Aboriginal rodeo participants will once again have an opportunity to challenge for various national titles in Canada. The Canadian Indian Rodeo (CIR) national finals are scheduled for Oct. 10 to 12 at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.

“This is something that is about 20 years overdue,” said CIR president Beatle Soop.

But this won’t be the first time a Canadian rodeo championship for Aboriginal competitors has been staged.

The successful argument of Jordan’s Principle in federal court could have major implications for other battles First Nations are waging for equity in funding and service.

On April 4, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Jordan’s Principle is legally enforceable and not simply a policy, as the federal government had been claiming.

“The court agreed with our arguments that it is a responsibility that the federal government has assumed and therefore they can be held accountable,” said Paul Champs, lawyer for the Pictou Landing Band and Maurina Beadle.

    During the second week of February I was in the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Native Reserve on Big Trout Lake (500 miles north of Thunder Bay) covering the hockey for development program run by Right to Play Canada’s PLAY program and the head coach that they brought with them, former NHL player and coach John Chabot.

    The program brings coaches, players, and instructors into communities that may not have access to them as readily as others might, and conducts both hockey and off ice programs to engage the youth within the community.

Artist—Bob Chartrand
Song—Ditch the Chick
Album—Rebel Blues
Year—2012
Available on iTunes

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
Donny Parenteau: I value honesty as the most valuable asset to have in a friendship. Without this your friendship becomes nothing more than a lie and I strongly believe the world has enough of this.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?
D.P.: Anything you do that hurts my family. You want to hurt me, fine, I can take it, but you will cross a line with me if you ever hurt my family.

An occupation of the Burns Lake band office in northern B.C. ended dramatically on April 7 when between 30 and 50 RCMP officers stormed the building–some allegedly with firearms drawn–to evict seven protesters holed up inside, including four children, who were demanding the chief’s resignation and an Aboriginal Affairs audit of band finances.

It was a long six weeks for cast and crew of the Prairie Dog Film + Television production Blackstone, but after waiting almost two years to shoot the third season of the Gemini-award winning production, they were hours well spent.

“Getting to know my character, seeing her grow, working with all the other actors, it makes me feel like this is a big family. I just feel comfortable. This is almost like a second home,” said Ashley Callingbull, who has been playing Sheila Delaronde since the first season. She even appeared briefly in the pilot in 2009.

Getting Canadians involved in an issue that transcends racial lines is the only way the federal government will move ahead on a call for a National Public Commission of Inquiry into violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“This is an issue that belongs to the broader society,” said Ernie Crey, advisor to the Sto:lo Tribal Council and former social worker. He was speaking to the 400 delegates at a joint Assembly of First Nations and Native Women’s Association of Canada forum held in Edmonton April 9 and 10.

Kwakiutl Indian Band has rejected B.C. government attempts to negotiate a “new relationship” with First Nations, saying that talks had failed to respect its right to refuse consent to industrial development on their territories.

Only weeks before the launch of the provincial election campaign, Kwakiutl– located around Port Hardy near the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island–announced its abandonment of both a provincial Strategic Engagement Agreement (SEA), as well as its withdrawal from an alliance of several nations jointly negotiating with B.C., Nanwakolas Council.

“I know what it takes for a person to stand up and be alone,” said Jack Frimeth, founder and organizer of the Aboriginal Heritage Festival held annually in Fergus, Ont. Addressing the audience at the Wellington County Museum on April 20, Frimeth said, “We felt that Chief Theresa Spence took that stand and by herself,” Frimeth said.