A group of students from the University of Calgary took learning to the next level during their mid-February reading week break.

Participants in the Canadian Roots Northern Exchange program spent time at the Enoch and Sucker Creek First Nations and Gift Lake Métis Settlement, engaging Elders and community members, gaining an understanding into the diversity of Aboriginal communities in northern Alberta.

A program that invokes cultural identity is being used to teach children of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation how to remain toxin-free.

NimiIcinohabi is an innovative and culturally appropriate substance abuse prevention program that began as a pilot project and has now been turned into a three-year research project. Partnering with the First Nation are the University of Alberta and Dr. Lola Badayla, pediatrician from the Misericordia Hospital, in Edmonton.

A program that has flourished in Alberta since 2002 is continuing to enhance the lives of families in urban, rural, Aboriginal and remote communities. With hundreds of community members trained to deliver Roots of Empathy, it has reached more than 64,000 children throughout the province.

“In the First Nations community we use the baby as a teacher because the children learn from the coming of the baby and its development and they can see the milestones and reflect on their own development,” said Sandy Vigrass, provincial manager for Alberta based in Calgary. 

Believing that the school setting can positively influence the lifelong physical, social and mental health of students, the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health created the APPLE program in 2008. APPLE, or the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating, supports positive lifestyles by urging students to eat healthy lunches and nutritious snacks, and by engaging in daily physical activity. Moreover, the school environment supports the project.

The company that won this year’s Premier’s Award of Distinction says that working with Aboriginal groups and businesses is key to the company’s future.

“It is a recognition by the business community that PTI Group is doing something good,” said Stephen Crocker, manager of Aboriginal relations for PTI Group, an Edmonton-based subsidiary company of Oil States International, based in Houston, Texas.

Not only is the company making an effort to hire Aboriginal people, they are keeping them.

Mustard Seed feeds 400 hungry at Easter

Aboriginal people will be involved in all three time frames of Calgary’s bid for Cultural Capital 2012: exploring the historical past and western heritage, cultural expression in the present, and looking forward to creating the future. The overarching theme of Calgary 2012 is to celebrate, connect and create.

“Calgary 2012 presents a huge opportunity for Aboriginal Calgarians to participate on many levels,” said Lorna Crowshoe, issue specialist with the city’s social planning and policy.

Funding for Fort Saskatchewan festival

Funding from Heritage Canada will allow the Fort Saskatchewan Historical Society to present its annual Peoples of the North Saskatchewan Festival on May 12 and 13. Activities will celebrate and commemorate early settlers in the Fort Saskatchewan region. Aboriginal, Métis, and pioneer life will be showcased through dance and historic storytelling. Local residents will also experience interactive demonstrations of sawing, weaving, spinning, and butter and bannock making, as well as Red River cart rides.

One of the recommendations from the Mayor’s Task Force on Community Safety is helping to create young Aboriginal leaders in Edmonton.

The fifth recommendation of nine that came from the REACH Report, the result of the Mayor’s task force, calls for the city’s Aboriginal leaders to foster prevention solutions from a uniquely Aboriginal perspective.

“This approach is one of those which will allow First Nations, Inuit, and MÈtis people to do what they need to do to mentor their young people,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel.

The shyness is already melting away as students from Alberta’s Whitefish Lake First Nations interact online with a northern Ontario school class across the country before meeting them in person this month. 

“Our kids have asked for another videoconference with the kids from Bearskin Lake First Nation and they’re asking a lot of questions about what they should bring – like ‘can I bring my cell phone?’,” said Jackie van de Ligt, an organizer of the student exchange.