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For the past six-and-a-half years, it seemed I had shared an apartment with some unexpected guests. As luck would have it, the rental Gods had seen fit to bless me with a rather large two storey, two bedroom apartment located on a lovely street in Toronto. What I don't remember seeing in the lease involved some unforeseen boarders living in the second floor room that doubled for the guest bedroom and office. I am writer and it's been in that second floor room where I created some of my (hopefully) great works of art. Alone, I originally thought.

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Dear Editor:

RE: Clarification - GCT 2 Recruitment Testing

I wish to apologize for some incorrect information that was given to you by corrections staff over the course of some interviews at Drumheller Institution. The misinformation, through no fault of the interview participants, was the result of some incorrect advice and direction given to them regarding the status of the GCT 2 Recruitment Test for Aboriginal applicants.

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Dear Editor:

RE: Treaty 8, 1899 and 1900

In the August 1999 Windspeaker article titled, Treaty 8 signatory ignored there is an error in the name of the Treaty 8, 1900 Yellowknives chief. The Treaty 8, 1900 for the Yellowknives Band was signed by Chief Henry Snuff. (You are correct in stating Akaicho was a chief of the Yellowknives, but he was chief in the 1820s.)

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The recent confrontations over Mi'kmaq fishing in the East and Native logging in British Columbia have shown just how strong the prejudices against our people run among the immigrants to our territories who call themselves Canadians. People show their true nature in times like these, and right now it seems that the heart of whiteness is a very cold and hard place. When it comes to attitudes about Indigenous people, this is a country with a pretty thin veneer of toleration hiding an ugly mass of racism.

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If what Native leaders in the Maritimes say is true, and a lot of the claims don't seem even a bit outlandish, then there's something interesting at work behind the astonishing amount of media fuss and outcry over Native fishing in the region.

Fact One: Native people weren't expecting such a decisive victory in the Marshall case. A couple of hundred years of frustration have led them to expect the worst, even in the face of a few hard won Supreme Court of Canada decisions in their favor in recent years.

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At almost the same moment that Grand Chief Phil Fontaine issued a statement at a press conference in the Yukon calling for a "contextual review" of the way the RCMP deals with Aboriginal people, an Assembly of First Nations staff member was echoing that call in Alberta.

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An uneasy calm has settled over the New Brunswick reserve where an incident that has been described by some observers as a race riot pitted Native people against non-Native people and resulted in police laying charges against a number of area residents.

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Ray Cardinal, the correctional supervisor at the Pê Sâkâstêw Centre at Hobbema, Alta. shared some of his experience to illustrate the opportunities, benefits and requirements of employment in the correctional field.

"Corrections is very social-work oriented," he said.

"I can only relate to my own experience: a desire to work in a good environment and an opportunity to succeed. And of course the willingness to become a loyal company person and fall in line with structure, and reporting to work, and doing your job professionally, and so forth," Cardinal added.

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Correctional Services Canada has got a blitz on to hire 1,000 correctional officers across Canada over the next three years. About 300 of these positions will be located in the Western provinces.

Warden Tim Fullerton at Drumheller Institution in Drumheller, Alta., says there are two ways to enter their employ - as a correctional officer or as a clerk. He says they look for people who can "act as role models and interact and show offenders a different life style."

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The Métis Nation of Alberta Association announced Aug. 19 that it has signed a five-year agreement with Human Resources Development Canada to implement an urban Aboriginal employment strategy that a senior MNA official characterized as "unlike any other in Canada."

It will deliver a wide range of labor market programs and services to help off-settlement Métis, especially youth, disabled people and women, to prepare for, obtain and maintain employment.