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Billed as "A:keknon," a Mohawk term for "The Community - Our Extended Family," the thirteenth annual traditional awareness gathering presented by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto was held on April 24 and 25.

The two-day event included 23 workshops by 14 Elders and traditional teachers, with a drum social and youth dance following the first day of workshops, that also included an eagle feather presentation and giveaway.

A craft fair ran in conjunction with the traditional gathering. The workshops were filled, sometimes to overflowing.

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With the acknowledgment that more than 50 per cent of the Aboriginal population are women, the Assembly of First Nations wants to ensure that their unique interests are being served.

That is a statement from AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, released in a bulletin on May 5. Fontaine refers to the difficulties the AFN struggled with in the past to address women's issues in a constructive way. The establishment of a gender secretariat will change the way policies and programs are developed, states Fontaine.

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Ottawa missed the boat when it attempted to eliminate discrimination against Aboriginal women with Bill C-31, a 1985 change to the Indian Act. That's the consensus reached during a three-day conference dedicated to examining the legacy of Bill C-31.

As far as the conference's delegates are concerned, the question isn't whether or not gigantic and harmful mistakes were made when Bill C-31 became law, it's whether the federal government intended to make them.

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The law of the land has caught up with the Department of Indian Affairs. The long-awaited decision in the Corbiere case was handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada on May 20. The court ruled that Section 77 (1) of the Indian Act, which allowed bands to prohibit off-reserve residents from voting in band council elections, was contrary to the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a part of Section 77 of the Indian Act violates the equality provision contained in Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Two questions were put to the Canada's top court when it was asked to decide the Corbiere case, in which the former chief of Ontario's Batchewana Indian Band, John Corbiere, claimed he, as a member of the band who resided off-reserve, should be allowed to vote in band elections.

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Traditional counsellor Margaret Wapass radiates warmth, humor and down-to-earth charm.

"But it takes more than a winning smile and a social work degree to be a good traditional counsellor - you have to know where people are coming from, how they were treated in the past," said Wapass.

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Canadian National has awarded three Aboriginal scholarships for 1999.

All three are from Western Canada: Russel Halpin, studying arts and sciences at Calgary's Mount Royal College; Suzanne Shukin, a student in the criminal justice program at Lethbridge (Alta.) Community College, and Gary Campo, a law student at the University of Victoria.

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Three Winnipeg brothers are proving that hard work and determination can lift you to endless heights, no matter where you came from.

Raised by their father in a single parent, low-income household, Conrad, Murray and Gerald Hoy rebelled in their school years and struggled academically. Murray and Gerald were high school dropouts. Now all three are going to be doctors-an accomplishment even their former high school track-and-field coach finds surprising.

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Native people in the Treaty 7 area of southern Alberta are getting a say in how $85,000 will be put to use at the University of Lethbridge.

Russel Barsh, associate professor in Native American Studies, was successful in acquiring a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The funding was granted under a program designed to help small universities develop new research projects.

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The Aboriginal Education Project at Mount Royal College has rebounded and expanded the services it delivers to the Native community after suffering funding cuts to its three post-secondary preparation program levels two years ago.

The College was forced to eliminate Level Three from the project in 1997, but the fall semester of 1999 marked the debut of its Aboriginal child and youth care program. That gives Aboriginal students an alternative to the first year of the college's two-year diploma program.