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Community

From the bingo and dance Friday night to the final awards presentation Sunday evening, the second annual Cold Lake First Nations Winter Carnival was entertaining and fun.

There were two nights of dancing, hours of talent show, numerous outdoor races and a fancy harness parade on Sunday.

It provided giggles and chuckles in the laughing contest, a hunting lesson in the moose calling and a believe-it-or-not section with the tall tales category.

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A family evicted from their home last month after refusing to pay mortgage dues because of structural flaws, which they say caused the basement to flood and the sewer to back up, are closer to having the house repaired.

Louise Gardiner says a group of six people, including housing officials and engineers, have assessed the house "from top to bottom" and will make a report by the end of the month outlining necessary repairs.

Following the eviction the family lived in a tent for six days before moving into a government emergency trailer.

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The name of a 27-year-old Hobbema man killed in a highway accident has been released.

Delford Louis Saddleback of Hobbema died when his pickup truck hit a trailer being towed by another pickup, say RCMP.

He was driving east on Highway 61 about 6 km from Hobbema on Saturday, Feb. 20 when his truck collided with a large steel horse carrier being pulled by another truck.

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A Caslan youth has been charged in connection with a break and enter in which financial records, receipt books, and some money were taken from the Metis settlement office in mid-November.

The 17-year-old male was charged Jan. 2 and will appear in court March 14 to face theft, and break and enter charges.

However, there is "no proof" that the youth took files or books for the Waskahigun (Housing) Corporation, says Garry Henson, Special Constable with the Boyle RCMP detachment.

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Is the highly competitive and emotional game of hockey a breeding ground for racism?

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The Rabbitskin family is enjoying a happy and sober life together after alcoholism threatened to split and destroy their home forever.

The Cree family of six from the Chisasibi reserve in northern Quebec are growing closer since coming to a drug rehabilitation centre, Poundmaker's Lodge, near Edmonton.

"It's just beautiful to see them still sober," said Poundmaker's senior counsellor Emile Ward, noting the Rabbitskins have been living a life of sobriety for the past eight months.

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Eight people face sexual assault charges in connection with a young girl who was removed from her Alberta foster home against her will and returned to her natural parents on a northern Manitoba reserve.

The teenage girl has been returned to her foster parents, who had cared for her since 1972, after she threatened suicide to end the torment and regular sexual assaults she had been subjected to on the reserve.

The case led to an investigation of Awasis, a Native child care agency, which had pushed for the return of the girl to her natural parents.

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An outbreak of distemper has killed hundreds of Arctic sled dogs and is threatening to bankrupt local hunters and guides. The epidemic which has killed almost 1,000 dogs started in the central Arctic last year and has now spread as far east as Greenland.

In Arctic Bay, on the northern tip of Baffin Island 145 working dogs have died and polar bear hunts in the area will either be cancelled or drastically reduced.

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For two weeks Cree students in this remote northern community have been unable to attend classes because their school has been declared "a threat to life and property."

The school was closed by the Department of Indian Affairs following an architecture's report which called the school "totally inadequate" and cited fire safety as a major concern.

Chairman of the tribal council Norman F. Wesley says, "The fire alarm system is not functional, there are no emergency exits . . . there isn't enough water pressure to make use of the sprinklers."

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Roy Ebsary, who was charged in 1985 with killing Sandy Seale after wrongfully convicted Micmac Indian Donald Marshall spent 11 years in jail, has died at the age of 75 of natural causes.

Marshall protested Ebsary's innocence and was finally released after an RCMP investigation. Ebsary spent a year in jail for manslaughter.