Clean-up at the site of the largest crude oil spill in three decades in Alberta has gotten underway again after being stalled for 10 days due to raging wildfires east and north of Slave Lake.

“In the early stages people were evacuated from the immediate area because the fire was moving very quickly, but there’s no reports from the ground that the site (of the oil spill) is actively threatened,” said Rob Harris, a fire information officer with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

Rumours that it could be up to seven weeks before residents can return to Slave Lake have Sheena Phillips believing that more people will take the Métis Urban and Capital Housing Corporation up on its offer to house people in existing MUHC units around the province.

“Even those who can get back in (to Slave Lake), what’s left? There’s no more rental accommodations out there. They’ll have to look at other options,” said Phillips, executive aid with MUHC, which is the housing division of the Métis Nation of Alberta.

As Marie Wilson listens to stories about terrible pain, she is also witnessing reconciliation and healing.

“People are making declarations of apology, declaring their love for each other,” said Wilson, who, along with Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) colleagues Chair Justice Murray Sinclair and Commissioner Wilton Littlechild, began traveling through northern Canada in mid-April to hear people talk about their residential school experiences.

Growing hockey

A pair of Aboriginal groups are among those who will receive grants this year to help grow the sport of hockey in their community. Manitoba’s Waywayseecappo Youth Recreation and the Bkejwanong Youth Facility, located at Ontario’s Walpole Island, are among the 38 organizations that will receive RBC Play Hockey grants in 2011. This year’s grant recipients were announced in early May.
The grants, awarded to groups across North America, range from $5,000 to $25,000. RBC runs the grant program in partnership with Hockey Canada and USA Hockey.

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Dr. Evan Adams: Self-awareness! Do they know both their strengths and their weaknesses? Do they know what is sacred and funny about themselves? Self-awareness is central to dignity, commitment, morality, listening, and empathy.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

E.A.: Arrogance.

W: When are you at your happiest?

“Tragedies outnumber successes in Native communities,” said former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin at the Aboriginal Challenge, an event organized by the Globe and Mail newspaper and Random Publishing held on April 30 as part of the Globe’s Open House Festival.

Since leaving office, Martin has taken a lead role in some high profile endeavors to improve that rate of success. For example, in 2009 he made an investment of $50 million in a business loan fund called The Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship program.

The Nuu-chah-nulth people have been anxiously awaiting the decision in the Canadian government’s appeal of their groundbreaking fisheries litigation win.

The justices of BC’s Court of Appeal didn’t disappoint when they sided with the decision of Justice Nicole Garson of the BC Supreme Court who ruled that Nuu-chah-nulth have an Aboriginal right to a commercial fishery.

The court rejected Canada’s arguments in its decision, which came down in the morning of May 18.

May 17, 2011 - Ottawa, ON

The Ministry of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is no more... it has been renamed Aboriginal and Northern Development.

John Duncan will remain minister of the newly renamed department.

Read our editorial take on this development
 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the appointment of a new federal Ministry that will lead the way in keeping Canada moving toward greater security and stability.

Thunder in the Desert, Tucson, Arizona, Dec. 30, 2011-Jan. 8, 2012

It’s the fourth and final Thunder in the Desert and it’s happening in 2012, the Year of the Prophecies for the Indigenous Peoples.  In 1999, Fred Synder said, he was approached by three Elders, one each from the Comanche, Zuni and Mescalero-Apache tribes and asked the question, “Where will you be when the sun rises?”

Churchill Wild, Churchill, Manitoba

Those looking for a unique northern tourism excursion might want to check out Manitoba’s Churchill Wild. The company offers some rather adventurous experiences. Guide Albert (Butch) Saunders at the Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge in York Landing takes visitors on both polar bear sightseeing tours and goose hunting tours. Saunders, who is Cree, was born on the York Factory First Nation.