Old Earth Productions will perform Tomson Highway's beautiful, intense and funny look at life on the rez with their production of The Rez Sisters, which will take to the Fringe Festival stage from Aug. 18 to 27. The story is about a group of women in a fictional southern Ontario reserve who put their considerable wits together to make it to Toronto to go to the biggest Bingo in the world. Audiences will get a glimpse into the deeply tragic and heroic lives of these women on their journey.

Will it or won't it be built? That is the question facing a First Nation in Alberta that has made significant movement toward the construction of a school in their community. Confusion over funding commitments from the federal government has leadership concerned.

It was six days of cultural celebration, holistic healing and steps made forward to healthy lifestyles at the fifth gathering of the Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW) conference.
From Aug. 6 to 11, Indigenous peoples from New Zealand, Australia, South America, the Arctic, the United States and Canada participated in workshops througout the week that highlighted healing initiatives, research, wellness issues and traditional solutions to health and healing concerns.

As part of its celebration of Education Week, the Alberta Teachers' Association hosted a dedication ceremony in Edmonton on May 5 for Education is Our Buffalo: A Teacher's Resource for First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education. The resource book was written by many Aboriginal writers, including Leo Fox, Ed Lavallee, Liz Poitras and Amoudla Sataa.

The dedication ceremony included a pipe and transfer component, which officially transferred the Aboriginal knowledge in the book to the teachers of Alberta.

Kandis Langton began a new chapter in her life on May 16 with a posting with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Vallyview after completing a grueling six months of training in Regina.

"It was a lot of hard work and I was happy to finish, and I'm even happier to start my career," she said.

Her friends and family in Edmonton honored the 22-year-old graduate of the training depot on May 10 with a graduation and going-away party. Langton was looking forward to beginning her new five-year post.

Northern Lakes College hosted its annual traditional powwow on May 6. The morning events consisted of hand games taught by Romeo Waskahat of Frog Lake, and dance workshops were taught by Tina Isadore of Driftpile.

About 500 visitors attended throughout the day to hear the sound of the drum group River Cree. The dancers came from Salt Prairie, Grouard, East Prairie, Wabasca, Enoch, Driftpile, Sawridge, Big Horn, Horse Lake, Whitefish, Slave Lake, Duncan, Berwyn, Smith, Sturgeon Lake and Grimshaw.

The History in the Hills event, which will take place at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park June 14 to 17, is about coming together, said an enthusiastic Amy Connachie, the cultural co-ordinator for Miywasin Society of Aboriginal Services in Medicine Hat.

The journey of an Aboriginal youth group trying to raise awareness on the issue of youth suicide is finally coming to an end.

Residential school survivors are one step closer to receiving their share of a $1.9 billion compensation package now that the federal cabinet has put its stamp of approval on plans for the pay out.

That approval finalizes the agreement-in-principle announced in November 2005 but the plan must be approved in nine provincial courts and a five-month opt-out period must pass before the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement will come into effect.