March 2, 2016

Last week, members of the Blood Tribe Police Service wore pink in acknowledgement of National Anti-Bullying Day. But for the southern Alberta First Nation, anti-bullying has become more than a single day of action.

Organized crime, drugs and gangs have been bullying their way into the lives of the Blood community. Increased fentanyl use and deaths resulted in Chief and council declaring a state of emergency on the First Nation in March 2015.

Jo-Anne Gottfriedson is optimistic that negotiations with the federal government on behalf of students, who attended Indian residential schools as day scholars, will trump litigation.

“It’s our hope that we’ll be able to sit down with (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Carolyn Bennett) and talk about possible negotiations rather than trial because time is of the essence now. We have our day scholars passing away. Now we’re having our descendants passing away,” said Gottfriedson.

Those discussions will take place this week in Vancouver.

Quebec to take legal action against Energy East

A last-minute invitation to attend the Academy Awards has proven to be the career highlight for an Indigenous actor and an Indigenous designer.
Actor Duane Howard, who portrayed Elk Dog in The Revenant, walked the red carpet Sunday night in a tuxedo by Haida designer Dorothy Grant.

Being at the Academy Awards for the first time was “amazing,” Howard told Windspeaker. “It was awesome. It was one of the best things anybody could experience.”

Dorothy Grant was excited for them both.

First graduating class of new environmental monitoring program

(Photo: Shari Narine)

She’s a mother, a Fancy Dance powwow dancer, and a burlesque performer who will be competing for the title of Miss Viva Las Vegas April 14 to April 17.

Not many people can add those three occupations to their resumes, but somehow Lauren Ashley Jiles pulls it off.

Jiles, who grew up on the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk reserve just 15-minutes outside of Montréal, began her unusual life path a decade ago when she received a chance invitation to a burlesque contest on MySpace a few weeks after her 18^th birthday.

Tracy Nicole Bird, 36, a homeless woman, was
found dead in La Ronge Feb. 27, CBC reports. Police say the death is not
considered suspicious. Bird’s body was found in a wooded area of the town.
Street workers speculate she may have died of exposure as temperatures dipped
to –30 C. Bird suffered from alcohol addition, and her health problems were
complicated by burn injuries to half her body from a 2006 fire. A 12-year-old
girl had lit Bird on fire while she was sleeping. A funeral will be held in

Wallace Fox will not run for chief in the upcoming June 15 Onion Lake Cree Nation election, the Meridian Booster is reporting. He tells the paper that concerns from some of the Nation’s membership—a letter asking for his resignation was sent to council in November 2015— and personal considerations led to the decision, which was not to be seen as a resignation, he asserted.

February 29, 2016

Metis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras says Don Getty was a “steadfast friend” to the Metis people of the province.

Former Progressive Conservative Premier Don Getty passed away on Feb. 26 at the age of 82.

Tsuut’ina to present Trudeau with ceremonial headdress