put into residential schools.

After a week of milder weather in Edmonton, the opening day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final national event was met with snowfall.

“An Elder told me the snow came because it’s a form of cleansing,” said Assembly of First Nations Alberta Regional Chief Cameron Alexis, who addressed a packed hall at the Shaw Conference Centre.

**This was an April Fools joke from your friends at Windspeaker. **

OTTAWA - April 1, 2014

In what many are calling nothing more than a pre-election publicity stunt, Prime Minister Steven Harper has announced that Canada will have a third official language.

And Windspeaker has learned that language will be Cree.

Writer,
scholar, storyteller and activist for Indigenous Peoples Leanne Simpson is the
recipient of the inaugural RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Simpson was
nominated for the award by Thomas King whose book, The Inconvenient Indian: A
Curious Account of Native People in North America, won the 2014 RBC Taylor
Prize. The RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award, which consists of a $10,000 cash
prize and the opportunity to be mentored by the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize winner,
was established to promote emerging talent in non-fiction. Simpson, a member of

Rich Francis, Gwich'in and
Haudenosaunee from the N.W.T., owns and operates a culinary business on the Six
Nations reserve. He is one of 14 competitors in Top Chef Canada, which kicked
off its fourth season in March exclusively on Food Network Canada. Francis
cooks with ingredients that are indigenous to Canada. “The vastness of
Aboriginal food on Turtle Island is huge...let's be honest, in the past it's
been pretty boring,” Francis told CBC News. John Brunton, executive producer,