Mount Royal University in Calgary has recently announced a $1.25 million donation from BMO Financial Group to fund scholarships, bursaries and a peer mentorship program for Aboriginal students over the next seven years.

Mike Darling, regional vice-president, commercial banking for South Alberta with BMO, is impressed with Mount Royal University’s dedication to make the Aboriginal students comfortable on the busy campus.

The establishment of a public library within a First Nations community is one more way to make a difference on the Kainai First Nation.

The library is a huge stepping-stone that enables the community members to come together and support literacy, numeracy and the Blackfoot language within a healthy and positive environment, says library manager Linda Weasel Head.
“The schools are doing a lot for their students, but the community adults need a place where they can receive instruction - to become employable. Over time we want to do away with poverty,” she said.

Survivors of residential schools shared their stories when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission came to Calgary Nov. 4 and 5.  Those heart-wrenching stories were told in the spirit that the telling of the truth would help to move the healing forward.

RELEASE

The Government of Alberta and Tsuu T’ina Nation signed an agreement today setting the groundwork for the southwest leg of Calgary’s ring road.

In a ceremony on Tsuu T’ina land this morning, Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Tsuu T’ina Nation Chief Roy Whitney, and Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver put their names to the Transportation and Utility Corridor Agreement. The agreement allows for the exchange of money and land, so the last portion of Calgary’s ring road can be built.

It’s hard to get a word in edgewise in this news climate, dominated as it is with the Senate Scandal and the ruling Conservative malfeasance, the RCMP investigations of Duffy and Wright and now the PMO, and, of course, the clown car that is the Ford Nation in Toronto. How can anything sane compete for attention when the circus rolls into town? What a head-spinning mess we’ve witnessed from Rob Ford, who I’m sure should be getting a lovely muffin basket sometime soon for getting the Prime Minister off the front pages for at least the last couple of weeks.

Métis National Council President Clement Chartier is pleased that progress is being made on a national Métis economic development strategy.

The MNC, along with the provincial Métis organizations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, have been meeting with Aboriginal Affairs ministers in those five provinces as part of a Métis economic development symposium process.

Now, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt has given the nod to move forward in early 2014 with further discussions with the five provincial ministers and Métis organizations.

Victoria, Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations are in talks to use an ancient burial area in Beacon Hill Park for the re-interment of First Nations remains discovered at construction sites. “If you were at the top of the hill at the pavilion and you were looking down toward Dallas Road, it is off to your left. You can see cairns — rock outcroppings — and that’s a traditional burial site and that is an area they had identified as a potential site to establish an area for reburials,” said director of parks Kate Friars in a report to Victoria city councillors. “It won’t be an active cemetery.

Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt said the new pipeline framework agreement between Premiers Christy Clark and Alison Redford, announced Nov. 4, is good news forcing the Alberta government to recognize First Nations consultation rights. “For once the Alberta government has recognized that BC First Nations have Aboriginal rights and title, and what they don’t understand very clearly is that First Nations in BC are going to have to approve this project, Northern Gateway, if it was ever to go ahead,” Sterritt told CFTK TV.

Regina lawyer Tony Merchant says a judge has refused to give class-action certification to a Métis lawsuit over residential school abuse of about 2,000 students who attended the Timber Bay residential school in Montreal Lake, Sask., between 1952 and 1994. Merchant says he plans to appeal the decision. The plaintiffs claimed they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused. The Timber Bay School is one of many across Canada the federal government does not recognize as a residential school.

Natives near Kamloops and Chase say the expansion of a section of the Trans-Canada Highway cuts through Secwepemc ancient village sites.