Education is important and Saskatchewan is the province with the most to gain – and  to lose – when it comes to First Nation education. But right now there are other issues that take precedence.

“I’m assuming (First Nations) policy makers, people in Regina, people in Ottawa are watching what’s currently unfolding right now. I think they should be spending their political capital on some more serious issues (than the education panel),” said George Lafond, member of the National Panel of Experts struck earlier this year to engage discussion on First Nations education.

Robert Doucette is proud of his record as president of Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and has no plans to resign.
“Why should I when the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan is the strongest it has been in 10 years?” asked Doucette.
The call for Doucette’s resignation is being led by Helen Johnson. Johnson, eastern region 2 director, comprises a group of eight regional directors and the president of Métis Women, who are calling for Doucette to leave office a year before his five-year mandate runs out.

Funding from the provincial government will help First Nations, and other Saskatchewan communities, deal with destruction caused by spring-time flooding.

Provincial dollars to help with flooding losses

Guy Lonechild is no longer the Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

He arrived at a special Legislative Assembly earlier this month optimistic he would keep his job as Chief and ready to speak to Chiefs-in-Assembly and tell them their actions were unfair.

Elder led a long life as incredible visionary

In the quiet vigil that followed  William Commanda’s death, his grandson Johnny revealed that he saw his beloved grandfather leaving in a canoe.

“I had envisioned the same,” said Romola Thumbadoo, Grandfather Commanda’s assistant and close friend.
Everything fell into place after that, and the family gained permission to bring home a birchbark canoe on display at the local school. It would “carry” home the 97-year-old spiritual leader, who died of kidney failure on Aug. 3.

There is a store in Quebec City’s Huron-Wendat Village of Wendake that specializes in First Nations literature. The Librairie Hannenorak is exclusively devoted to literature by and about the First Nations of Quebec and Canada. This makes it unique in the area, if not the province.

With its modern décor, the bookstore is also a cozy café that offers coffee and homemade baking for visitors who wish to discover its remarkable selection of books.

Leaders that represent an estimated 230 First Nations groups in Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan have refused to participate in an effort to improve education in Native schools.

The initiative was announced jointly in December 2010 by John Duncan, minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, and Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

Rates of HIV infection in Aboriginal people are rising and Raye St. Denys wants that to change.

St. Denys, the executive director of Shining Mountains Living Community Services in Red Deer, Alta., an Aboriginal AIDS service organization, has elicited the help of Red Deer College’s Health Research Collaborative, a research partnership between Red Deer College and Alberta Health Services, to develop culturally-sensitive materials for Aboriginal front-line staff and people working with Aboriginals.

Recent decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada could have far reaching implications for investments made on First Nations reserves.

“After relentless efforts over many years by the Canada Revenue Agency to erode the First Nations tax exemption, the Supreme Court has upheld the exemption and affirmed its ongoing relevance,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA)
has accepted Taseko Mines Limited’s project description for the proposed $1 billion New Prosperity gold-copper mine in British Columbia’s central interior. But the Tsilhqot’in National Government called on the federal government to “halt the continuous drain on everyone’s time and resources and to reject Taseko Mines Ltd’s second rebid for the Prosperity Mine project,” reads a press release.