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Several programs designed to support Aboriginal students are in place at the post-secondary level in Saskatchewan. There is also, however, a consensus among those working in the field of education that the critical work lies in making all levels of school more beneficial for these students.

In fact, according to Gloria Mehlmann, this process must begin on the first day of school. Mehlmann is the director of the Aboriginal Education Unit within the provincial department of education and she says a new curriculum will help make this happen.

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The unemployment rate in Saskatchewan in November was 5.9 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. While this number was generally seen as good news, there are some who look deeper into the statistics and always find the same piece of bad news.

Wayne McKenzie, a consultant with Aboriginal Employment Development in the provincial department of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs, says if the rate of unemployment that exists in the Aboriginal community were the norm, there would be demonstrations in the streets.

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Looking for a way to make a good salary, get paid while training, and have a high degree of job assurance? Becoming a journeyman in one of Saskatchewan's designated trades or technologies offers a lot of advantages.

Apprenticeship and trade certification programs are available in a wide variety of ields and you can train at several schools in the province, says Phyllis Eagle-Boadway, Aboriginal student counsellor at the Palliser campus of the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (SIAST).

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Angela Bellegarde is Scotiabank's director of Aboriginal business education programs, hired by the University of Saskatchewan's College of Commerce to work with the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in joint programming, a position she's held since October. Her mandate is to assist the successful entry and transition of students into the College of Commerce. Her predecessor, Kelly Lendsay, who is now the president of the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Council of Canada, held the spot for two-and-one-half years.

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"In Saskatchewan, police do a 'stop drinking and driving blitz' during the month of December," says Barbara Cross, acting assistant vice president of communications at Saskatchewan Government Insurance. "We partner with them on those kinds of things.

"That's when SGI runs designated driver programs such as 'Have Someone for the Road,'" she said. "The lead agency on that," Cross continues, "is the Hotels Association of Saskatchewan. "That's a designed driver program that is run through a lot of hotels and bars throughout Saskatchewan, particularly in rural areas.

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You say you've been driving snow machines since you were 12 and you know the lakes and rivers like the back of your hand. A few beers isn't going to make a difference to whether or not you get home safe. Why is it then that every year a few people who could probably say the same thing lose their lives when they leave a party, get on their machine and head off into the night?

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This is a story that is for all men, for those that remember and those who have forgotten.

A very long time ago, before Manitoo made the creatures after his own name, he first created animals. And he blessed the animals, giving each unique ways of being.

The world was in its newness and the streams ran like clear fire in the sunlight. The sky was an open flowe;, in its blueness the birds sought the wind. Below the sky, all manner of animals walked the earth.

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The Onion Lake Headstart Program is helping to create a new generation of healthy parents and children.

Started up in early October, the program was designed to keep young mothers and babies together, recognizing the crucial bonding period between birth and three years old.

"That's the time when parents really get to know their children. The crucial ages between zero and three when parents and babies form healthy bonds that last a lifetime," explained Headstart co-ordinator Sarah Waskewitch.

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We Metis are born with some pretty cumbersome saddlebags already attached. From birth, we are loaded down. History, traditions, politics, regional differences, impossibly entangled bloodlines. We Metis are the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the Canadian Constitution.

A case in point: Metis Senator John B. Boucher is descending in a plush elevator of a very regal downtown Toronto hotel. Senator Boucher, a Saskatchewan native, is en route to a celebration in his honor.

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This is an overview of the writer's perception of the experiences, trials, tribulations, triumphs, successes and progress that makes up the evolution of First Nations people through the 20th century.

I write this in the hope it will give some understanding of the pain and suffering of those who may have been harmed, or who have harmed themselves and those they loved with their survival behaviors. It is thought that through pain and suffering we gain strength. If this is true, the strength of Aboriginal people will be formidable.