The former head of Syncrude Canada has been recognized nationally for his extensive dealings with Aboriginal businesses.
Eric Newell, a 67-year-old Edmonton resident, received this year’s Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations.

This marked the second year that officials from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business have presented the award.
Newell received his award at the CCAB gala, which was held Sept. 27 in Vancouver.

“It’s a big honour,” Newell said. “I’m quite pleased by it.”

Additional funding from the federal government will allow the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters to continue to help First Nations children who have witnessed violence.

Walking the Path, a program initiative of the ACWS, began as a pilot project in 2009. The program has been extended for an additional 21 months with the new funding.

Living with violence in the home can have a huge impact on children, affecting their whole future, says program manager Dorothy Sam.

It appears that Aboriginal groups and environmental organizations are not the only ones who believe that the Alberta government has given the go-ahead to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline project.

In the first phase of questioning at the joint panel review of the project, counsel for Northern Gateway decided against questioning the Alberta government panel.

As Sherry Weaver rushed to get her children ready for school the phone rang — an addition to a morning many parents refer to as controlled chaos. But unbeknownst to her and husband Doug, they were about to get much busier.

The hurried voice on the other end of the phone belonged to a case worker who told Sherry about an emergent situation involving a three-year-old girl and two-month-old boy.

The children needed a home and they needed one now. That was 17 years ago.

Chief Cameron Alexis is confident that a recent partnership between his First Nation and the federal government will keep the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation moving forward on its quest for economic independence.

“We hope that this initiative will bear fruit and we hope that it does create employment and is long term sustainability,” Alexis said.

It has been five years since Jackie Crazybull, a 44-year-old Blackfoot woman, was stabbed to death in an apparently random attack on the streets of Calgary during the Stampede and still there is no closure for her family.

“We are tired of waiting for answers,” said Sandra Manyfeathers, a younger sister who says she and many members of the family have been severely affected by Jackie’s murder. “We have been patient with the police, letting them do their job. But we haven’t heard anything from them in a long time.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers his condolences to widow Jeanne Lougheed at Peter Lougheed’s memorial service in Calgary.

Lougheed recognized for “unwavering commitment”

Duncan discusses issues with MNA president

John Duncan, federal minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, speaks with Audrey Poitras, president of the Métis Nation of Alberta, after his address to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce last month. The MNA will lose $46,000 in core funding and up to 1.5 staff members once funding cuts announced by the federal government come into effect over the next couple of years.

EAP offered to homeless, impoverished clients

Devoted and loyal, dogs have long been known as best friends and protectors, especially of their human family. In the case of Dawn Ayoungman’s missing toddler, the combined instincts of two dogs led to his discovery.

On Sept. 12 at 11:40 a.m., Ayoungman’s three-year-old son, Jet, wandered away from their Siksika home, accompanied by their German shepherd, Duke. Ayoungman said the two were very close and often played outside together.

For Edmonton’s history to be fully known, the role undertaken by Indigenous people must be told.

That is the goal behind Fort Edmonton Management Company’s move to develop a new section in Fort Edmonton Park.