Tseshaht and Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council To Host Forum on Experiments on Students at the Alberni Indian Residential School

When: December 11, 2013

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Place: Maht Mahs Gym, Port Alberni, B.C.

The Truth! That’s what the Tseshaht First Nation and Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) want. The truth about what happened at the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS).

Richard Wagamese was among the first winners of the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Indian Horse (published by Douglas and McIntyre) earned Wagamese first prize of $12,000. Tara Lee Morin won the second prize of $8,000 for As I Remember It (published by Theytus Books), while the third prize of $5,000 went to James Bartleman for As Long As the Rivers Flow (published by Random House of Canada Ltd.) The winners were selected by a jury composed of Canadian writers administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police officers serving Nishnawbe-Aski Nations were among those honoured at the Ontario Provincial Police awards ceremony recently held in Thunder Bay. NAPS Constable Waylon Linklater was recognized for his life-saving actions rescuing a man from a burning building while off duty in Moosonee on May 16, 2012.

Wataynikaneyap Power recently welcomed five Keewaytinook Okimanak First Nations Council communities into the First Nation-led transmission initiative. Wataynikaneyap Power is developing a new transmission line north to connect remote First Nations communities currently serviced by diesel generation. With the addition of these communities, there are now 18 First Nations communities and local industry (Goldcorp) participating in the project. Joining the initiative as equal partners in the project are Deer Lake, Keewaywin, McDowell Lake, North Spirit Lake, and Poplar Hill First Nation.

Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River MP Rob Clarke wants to freeze funding for the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan as the organization is embroiled in internal struggle. Some MN-S executive members brought the issue before the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatoon asking for an injunction claiming that MN-S President Robert Doucette went against the organization’s constitution when he called the September MNLA assembly without the council’s consent. Judgment will be rendered in November.

A new program designed to give Aboriginal students the skills needed to run a business was recently launched in Saskatoon at Oskayak High School. It marks the expansion of the Paul Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program to 17 schools across Saskatchewan. Officials hope to eventually have the program run in all 28 provincial school divisions. According to the Saskatchewan School Board Association, the program has been successfully completed by dozens of students. Saskatchewan is the first province where the program has been adopted so broadly.