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Fourteen-year-old Rose Brass wasn't always the championship swimmer that she is today.

"She tried hockey first of all, then soccer, gymnastics, dancing, and finally swimming," said Giff Brass of his daughter's athletic endeavors. "Swimming seems to be her thing."

Her mother Jean agreed with her husband, adding, "When she first started swimming, her dad would take her to the pool, get her in the water and stuff. She was two when she started.

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One Ojibway-Potawatami woman's experience of racism and oppression is leading to delightful opportunities for Aboriginal children in Canada.

"Mary Pitawanakwat had a presence about her, there was an inner power that she had," said Robert Meeropol, executive director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC). "There was something very special about her."

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Yesterday I was in North Battleford at my son's soccer game. Blake is nine and he plays for North Battleford Tribal Council. They played an exhibition game against Red Pheasant First Nation. These boys are getting ready to go to the Indian Summer Games in August at the Little Pine First Nation.

Long before Blake played sports, he was powwow dancing. I took many photographs of him. His photographs have been everywhere. There's a funny thing about this boy, everybody really loves him. For as far back as I can remember, people have been attracted to this little guy.

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Editor's Note: This reader sent Sage a copy of a letter she wrote in response to two letters written to the Saskatoon Star Pheonix last month. Those letters criticized FSIN leaders for complaining about racism in the community.

Dear Editor:

I am of Aboriginal descent and I continue to be offended by the lack of knowledge in society that is based on assumptions.

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The millennium has come. The Y2K scare has come and passed. The doomsday threat was anything but, and the cosmic alignment of planets in early May went off without a hitch. Yet, the millennium is so much more than a number or these events. It's a state of mind, a time of looking back and reflecting on how far we've come as human beings. More accurately, how far we've come as Aboriginal youth.

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Saskatchewan chiefs are telling the provincial government that, when it comes to fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects, it's a question of pay a little now or pay a lot later.

Acting to support a controversial ruling by Native judge Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond, (who is married to Saskatoon Tribal Council chief Harry Lafond) the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations passed a resolution calling for action that will stop children suffering from the affliction from falling through the cracks in the system.

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With the broadening Aboriginal wholistic approach to reintegrating Aboriginal offenders into society, the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation has plans set in place for a $6.5 million healing centre.

"We have been working on this since 1990," said Harry Michael, the project manager. "When the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge was built in Maple Creek we expressed some interest and did some negotiation with the federal government at that stage. We were not successful but had continuing interest."

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His enthusiasm, maturity and zest for life won him a $50,000 scholarship to the prestigious Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia.

"When I found out I went outside and yelled and threw my hands in the air and said thank you," said Real Carriere, a 16-year-old Metis student from Cumberland House. "I'm still amazed that I got the scholarship."

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As was the case in locations around the province, more than 600 people gathered to celebrate National Aboriginal Day at the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre.

The festivities and events, hosted by the LNFC, the Lloydminster Metis Housing, Border City Metis Society and the BC Aboriginal Headstart Program, ran from dawn till dusk to help commemorate the longest day of the year.

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The University of Saskatchewan has turned its attention to the province's north and is hoping to establish a program that will measure the environmental effects of industrial and municipal development in northern communities.

Last month, university counsellors named the establishment of the Northern Ecosystems Toxicology Initiative (NETI) one of the top priorities at the university.