Prime Minister tours fire-ravaged Slave Lake

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (left) joined Premier Ed Stelmach in Slave Lake on May 19. Harper got a view of the wildfire devastation from the air via helicopter as well as on the ground with Stelmach. Harper also met with Slave Lake mayor, firefighters and emergency workers. Photo: Jason Ransom

Victor Horseman is hopeful that money from the newly established provincial Slave Lake relief fund will help the situation of Treaty 8 evacuees.

“Even if members want to go back closer to home, I’ve heard that most motels are full occupancy, up to three families staying in one room, people sleeping on the floor,” said Horseman, Grand Chief liaison at the Treaty 8 sub-office in Edmonton.

Judy Belcourt came to Edmonton from Horse Lake First Nation to attend a meeting. Instead, she ended up volunteering at the emergency clothing bank set up at the Treaty 8 sub-office in the west end of the city.

“This is better than the meeting,” said Belcourt. “It’s been crazy, the clothes coming in. It’s just phenomenal, awesome the help.”

Belcourt added that Horse Lake First Nation is planning a mud bog with the proceeds to go to the Treaty 8 victims of the fire. Horse Lake is one of the Treaty 8 member nations not impacted by the northern fires.

Photo Caption: Students and donors stand together, appreciating the new advantages they can give each other. MEG Energy will work with Portage College to acquire more material.

Eight-year-old Clairise may be bored in her new accommodations, but her grandfather Lloyd McRee is grateful to not have to join other displaced Slave Lake residents in hotel rooms and community halls throughout the north.

“Sometimes boring and sometimes fun,” said Clairise of living with her aunt in Edmonton, but stopping by at the Edmonton Expo Centre to visit friends who don’t have family and friends to rely on.

Ben Calf Robe school hosts Mi’gmaq from Quebec

Using the Royal Alberta Museum for his teachings, Elder Francis Alexis gave the students from Ben Calf Robe school and their Quebec counterparts a lesson in First Nations history in Alberta.  The 15 students and three supervisors from the Mi’gmaq reserve in Listuguj, Quebec, were in Edmonton from May 9-16 through the Canadian Sports Exchange Program. Another highlight of their stay included a trip to Elk Island National Park. Fifteen students from Ben Calf Robe school made the return trip May 23-30.

Ask and you will get. That is what this year’s The Works is saying.

“We started the program for Canadian Aboriginal Arts three years ago because there were so many Aboriginals in downtown Edmonton who would come up and say, ‘Where is the Aboriginal art?’” said Dawn Saunders Dahl, manager of The Works Art & Design Festival.

Seeing homes as assets rather than liabilities has changed the way of living on the Piikani First Nation.
Natoshia Bastien, director and general manager of Piikani Nation Housing and the Ky-naak-ku-kan Housing Corporation, has been rewarded with many successes for the housing management, development and renewal expertise she has brought to the community.

In 2007 the Piikani Nation faced a housing crisis with no new construction or renovation program in 15 years. The Nation was in mortgage arrears and its loan portfolio was due and payable.

Federal funding has allowed GoForth Institute to modify its successful online entrepreneurial education program to meet Aborginal needs.

With 38,000 known and registered Aboriginal businesses in Canada, and the Aboriginal population the fastest growing in Canada, GoForth has developed a unique online training that is building a bridge for the Aboriginal business community to join the Canadian business community, said President Leslie Roberts.

The Dene Suline of the Cold Lake First Nation is taking court action against the provincial government, claiming that “adequate consultation” was not carried out before redevelopment of the English Bay Provincial recreation area was given government go-ahead.

“It’s the old story of third party encroachment, the extension of a provincial campground without consultation with the Cold Lake First Nation,” said Brian Grandbois, one of a number of band members who on May 6 set up camp and signs along the lake at English Bay, 12 kilometres north of Cold Lake.