The Catholic Entities say they do not owe money to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation says the Catholic Entities are $1.6 million short in fulfilling their commitment under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. And the federal government says it “is working with the Catholic Entities to ensure their obligations towards the Aboriginal Healing Foundation are met.”

Christi Belcourt continued to deliver her message even after her stained glass creation entitled “Giniigaaniimenaaning,” which means “Looking Ahead,” was dedicated in a special ceremony on Parliament Hill on Nov. 26.

“I wish I could speak to the hearts of MPs … and let them know that renewal and reconciliation can be found between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canada through the sustained wellness of generations of Aboriginal people to come,” said Belcourt.

The call for a national inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls was underscored by the emotional cries of the parents of 16-year-old Summer Star Elizabeth Krista-Lee Fowler of Gitanmaax First Nation whose body was found in Kamloops Dec. 5. They joined Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo in a press conference in Vancouver to urge government’s commitment to the inquiry and to end violence against Aboriginal women and girls.

Unions are urging the federal government to use a “collective bargaining approach” with First Nations people over treaty rights. They have also called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the Queen’s representative Governor General David Johnston, to meet with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

National Centre for First Nations Governance was down but is not out, reads an end-of-year message sent to media. After losing federal funding in 2012, the organization is announcing exciting times ahead with the opening of a “brand new centre that will operate without federal funding” and in the first few months of 2013 “we will make the transition from NCFNG to something new.”

After calling First Nations people “freeloading Indians”, the president of the youth wing of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party has resigned. The comment occurred on Brayden Mazurkiewich’s facebook profile Dec. 14 when he was discussing a federal court ruling that said First Nations needed to be consulted before Kapyong Barracks, a former Canadian Forces base, can be sold.† “If they build a reserve inside this city I think that will be the last straw and I will finally leave what is becoming the laughing stock,” Mazurkiewich wrote.