If you have a book lover to buy a gift for this Christmas you're likely to find some great gift-giving ideas by perusing this year's list of Saskatchewan Book Award winners. The 2006 award winners were announced during a gala event held in Regina on Nov. 25.

The 2006 Book of the Year Award was presented to Michael Trussler for Encounters, which also earned the Regina Book Award. Encounters is Trussler's first collection of short fiction in which he explores the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary people.

Half of all Aboriginal children in Saskatchewan are living in poverty.

That startling figure comes from the 2006 Report Card on Child Poverty in Saskatchewan, prepared by the social policy research unit of the faculty of social work at the University of Regina.

According to the Saskatchewan report card, the overall number of children in the province living in poverty is higher than the national average. National statistics show approximately one in six Canadian children live in poverty. In Saskatchewan, the rate is one in five.

In 1989, members of Parliament from both sides of the floor joined together and unanimously resolved to work to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.

We are now six years past that deadline and the number of children living in poverty in the country is still more than a million.

Campaign 2000 is a national, non-partisan coalition of organizations that is working together to put an end to child and family poverty in Canada. On Nov. 24, it released its annual report card on the progress-or lack thereof-being made to reduce poverty rates across the country.

It may be a small theatre company right now but Maureen Belanger, general manager of Upisasik Productions Inc. has big plans for the fledgling theatre company. The only Métis-specific theatre company in Saskatchewan, Upisasik incorporated Aug. 1 of this year.

"If somebody asked me what I needed for this company to get to where I want to be, I would say that we definitely need theatre space. Then I could be more focused and we could quite possibly have four big productions in a year," said Belanger, who is also an aspiring actress.

A training program that had its beginnings in Saskatchewan will now be expanding to provide Aboriginal women from across the country an opportunity to help improve their lives.

The National Aboriginal Women for Tomorrow (AWFT) program was officially launched on Nov. 27. The program consists of a series of workshops designed to empower Aboriginal women by providing them with the skills and knowledge they need to participate more fully in their community and in the Canadian economy.

The Saskatchewan government has committed to spend $2.5 million to pave Cyr Road in order to improve access to Big River First Nation.

The province will pave 11.2 kilometres of the gravel road, starting at its junction with Highway 55 and ending where the road meets up with the 793 grid road.

The province has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the First Nation to lobby the federal government for funds to pave the remaining 8.5 kilometres of the road.

Saskatchewan artist John Henry Fine Day has passed away at the young age of 32. Diagnosed with leukemia five years ago, Fine Day built a significant amount of work during his illness, even undertaking the strenuous effort of preparing for exhibition at several shows.

A member of Sweetgrass First Nation, Fine Day was born on August 6, 1974 in Regina. From an early age he showed an interest in all things artistic, whether it was play dough, LEGO, skateboarding or music.

Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond will leave the Saskatchewan provincial court bench in February to act as British Columbia's new child and youth representative, overseeing the province's child protection system.

Visitors to the 13th annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival held in Toronto from Nov. 24 to 26 were treated to a wealth of Aboriginal spirit and culture and had an opportunity to take in a wide range of events including education day, fashion shows, music award shows and of course the impressive and memorable grand entries of the powwow.

More than 1,500 dancers dressed in full regalia entered the powwow circle for the first time on Nov. 25, making for a spectacular showing. The grand entry took place three times during the weekend, twice on Nov. 25 and once on Nov. 26.

A small but important piece of Métis history has found a new home as part of the University of Saskatchewan library's special collections

A poem, handwritten by Louis Riel in his Regina jail cell just weeks before he was hanged for treason, is now part of the library collection. Riel had written the poem to his jailer, Robert Gordon on Oct. 27, 1885.

Before coming to the U of S, the poem had been in the possession of Edna Robinson of Burlington, Ont. Members of Robinson's family had found the poem while helping the 89-year-old woman move from the family home.