First North West Coast female carver revived totem pole culture

In the 1950s, if your family had a West Coast totem pole souvenir, chances are it was made by Kakaso’las, Ellen May Neel.

The Kwakwaka’wakw (pronounced Kwok-wokie-wok) artist was born in a plank house in Alert Bay just off Vancouver Island’s inside passage. Her Kwakwask’wakw name, which she seldom used but with which she sometimes signed her totem poles, means “people who came from far away to seek her advice.” In Alert Bay, she was simply known as Ellenah.

In just two years, Amy Dopson developed a business aimed at supporting and enriching the student experience within the education system, and today she is British Columbia’s Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

The BC Aboriginal Business award was presented to Dopson on Dec. 1 in Vancouver by the BC Achievement Foundation and Premier Gordon Campbell.

WAHNAPITAE FIRST NATION HAS

The dream to strengthen First Nations education within the Canadian federal system has a new name—Bill C-599.

On Nov. 17, the Bloc Quebecois introduced the legislation in the form of a private member’s bill. It is meant to encourage the Conservative government to lift the two per cent cap on yearly increases to funding going to First Nations.

The cap has been in place since 1996, and limits educational opportunities for all First Nations students, said  Bloc MP Marc Lemay.

More funding announced

Numerous Aboriginal players have honed their skills in the Western Hockey League (WHL) over the years.
Michael Ferland, Rene Hunter and Eric Roy are continuing that tradition this season.

All three Aboriginal players are members of the Manitoba-based Brandon Wheat Kings.

Ferland, an 18-year-old left winger, is in his second season with the Wheat Kings. He impressed enough during his rookie season in Brandon that he was also selected by the Calgary Flames in the fifth round, 133rd over-all, this past June at the National Hockey League Entry Draft.

Cindy Peltier had an idea. She is the FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) coordinator at Ottawa’s Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, and she organizes get-togethers for the families she works with.

But there are other families in Ottawa facing the same problems, so why not get together with them? So Cindy invited the FASD of Ottawa group over for an informal supper. That was on Oct. 19.

The community formerly known as Whitefish Lake First Nation is the first to be chosen to participate in a home-building initiative undertaken by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), “Canada’s Most Trusted Contractor” Mike Holmes of the television program “Holmes on Homes,” and the Holmes Group foundation.

Gladys Radek is a Gitxsan/Wet’suwet’en First Nations woman from Morcetown. She has been nominated in the Social Change category in the CBC News Champions of Change contest which celebrates volunteerism, and she’s made it into the top 10 as a finalist. Voting ends Jan. 6, 2011.

After checking out their website about half way through listening to their debut CD, I was shocked to learn that the trio of young boys who make up The Breaking Wind are, well...