Like father, like son.

Well, Jesse Cockney, a 21-year-old Inuit cross-country skier who lives in Canmore, actually surpassed his father’s accomplishments.

Cockney managed to win four medals (three gold, one bronze) at the recent Canada Winter Games, which were held Feb. 12-27 in Halifax.

“Was I surprised?” Cockney said. “No. Happy? Very. The goal was to come away with two or more golds to match my dad’s golds.”

It seems Aboriginal hand games are picking up in popularity in northern Alberta, and it isn’t just in First Nations culture.

Massey Whiteknife has turned believing in himself into believing in others. And that was the difference that earned him the Youth Entrepreneur Award of Distinction from the Alberta Chamber of Commerce.

“The way he’s also educating people so they can be employed in this field of work, we really felt like that was kind of giving back to the community from quite a sustainable type of thing,” said Christi Millar, director of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, which sponsored the award.

Additional dollars from the provincial government to fight homelessness will have an impact on Aboriginal populations in Edmonton and Calgary.

“I’m not surprised (to receive more funding),” said Susan McGee, executive director of Homeward Trust Edmonton. “The administration has been working diligently within government to make sure there is a good understanding of the momentum that’s been achieved so far.”

Two Alberta culinary arts students have made it through to the second round of APTN’s “Cooking with the Wolfman™” competition.

Marcella Goodrunning and Awasis Monague, both students of SAIT’s culinary arts program in Calgary, were among four Kitchen Warriors to wow the judges with their canapé skills.

Aboriginal Youth Animation Project screening

Aboriginal education has moved into a new stage for the Edmonton Catholic school district.

A pipe ceremony held in a ceremonial room at the Sacred Heart Centre on March 10 brought together members of the Council of Elders, a special committee of the district’s board of trustees, and Archbishop Richard Smith and Bishop David Motiuk from the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton.

The Thunderbird Literacy Learning Program is hoping to capture the imagination of children through Aboriginal storytelling.

Every Thursday until the end of June, Mandy Higgins, parent educator and cultural liaison, turns into storyteller extraordinaire, encouraging children to read by providing interesting topics that relate to their culture.

“Our oral culture has made it difficult to work with words. But it is important for kids to excel in school because we have to learn to live in both worlds,” said Higgins.

River Cree Resort hosts educational conferences

In early March, the River Cree, on the Enoch First Nation, hosted the 7th Annual Western Canadian First Nations Administrators Education Symposium, which included Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Wilton Littlechild and Education Minister David Hancock. In mid-March the site was the location of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Council Conference.

Suspicious death on Enoch reserve

Though there will not be any time to stage official tryouts, Alberta will once again be sending two teams to the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

This year’s national tournament, which will be held in Saskatoon, is scheduled to begin on Apr. 26 and continue until May 1.

Tryouts for both the Alberta female and male clubs had originally been scheduled for January but were cancelled as status of the 2011 national tournament was unclear. When the announcement came, organizers decided to make use of previously scheduled events to evaluate players.