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The sounds from a traditional drum group filled the air as 36 Aboriginal students from three high schools in Fort McMurray and one from Janvier walked on to a stage to receive recognition for completing high school.

The Father Mercredi High School, the Composite High School, the Westwood High School and the Peter Ge, Janvier High School celebrated the Second Annual Traditional Celebration of Achievement held May 7.

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The University of Alberta's Aboriginal Health Careers program is fulfilling a need for more Aboriginal doctors in Canada with the graduation of two medical doctors from the program and the first Aboriginal graduate in the Public Health Sciences this year.

The two MD graduates are John Bradley Davies and Nancy Robson, and Josie Auger is the Public Health Science graduate and is actively working with the Aboriginal Diabetes Wellness Program in Edmonton.

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The dream of the Metis Cultural dancers is a reality with the opening of their new dance studio where they will continue to build on years of dancing while keeping the Metis culture alive through teaching others.

The dance studio walls feature the artwork of Morris Cardinal and lots of room to learn how to do the Duck Dance, Reel of Eight or the Red River Jig. Upstairs is the boardroom where the meetings of the Edmonton Metis Cultural Dance Society are held.

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An eight week contract with an Okotoks company could lead to expansion and year round employment at Peigan Craft Limited, in Brocket located in southern Alberta.

The Peigan craft company is a Peigan band operated business which is well known for its moccasins and mukluks. Peigan is hoping that eight weeks of manufacturing webbed halters for Burwash Brand Horse Gear will lead to further business with the company.

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It's been eleven long years since Native Counseling Services took over the Grierson Centre, but Edmonton's Stan Daniels Healing Centre now hosts an Aboriginal Awareness Day. More than 200 people turned up at the centre on June 23, to celebrate the first annual Awareness Day.

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The Travelling Diabetes Resource Program, known as TDRP, is unique to Alberta and probably to all of Canada. Begun as a pilot project in 1997 by the Canadian Diabetes Association, Alberta and Northwest Territories Division, the aims of the program are to educate people on how to manage their diabetes and to link them up with local health professionals and diabetes support groups.

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Decorated cradleboards, an eagle feather bonnet, southwestern pottery and numerous other artifacts will be showcased during a unique presentation at Calgary's Glenbow Museum.

Powerful Images, an exhibit of Aboriginal art work, will run from July 3 to Sept. 26. The presentation will feature the traditional and contemporary works of regional and internationally-recognized artists. Materials such as paintings, sculptures and children's toys that date back hundreds of years will also be featured.

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June 4 in Valleyview was a special day for a very special person who had an impacted Metis and Indian people and communities in Alberta for better than 20 years. That was the day that Valleyview and Zone 6 of the Metis Nation of Alberta held a banquet to honor one of their own, Marina Brothers. On the wall of the hall hung a banner proclaiming her lifetime commitment to the Metis people.

People from many parts of the province bustled into Valleyview that day to pay tribute to Brothers, who is considered one of Alberta's hardest working and dedicated Metis women.

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A lengthy fight card that had two Aboriginal boxers go down in defeat were better fighters than they appeared to be.

June 24 was Showdown 11 at Northlands Agricom in Edmonton with the feature bout being a long-awaited rematch between Edmonton's Tony 'Bad Boy' Badea and Vancouver's Manny 'The Teacher' Sobral.

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Students of Native studies at the University of Alberta, embarked on a unique project last fall entitled Applied Historical Research on Metis Land Rights.

This is the first such course ever offered at the university said the school's director, Frank Tough.

Recently, the fruits of the project came front and centre in a database exhibit called The Scrip Files: The Truth is Out There, which is one of more than 225 individual exhibits that made up Research Revelations '99 at the university's Butterdome Arena on Feb. 6.