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Programs directed at Aboriginal youth in Saskatchewan cities will receive almost $10 million over the next five years, according to a Feb. 12 announcement by Canadian Heritage.

Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert are among six western cities that will take a share in the $100 million Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres Initiative - $10 million of which Canadian Heritage is holding back for itself.

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When Lloydminster banker Bonnie Green first got involved in community literacy programs, she was amazed to find out how many adults were unable to read, write or even count their own change at the store.

Literacy was something she had always taken for granted.

Serving on local committees and the Lloydminster Literacy Board became a real eye opener for Green, creating awareness for the funding which is so desperately needed to keep these literacy programs in place.

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In a move designed to provide young Aboriginal athletes with an alternative to the on-again, off-again North American Indigenous Games, the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta is planning to host a Western Canadian Indigenous Games this summer.

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The atmosphere was electric, the arena packed to overflowing, when the Onion Lake Winter Hawks challenged the Lloydminster Jr. B Bandits on Feb. 4.

More than 1,800 people filled the stands of the Civic Centre in Lloyd to watch the "new kids on the block" take on the well- seasoned Bandit team, whose eight time winning streak in Northern Alberta Jr. B league championships, had made them no stranger to success.

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In these fast paced times of post-modern pan-Indian cultural shock (maybe shlock would be a better word) the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre has taken a strong stance.

"The SICC is not here to promote competition powwow. We are here to promote and preserve traditional culture," said Darlene Speidel, director of Cultural Resource Development at the centre in Saskatoon.

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Laughing at pain, poverty and oppression won't make them go away, but it will make those problems seem smaller and easier to handle. That seems to be the message that Don Burnstick brings with him when he speaks to young people.

You can see it working. At the end of a two-day youth conference at the Saskatoon Inn on Feb. 3, the hotel lobby was jammed with teenagers waiting for their rides back home. Burnstick was making his way to the parking lot after spending the two days as the undisputed star of the gathering.

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My wife brought the Saskatoon newspaper home the other day. On the front page was a story about the Saulteaux First Nation (which is just down the road from where I live) being managed by third parties. There are six Saskatchewan First Nations in the same situation. It got us to talking and thinking.

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How many dead birds does it take to win a traditional dance championship? Or to be more specific, how many eagle feathers are needed to make a double bustle? And what about a triple bustle complete with a stuffed eagle's head stuck in the centre, or if you're a 'Real Brave', a mega-bustle all decked out with holograms and flashing red Christmas lights.

The ancestors must be rolling over in their graves because an eagle feather is supposed to be a sacred object, isn't it, something to be earned?

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Looks can be deceiving.