Pictured is ranger Abraham
Metatawabin with Canadian Rangers and military officers after receiving his
first clasp for long military service.

Rebecca Belmore's work is firmly rooted in the current political and social realities of Aboriginal communities in Canada, but its power and poetry resonate worldwide. (Photo: supplied)

Public to help create Indigenous work of art

Indigenous luminaries will gather in Winnipeg from across the country for the 21st Annual Indspire Awards. The gala will be held March 21 at Winnipeg’s Centennial Concert Hall. Organizers are expecting 2,000 guests. The show will be broadcast nationally by media partners Global Television and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network at a later date.

The National Association of Friendship Centres launched a new web-based resource that assists Aboriginal people relocating to urban centres. NewJourneys.ca was two years in the making and targets both Aboriginal individuals and service providers. It includes practical tips and information on issues such as safety planning, registering children for school, and finding employment, housing and other services.

Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan criticized Ottawa for cutting front-line policing on the province’s reserves, saying it was part of a federal “line of attack” on First Nation communities. A CTV report state the 45-year-old program on First Nations policing that works in partnership with the RCMP will end in just over a year. “This is a continuing line of attacks on Aboriginal people by the federal government,” Swan told a provincial NDP convention on Feb. 9. “The Conservative government tells us they’re about law and order.

On Feb. 8, the Kwakiutl Commemorated the 163rd anniversary of its 1851 Douglas Treaty as the First Nation entered into its 12th day of protest against the province of British Columbia, Canada and forest companies over the clear-cutting of cedar trees on lands with exclusive Kwakiutl Aboriginal title, rights and interests, and treaty rights, a press statement reads. “The people of Kwakiutl have been left with no choice but to protest and stop Canada and B.C. from allowing companies to cut and remove cedar trees from our land,” said Chief Coreen Child of Kwakiutl First Nation.

Manto Sipi Cree Nation and Mathia Colomb Cree Nation in northern Manitoba have stated their opposition to mineral exploration in their traditional territories. In a press release Feb. 18 Manto Sipi said it would block mineral exploration and work permits and will not consult with the provincial government until land disputes are addressed. “I have been given a strong mandate to initiate legal, political and defensive action against outside encroachment,” said Manto Sipi Chief Michael Yellowback.