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International environmental organization Ecotrust has chosen a British Columbia educator for the Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership.

Jeannette Armstrong, executive director of the En'owkin Centre in Penticton, received the award for her work in environmental education. Four finalists were also honoured at the Dec. 2 award ceremony at Ecotrust's headquarter in Portland, Oregon, including North Thompson Indian Band Chief Nathan Matthew.

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On Nov. 28, a 14-foot-tall bronze sculpture created by master Haida carver Jim Hart was unveiled in a traditional Haida dance ceremony at an apartment complex in Kerrisdale's Quilchena Park area.

The monster work now standing in a waterscape setting took Hart two years to create and is one of the largest Haida sculptures ever commissioned. Hart, who has received the Order of British Columbia for his cultural work, supervised casting at the Tallix Art Foundry in Beacon, New York.

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The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), and particularly its Aboriginal population, celebrated the grand opening of a new Aboriginal student centre at the school's main campus in Edmonton Dec. 2.

The centre is just one part of a larger campaign called the Aboriginal Educational Success Initiative, chaired by Mel Benson, a recent winner of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the Business and Commerce category.

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If you enjoy reading Christmas stories to your children as part of your holiday celebration and you're looking for something new to supplement the tried and true Christmas classics, here are a few Christmas books written by Aboriginal authors that you might want to check out.

Baseball Bats for Christmas

By Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak

Annick Press Ltd.

24 pages

$6.95 sc/ $15.95 hc

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Coaches and players praised organizers for a job well done in hosting the province at the Blackfoot All-Teen Basketball Classic held at the Deerfoot Sportsplex on Siksika Nation Nov. 14 and 15.

Siksika was chosen from 68 clubs vying to host one of the seven tournaments on the Alberta Youth Basketball Club's (AYBC) fall roster.

The AYBC was established as a representative body of youth basketball clubs in Alberta. The association was formed to enhance and promote the development of elite athletes through club basketball leagues.

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The whole world is celebrating Christmas. The stores are filled with shoppers and everyone is anticipating a time when we can get together for food, laughter and friendship.

I remember when my grandmother would start to bake and get everything ready right after midnight mass. We'd wake to the cupboards lined up with baked goods and we'd look forward to relatives and strangers dropping by to have dinner.

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Warren Goulding of Saskatchewan, author of the book Just Another Indian: A Serial Killer and Canada's Indifference, was presented a social justice award by the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. Goulding's book discusses the murders of three Aboriginal women-Eva Taysup, Shelley Napope and Calinda Waterhen-and the justice system who let them down by ignoring their violent deaths.

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Friends and family gathered at the Samson middle school gymnasium in Hobbema on Nov. 27 to honor six past chiefs and the present chief of the Samson Cree Nation.

A sense of pride and well being filled the air as guests were treated to a dinner, an honor song by drum group Perfect Storm, and a variety of entertainment. Organizers went above and beyond to decorate the gym to set the mood for the celebration.

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Rene Haynes of Rene Haynes Casting of Burbank, California is on the search for a talented young woman to play the lead in a major motion picture.

Though she couldn't get into much detail about the film at this time, she could say she is conducting the talent search across North America and will be traveling to cities in Canada soon to meet with hopefuls.

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Hundreds of delegates took part is this year's Knowing Our Spirits Conference, held Nov. 26 to 28 in Edmonton. The conference was celebrating its tenth anniversary with workshops offered on a variety of topics from bridging the gap between adults and teens to reining in rage.