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The seventh annual Aboriginal Awareness Week at the University of Toronto that ran from March 22 to 26 was billed as Making Our Sound: A Celebration of First Nations Voices.

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Health Canada's 1999 budget has allocated $55 million in new funding over three years to pay for the Canadian Diabetes Prevention and Control Strategy. The money is targeted to fight "one of the fastest growing chronic diseases in Canada today," and education will form a key component of the strategy, a government press release states.

When and where the money will be divvied up hasn't been decided, according to officials with Health Canada's Medical Services Branch (MSB).

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Four community-based health programs focused on AIDS/HIV education and health promotion received a boost in the arm with the announcement by Health Minister Allan Rock that additional funding would be allocated to improve their ability to expand community education.

The Manitoba Aboriginal Aids Task Force is one of the programs selected, and will receive an additional $50,000 to develop culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS programs.

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It's 11 a.m. and Angie, not her real name, sits in a corner of a downtown Winnipeg coffee shop appearing no different than the dozen young Aboriginal teens seated around her - alert, healthy looking and bursting with potential

But Angie is different.

Diagnosed as HIV positive six months ago while getting blood tests in hospital for a diabetes-related problem, the 19-year-old Cree teenager says her days are now spent wondering and worrying when she'll start to show signs of the AIDS virus.

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"At one point in my life I was given a bus ticket and told to leave my community until I changed," said Moccasin Joe. "One of the most memorable experiences in my career was when I went back and performed for the high school there."

Moccasin Joe, a comedian from the Fort William First Nation band in Thunder Bay, Ont., used to have a problem with alcohol, but he's cleaned up his act and is travelling and entertaining a lot these days. He performs stand-up routines and workshops on healing through laughter.

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These days, talk of sand bags, emergency phone numbers, food rations and keeping a close ear to the radio are hot topics of conversation in Mission, B.C, and other communities close to the Fraser River.

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Dear Editor:

The Montreal Gazette reported on April 10 that a U.N. Human Rights committee has ruled that "Canada's treatment of Aboriginals is in violation of international law," and that the condition of Indians in Canada is the "most pressing human rights issue facing Canadians."

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Federal officials in Canada and the United States continue to resist a varied and growing wave of support for a review of the Leonard Peltier case.

On April 16, Amnesty International called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of Peltier, saying he is a "political prisoner whose avenues for legal redress have long been exhausted."

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April 16 was an historic day for the Sechelt Indian Band as hundreds of onlookers crowded the Sechelt's traditional longhouse to watch the signing of the first agreement-in-principal (AIP) reached through the BC Treaty Commission process.

The AIP is step five in the six-step B.C. treaty process and Premier Glen Clark called the agreement a sign of hope for other Aboriginal groups.

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In a quest for better First Nations health services in northern Ontario, First Nations chiefs took part in an 11-day fast that began on April 9 at the Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital.

Chief Paddy Peters and Chief Donny Morris of Kitchenuhmaykoosib entered the hospital and began their fast in the chapel. The chiefs took water only during their fast.

Chief Vernon Morris of Muskrat Dam and Chief Raymond Beardy of Bearskin First Nation replaced Peters and Donny Morris at the hospital after they were called home to pay respect to family members who had died.