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When the list of recipients of the 2004 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards was announced on Jan. 13, Dr. Lee Wilson became the latest in a long line of award winners with a Saskatchewan connection.

Page 11

Just days before he was called on to perform a cleansing ceremony for Prime Minister Paul Martin during his swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall Dec. 12, Elder Elmer Courchene slammed the federal government's treatment of residential school survivors.

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While the Locust Slept-

a memoir

By Peter Razor

Minnesoa Historical Society Press

200 pp; hc $19.95 U.S.

It's not just another boarding school story, this book by Peter Razor. As a ward of the state of Minnesota, Razor truly lived it. He tells his survival story authentically, movingly, without any trace of self-pity. It is honest and it flows.

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Opposite Contraries-

The Unknown Journals of Emily Carr and other Writings

Edited by Susan Crean

Douglas & McIntyre

250 pp; $35 Can.

Lovers of the arts, especially literature and painting, and Canadian history aficionados are sure to love the most recent book about painter Emily Carr.

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An assistant professor at Simon Fraser University has been awarded just shy of a million dollars by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to head a project that will develop an education model to help Aboriginal people achieve greater success in school.

Mark Jettes, a specialist in linguistic ecology, is principal researcher in the project. His group plans to design a model for culturally inclusive schools through the application of what Jettes describes as "imaginative education."

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Community health staff in Hartley Bay are using toys, cash prizes and even peer pressure to give youth a head start on dental health.

Brighter Smiles in Hartley Bay, an innovative project funded by the University of British Columbia and Northern Health, gives all children from this semi-isolated First Nation community monthly access to pediatric resident doctors and a few more reasons to take care of their pearly whites.

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The Urban Native Youth Association in Vancouver is looking at poverty-related issues that Aboriginal youth in urban centres face, and is urging government leaders and the public to examine and implement the recommendations in a government report released last fall, said UNYA executive director Jerry Adams.

The report, Urban Aboriginal Youth ? An Action Plan for Change, was compiled by the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples chaired by Senator Thelma J. Chalifoux.

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British Columbia is taking the lead in terms of the numbers of Aboriginal people who are settling their residential school claims against churches, government and individuals. Settlements so far range from about $5,000 up to $250,000 or more. Once they have a rather large sum of cash in hand, some people have difficulty managing it to their best advantage and want to turn to someone who can give them sound advice on which to base their financial decisions.

At least one bank has stepped up to help in this unique situation.

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As working people have their T4s in hand by end of February, many are thinking of putting their personal finances in order at this time of year. Those who are living paycheque to paycheque are often scrambling from February to April to determine their financial position and hoping that when they file their income tax return they won't owe the government.

Or maybe their finances are in such a mess that they simply don't bother filing a return at all, which becomes a bigger nightmare when they finally face up to it.

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When First Nation child welfare providers from across Canada gathered in the Squamish Nation in British Columbia in 1998, concern over the increase in the number of Aboriginal children in the welfare system was first and foremost in their minds. In response to the growing need to address this issue, the First Nations Caring Society of Canada was formed.