Rod McCormick delivered his presentation on Indian Residential School survivors and their resiliency in front of a picture of St. Michael’s residential school at Alert Bay, B.C. The decrepit brick building stands at the centre of the small village and is still being used.

“It dominates the village. . . . It is the big centerpiece as you come into the bay,” McCormick told a roomful of journalists and academics at a presentation Sept. 24 sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Aboriginal.

As an aspiring poet once said, “we used to be red, the color of soil/ we get so black inside, the color of oil.”

Indeed the color of oil has been very influential throughout Indian country in Canada. No more so than in the western provinces and no more so than right now.
Elders often say that an oil spill is like mother earth bleeding. I wonder how long can she survive at the current rate of loss?

The federal government is exploring a voluntary regime of private ownership of reserve lands in Canada. This is an idea that is premature and short-sighted.

What is it with white people and book burning? I realize that’s quite an inflammatory (pun intended) statement, but it deserves some exploration regarding recent events down in Florida where it seems lighter fluid, fundamentalism, and sun tan lotion go hand in hand.

Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and commissioners Wilton Littlechild (left) and Marie Wilson, appeared before Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples on Sept. 28. The commissioners appeared to provide an update on the progress of the TRC.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Blue Jays Game in Toronto on Sept. 27. Atleo is pictured with Blue Jays mascot Ace and Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil.

With a national labor shortage upon us across Canada, some employers are expecting the availability of qualified Aboriginal employees to be part of the solution.
Aboriginal people want to be included. From industry’s perspective, they must be included.

National Inuit Leader Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, joined forces with Canada’s four other Aboriginal leaders and provincial and territorial premiers on Aug. 4 this year to ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper to convene a First Ministers’ Meeting on Aboriginal education within a year.

BMO Capital Markets will for a third consecutive year make a donation to
the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, which will assist First Nations, Inuit and Métis students pursuing post-secondary education. BMO Capital Markets support the foundation through its Equity Through Education program. The foundation is among a number of other charities which will benefit from $1.5 million. The total represents one day’s worth of institutional equity trading commissions earned by BMO Capital Markets in Canada and the U.S.

Two hundred and sixty-five delegates attended the National Aboriginal Business Conference hosted by the Osoyoos Indian Band Sept. 14 and 15. The focus of the conference was networking and discussions around joint ventures.

Case studies and examples of joint ventures were presented in a panel-style format during the two-day event. Representatives of resource development companies presented examples of successful, and unsuccessful, venture proposals.

Social advocate no stranger to mopping floors

Returning late to the Winnipeg Friendship Centre one evening, Don Marks found his executive director mopping the floor in the bingo hall for an upcoming event.

Marks said his former boss, the late Mary Richard, taught him an important lesson about humility and serving.
There was nobody else around and the job had to get done, she told Marks.

“Mary was an original who always seemed to be thinking and living in a time we would all get to, but five years later.”