First Nations in British Columbia are a step closer to their goal of developing a First Nations Health Authority with the signing of a legal agreement between Canada, the province, and the First Nations Health Society at a ceremony held in the Squamish Nation longhouse on Oct. 13.

Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs is planning for a brighter future for the territory by providing more educational programs at home for Aboriginal people.

On Oct. 26 at the grand opening of the ITEP (Indian Teacher Education Program), part of the BATC partnership with University of Saskatchewan, it was announced that the next step is to develop further alliances that will bring in more programs to the area, including agriculture, nursing, commerce and kinesiology.

It’s the first year of offering ITEP in the Battlefords.
Classes are held at the Don Ross Centre.

Want to learn Ojibway from the comfort of your own home, or on the way to work on the bus, or while waiting for an airplane? An Ojibway language app for iPhone and iPad has been created.

The app was designed by Derrick Baxter, owner of Ogoki Learning Systems Inc.

In a modern society with technology accelerating at a fast pace, Baxter believes the app is a good way to teach people.

Justin Rain is most recently recognized as the character Alan Fraser in the television series Blackstone that runs on APTN. What some might not know about him though is his work with Native youth in a personal project he began this past year called Artist Inside.

Artist Inside is an attempt to inspire native youth by sharing his personal experiences of his troubled youth and how he overcame his challenges to be where he is today.

University of Manitoba President David Barnard not only apologized for his institution’s role in educating the people who taught at residential schools, but for “fail(ing) to recognize or challenge the forced assimilation of Aboriginal peoples and the subsequent loss of their language, culture and traditions.”

Barnard’s heartfelt apology, which was often punctuated with silence as he composed himself, was delivered on Oct. 27 in Halifax at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s third national event.

Two women dedicated to increasing awareness about the rights of First Nations people are among the newest recipients to be awarded one of Canada’s highest honours.

Dr. Viola Robinson and artist Shirley Bear were two of the 39 people named to the Order of Canada on Nov. 4.

“It was an honour. The impact of how great it was didn’t hit me until later,” Robinson said, recalling being told last summer that she would receive the award.

“I was totally shocked,” she admitted. “I couldn’t imagine how I’d been selected,” she said.

The road to poverty may get shorter for on-reserve First Nations people throughout the country. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is working to ensure its 47-year-old income assistance policy remains in force.

The policy sets on-reserve income assistance rates comparable to the province in which the reserve is located. Right now, the provincial government is starting to slash welfare payments in New Brunswick, so enforcement of the federal policy has New Brunswick chiefs worried.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, says she was shocked to learn that the federal government had accumulated close to 400 pieces of documentation about her over an 18-month period.

She is adamant, however, that Canada’s surveillance of her shouldn’t distract from the cause she is pursuing, equitable benefits for First Nations children in care on reserve.

“The major rights violation is not the violation of my privacy,” Blackstock told Windspeaker.

Students of Shubenacadie residential school and other school survivors stood together in Halifax at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s third national event held Oct. 26 to 29, but others in Atlantic Canada left out of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement made it clear that the abuse they suffered was no different and just as bad as those who attended “Shubie.”

The federal minister in charge of Aboriginal Affairs refuses to accept the concept that the Indian residential schools system was a form of genocide, and this refusal underscores the urgency of open and frank discussion on the subject, said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo.

“We’re pursuing a First Nations-Crown gathering with the Prime Minister this winter, because it’s very clear that we’ve got to put the relationship back on its original treaty foundation of mutual understanding,” Atleo said.