Despite recommendations from the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, the number of Aboriginal children in care continues to increase.

Aboriginal Elders hold prominent, vital and respected roles in their communities — positions that are bestowed on a select few.
This is why a local Elder is concerned with an apparent trend he has seen taking shape in Edmonton.

Jerry Wood, an Elder in Residence, educator and cultural facilitator at Grant McEwan University, says he is commonly encountering people of non-Aboriginal descent passing themselves off as Elders.

Beating an alpaca skin drum with a Peruvian Elder, learning how to build and cook traditional food in an earth stove, and tasting guinea pig were just a few of the experiences Chance Roasting of Hobbema had on a 10-day trip to Peru.

Michelle Thrush has been recognized once more – this time as an Aboriginal Role Model.

The Calgary-born Cree actress has met with success in films and television, such as Northern Exposure, North of 60, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Highlander, and has 25 years of experience in the arts industry. In 2011 she was awarded a Gemini for best performance in a continuing leading dramatic role for her work in Blackstone.

Tân’si, kitatamiskâkowâw awa nehiyaw iskwew Dorothy Thunder ehisiyihkâsot Little Pine First Nation, Saskatchewan ohci. Metoni nanâskomew onekihikom‚wa epekiskinohamâkot nehiyaw pimâtisiwin. 

 [Hello and how are you? You are all greeted by this Plains Cree woman Dorothy Thunder from Little Pine First Nation, Sask. She is very thankful to her parents for teaching her the Cree way of life.]

Cree runs deeply in Dorothy Thunder’s DNA.

The gift of a large brown rock and an urge to skip a night class became the turning point that changed Jason Carter’s life. It was the night his inner sculptor emerged.

 “One night, I had to go to a class and was looking for a reason to skip,” he recalls. “I picked up the rock, scraped at it, took it onto the deck and used the tools I had – a screwdriver and a wrench – and I turned it into a raven. I sat on the deck for six hours and carved, and that was it. I was hooked.”

Aboriginal youth across the province are discussing the challenges they face when transitioning out of government care services — information that will form the basis of a report brought to the legislature in the New Year.

The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, an independent Office of the Legislature, launched 15 focus group consultations in October and November in urban, rural and Aboriginal communities across the province.

Two southern Alberta First Nations are using provincial government money gleaned from the Civil Forfeiture Fund to fight gang activity.

The Stoney Nation received $135,000 for its Youth Engagement Strategy in Morley and its satellite community of Eden Valley, while the Kainai Family Early Intervention program at Standoff also received $138,000 for it Eagle Eyes Program.

“Gangs are not as bad as some other reserves, such as Hobbema,” said Bearspaw CEO Rob Shotclose.

An Inuit beneficiary card is not sufficient identification for a young Inuk boy from Kuujjuaq, Quebec, who now lives in Alberta, to obtain a provincial fishing licence.

“I have been inquiring about a domestic fishing licence from Fish and Wildlife for my son, and have been given quite the run around,” said Helene Paul.

Paul began pursuing the fishing license for her son Michel, 15, this past summer, making application to the Fish and Wildlife office in Cold Lake, where she resides.

Even though the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says the federal government’s caribou recovery plan has not addressed all concerns, neither the ACFN nor the handful of other First Nations that forced the government’s hand on protecting the woodland caribou will be pursuing further legal action on that plan at this point.

In October, the federal government released its Boreal Woodland Caribou Recovery Strategy.