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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.

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With its mid-Canada location, it seems natural that Thunder Bay, Ont. is a centre for First Nations' postsecondary education. With leadership from the Aboriginal community plus a commitment from two post-secondary institutions and the support of local education councils, the city continues to grow as a gathering point for Native students.

"Within the next five to 10 years, we hope to have an Aboriginal college within a college," says Brenda Small, associate dean of Aboriginal studies at Confederation College. "We are already well on the way."

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Hundreds of people enjoyed a formal dinner hosted by the Nechi Training and Research Health Promotions Institute on Nov. 20. The Celebrating Success banquet held at the Northlands AgriCom in Edmonton was in celebration of Nechi's 25 years of service from 1974 to 1999.

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A community college student in The Pas, Man. is finding that a school work experience project is reconnecting her with some of the traditional medicine knowledge of her people.

June Bighetty, 31, is in her second year of the Ecotourism program offered at Keewatin Community College. She is using the Sam Waller Museum in The Pas as the base for her research into traditional native use of medicinal plants. The museum has a sizeable collection of natural history materials.

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The president of a Winnipeg company has won the 1999 Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Elaine Cowan, president of the Anokiiwin Training Institute, which provides Aboriginal training, recruitment and employment retention services, accepted the award in Calgary at the Telus Convention Centre Nov. 4.

"Elaine is doing a wonderful job in her training company," said Barbara Caldwell, chairwoman of the national awards selection committee. "She is a dynamic person, who is doing so much for the Aboriginal people."

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John Mameamskum of the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach was surprised, "very surprised," that his community was nominated for a CANDO Economic Developer Recognition Award for a project that was designed to help the community keep better track of its housing maintenance and repairs.

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Gone are the days when the best way to protect resources was to put them in a safe place and save them in case of an emergency.

These days, people want to make their equity work for them. To do that, they have to use their imagination and take a few risks, or call Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba, one of this year's four winners of CANDO's Economic Developer Recognition Awards.

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An Aboriginal conservation company in Nova Scotia was thrilled to win CANDO'S top award-Economic Developer of the Year.

The Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission was selected from among four Aboriginal economic development organizations presented with Recognition Awards.

"We were glad when we were told that we won," said Charlie Dennis, executive director of Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission. "It means that we are doing a good job in what we are doing," he said.

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Six Nations Economic Development was one of four economic developers chosen for CANDO's annual Economic Developer Recognition Award. The organization is a department of the Six Nations Council and has its offices on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, in southern Ontario.

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CANDO, the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers, announced the winners of its sixth annual Economic Developer Recognition Awards Oct. 12. The award winners, chosen from a lengthy list of nominees, are the Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission (N.S.); Council of Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach (Que.); Six Nations Economic Development (Ont.); and the Tribal Council Investment Group (Man.).