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Dr. Malcolm King, a prominent research scientist and professor of the pulmonary division, department of medicine at the University of Alberta, is the 1999 National Aboriginal Achievement Award winner in the category of Medical Sciences. Dr. King's main area of interest is mucus rheology, which is the study of the flow of mucus in the lungs and other organs. His research is directed to treat diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and cystic fibrosis; it has led him to patent two therapies for chronic respiratory disease.

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Dorothy Betz, a 70-year-old retired community activist who helped spearhead the friendship centre movement in Canada, is excited to receive this year's National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the category of Community Development.

Wayne Helgason, president of the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre in Winnipeg, who nominated Betz for the award, has known her 25 years.

"She's very principled," he says. "If Dorothy is involved with a committee you know there's no shenanigans going on . . . she's there as the conscience of an organization."

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Dorothy Grant has been on the cutting edge all her life. The 43-year-old member of the Kaigani Haida people of British Columbia is renowned for unique Native fashion designs that highlight her artistic talent in everything from ready-to-wear to exclusive, one-of-a-kind collections. Grant's famous button blankets, spruce root hats and other garments combining art and Haida culture are on display in prominent collections and exhibits worldwide.

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Theresa Stevenson, this year's recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Community Development, is best known for the hot lunch program called "Chili for Children," which she established in 1979 in a low-income neighborhood in Regina for Aboriginal school children. That program is still going strong and has expanded to three locations with new people at the helm.

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As the performers and technicians scurried throughout the Saskatchewan Centre for the Arts in Regina during the last rehearsal before show time, Justin Bellegarde appeared to be the most relaxed person involved with the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala show.

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Deep in the rain forest, somewhere in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, a mountain stream trickles down the rocky side of a mountain, past towering ancient cedar and pine trees and into the thick overgrowth of forest.

A reproduction of that very scene from the Northwest Coast was created on the stage at the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala on March 12 held in Regina. When the curtain rose to reveal the magnificence of the huge and elaborate set, gasps of astonishment came from the audience.

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Ten years past retirement, Métis educator Howard Adams still defines his views as "radical." Whatever the political stripe, Adams' conversation and writing reveal the passion of a man who has made a career out of combating the systemic racism he says holds Aboriginal people back.

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"It's good to have goals, but try to be realistic; if the job market isn't there, you may have to try other things." Dr. Lillian Eva Dyck, this year's National Aboriginal Achievement Award winner in the field of Science and Technology, says that although people need to plan their future, they should remain flexible in a rapidly changing society.

The same advice applies if you find you are completely unsuited to the career choice you have made - change it for something you like and success will follow, she adds.

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"What a person can do, another person can imitate. If you put your mind into something, you will succeed. Excuses won't get you there."

That's the advice of Dr. Edward Kantonkote Cree, this year's recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the category of Medicine. He's also the current head of the oral and maxillofacial surgery department at Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal.